J is for Judgment (Kinsey Millhone, #10)

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J is for Judgment (Kinsey Millhone #10)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 19,775 ratings · 212 reviews

"Ms. Grafton writes a smart story and wraps it up with a wry twist."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Wendell Jaffe has been dead for five years--until his former insurance agent spots him in a dusty resort bar. Now California Fidelity wants Kinsey Millhone to track down the dead man. Just two months before, his widow collected on Jaffe's $500,000 life insurance policy--her on...more

Paperback, 360 pages

Published December 16th 1997 by Ballantine Books (first published 1993)

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Jan 02, 2009 Antof9 rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2006-read, mysterious

Review from BookCrossing: I've been reading 1 or 2 books in the series at a time. I realize I should space them out further, though, as the use of "detritus" when Kinsey goes through someone else's trash in both this book and "I" back-to-back bothered me :) I am also getting tired of the smoking. There are a lot of cigarettes in these books, and they seem to be becoming more popular, not less. Last, I don't remember the "f" word at all in the first several books, but it's also become more common...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Dale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hits the spot

So, here I am reviewing an 18 year old Sue Grafton novel. What does this tell me? It could be telling me that I need to find more current things to read, but I remember 1993 just fine so this book did not feel old to me. What it really tells me is that I have not come anywhere near reading this series in alphabetical order and have never went out of my way to find them. Not that I don't like them - I have liked all but a couple. It is more like they have been my backup books when I'...more

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May 22, 2012 Nenia Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: x-series-bk-10, x-1990s

kinsey millhone is hired to investigate the increasingly shady jaffe family when the allegedly deceased wendell jaffe reappears in mexico after his wife reaped the benefits of his $500,000 insurance claim. the family is majorly screwed-up. his ex-wife, dana, has her claws dug deeply into that money and shows no intention of letting go. his son michael is married now, with a son of his own, and the epiphanies of fatherhood have made the betrayal of his faked death sting anew. and his youngest son...more kinsey millhone is hired to investigate the increasingly shady jaffe family when the allegedly deceased wendell jaffe reappears in mexico after his wife reaped the benefits of his $500,000 insurance claim. the family is majorly screwed-up. his ex-wife, dana, has her claws dug deeply into that money and shows no intention of letting go. his son michael is married now, with a son of his own, and the epiphanies of fatherhood have made the betrayal of his faked death sting anew. and his youngest son, brian, is a sociopath who's just been busted for a prison-break/murder.

and just to make things that extra bit more family-friendly, kinsey discovers that she's not alone. no, not aliens - although, they might as well be: she has a whole family that she never even knew about. her late mother pissed off her grandmother, causing a rift between the family. turns out granny and several of her cousins have been living within a couple miles of her this whole time.

i really liked how kinsey's character was fleshed out in this book. in 'h' and 'i', i didn't really get the feeling that kinsey was particularly cut-up over her relationships - or lack thereof. she glossed over her dead parents and was downright dismissive of her ex-husbands. i suppose this could be a defense mechanism, but it could also be lazy writing. i imagine that continuity can be a problem in a series this long. and you don't want to be like the baby-sitters' club, either, where each book has a cut-n-paste chapter that says, "hi, i'm kinsey millhone and i'm a private investigator. my parents died when i was five and all my ex-husbands are assholes. i think it's safe to say that i have a lot of issues, which is why i chose the relaxing, non-stressful job of private investigation."

yeahhhhhh.

kinsey's reaction towards her family's attempts to contact her pissed me off at first, but then i remembered something one of my professors said back in college. it was a mythology course and we were watching the film version of the odyssey. at the part where penelope sees odysseus for the first time in decades, she doesn't run into his arms for a disneyesque reunion-cum-smoochfest. she looks shocked, and pained, and even a little angry. and my professor said, "i really like how they've done the reunion scene. it's shocking, when someone's been gone so long. because you're mad at them, and yet relieved to see them, and you're not quite sure how to react."

that's kind of the way kinsey reacts. she's been so used to flying solo and convincing herself that she don't need nobody, no sir, and suddenly, she's being love-bombed by a bunch of people chanting, 'one of us! one of us!' and things that she's previously considered unique to herself are not quite so unique after all. after a while, i decided that yes, this would be shocking.

so. well done.

thus far, i think that this is my favorite installment of the kinsey millhone series. the pacing, emotional content, and action were perfectly balanced, with just enough humor added to keep me engaged in the narrative. if you were turned off by h is for homicide, as i was, skip i and go right to j is for judgment. i think you'll be pleasantly surprised.(less)

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Aug 02, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Wendell Jaffe, died 5 years ago, but when he is spotted in Mexico, the insurance company that paid out on his death assumes they’ve been defrauded. He disappeared after a scheme he ran lost dozens of people’s savings. Kinsey is hired by California Fidelity to track him down. His wife and two troubled sons have finally received $500,000 from insurance money and are shocked to hear he might me alive. On top of all of that, Kinsey’s landlord and friend, Henry, is dealing with his elderly brother’s...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Randee rated it 3 of 5 stars

I always enjoy Kinsey Millhone stories, some better than others. This one was middle of the pack for me. There isn't much mystery involved since Kinsey is to find out if someone is alive or not and we know that answer to that in the first few pages. The rest of the story is the consequences of knowing that. Kinsey doesn't do as much of the day-to-day detective work that I enjoy reading about. She does do a lot of talking to the people involved in the whole affair and so our answers come mainly f...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Beth Peninger rated it 2 of 5 stars

It's like a mission for me to get through this alphabet series from Grafton. I suppose it's lucky for her that she crafted a decent character in Kinsey Millhone and has been able to capitalize on it.
This was a longer book than most of her alphabet so far (a-i) and I felt like it dragged on. She needs to keep it a bit shorter. Although since she's almost done with the entire alphabet I suppose that probably hasn't happened. Also in "J" Grafton decided to beef up the reader on California history...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Lola4 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Maybe it was the mood I was in, but I just couldn't get interested in this book. It took me forever to finish it, just little bits at a time. I can't say anything specific I disliked about it, except that a lot of the time the protagonist's behavior and choices just made no sense to me, I just never felt any enthusiasm and had to force myself to persist to the end. I am usually a big Grafton fan, but this one was far from her best.

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Feb 15, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Maybe it’s because it took me longer than usual to read this one since I had lots of other commitments going on in my life, but this story didn’t grab me to the extent “I” did. Nevertheless, Kinsey grows on me as someone I would really enjoy knowing for real.

She has just turned 34 in May of 1984. It’s July and she’s back working a case for California Fidelity, her old employer. She’s trying to find Wendell Jaffee, a Ponzi scheme master-mind who apparently sailed out into the Pacific and committe...more Maybe it’s because it took me longer than usual to read this one since I had lots of other commitments going on in my life, but this story didn’t grab me to the extent “I” did. Nevertheless, Kinsey grows on me as someone I would really enjoy knowing for real.

She has just turned 34 in May of 1984. It’s July and she’s back working a case for California Fidelity, her old employer. She’s trying to find Wendell Jaffee, a Ponzi scheme master-mind who apparently sailed out into the Pacific and committed suicide five years earlier. Now he’s been spotted in Mexico and Kinsey is looking for proof of his survival.

An interesting subplot begins to develop in this installment: Kinsey has living relatives. Her parents were killed in an auto accident when Kinsey was 5 and she was raised by her maiden aunt who has since died. She had no clue about any other relatives. Most of the time she isn’t thrilled with the idea of living relatives even though she researches her family tree a bit. We’ll have to see how this plays out in future books.

She’s still making $50 an hour. She still uses pay phones and her portable Smith- Corona. She mention a mobile phone in a Jaguar. Of course, she ‘s still using a film camera.

A memory of Kinsey’s I can identify with: Kinsey is ill, so ill she’s in bed for two days. She tells readers, “One of the few concrete memories I have of my mother was her salving my chest with Vicks VapoRub, then covering it with a square of pink rose-sprigged flannel, secured to my pajama top with safety pins. The heat of my body would envelop my nasal passages in a cloud of heady fumes while the ointment on my skin conveyed a mentholated contradiction of searing heat and biting cold.” I have precisely the same memory except we used a washcloth instead of the flannel.

Kinsey plays one of my favorite games: Cut a brownie square into four pieces. That way, it has fewer calories.

Kinsey philosophy: “It’s not just that we’re nice to the people we like…we like the people we’re nice to. It works both ways, I guess that’s what good manners are about, or so my aunt always claimed.”

On to new adventures in “K.”
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Mar 30, 2012 fivesunflowers rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries-thrillers, womens-fiction, once-owned-gave-away, read-2012

This was not only my first Sue Grafton book, but my first Millhone series books. I probably should have started from 'A', but these books don't seem to require reading in order, necessarily. Anyway, I was a little bored witht the novel .. and I noticed from some other reviews that this novel was a little slower than some of her other ones. Kinsey Millhone did not engage me, in this novel. I found her "investigative" practices a little too welcomed by those she was questioning - by the end of the...more

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Jan 05, 2010 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense-thriller, 2010

I've gotta admit...in between finding new authors to read and catching up on the newest books in the series that I love, Kinsey is a great break! Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series is my go-to easy read and J is for Judgment was no exception.

In this book, Kinsey is working on a case for California Fidelity. After the way that their working relationship ended, it's no surprise that this assignment is a personal favor for Mac. Kinsey ends up tailing a con-man that bilked millions of dollars from unsusp...more

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Feb 03, 2011 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Several years ago, a man disappeared off his boat in the Pacific Ocean. He was recently declared dead and his insurance monies were paid out to his wife and two sons. The drawback? The insurance agent who sold him his policy is certain he saw him during a recent vacation to Mexico. Kinsey Millhone gets contacted by California Fidelity, her previous employer, to spend some time in Mexico to see if the agent was correct. If so, they will need to reverse the claim payment and reinstute the previous...more

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Dec 29, 2008 Eric_W rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries-and-thrillers

In "J" is for Judgment, Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone is hired to find a man who supposedly committed suicide several years earlier. She locates the scoundrel in Mexico in the company of a woman whose husband had died several years previously, and her subject is using the dead man's name. Millhone manages to dig up plenty of dirt in her search for the truth behind the obvious. It's a good story for a long trip, although being abridged, much of Grafton's caustic writing has been lost. Interesting...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Marilyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Once again, Kinsey Millhone, America's favorite female P.I., embroils herself in a complex and entertaining Alphabet Murder Mystery.

When Wendell Jaffe, mastermind of a real-estate scam, disappeared at sea, nobody was found. Now, five years later, he's declared legally dead and California Fidelity has to pay up on his life insurance policy . . . to the tune of half a million dollars. Soon after, the tune slides off-key when Jaffe is spotted in Mexico - and Fidelity hires Kinsey Millhone to sort...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Lara Tambellini rated it 3 of 5 stars

"J" is for Jaffe: Wendell Jaffe, dead these past five years. Or so it seemed until his former insurance agent spotted him in the bar of a dusty little resort halfway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz.

"In truth, the facts about Wendell Jaffe had nothing to do with my family history, but murder is seldom tidy and no one ever said revelations operate in a straight line. It was my investigation into the dead man's past that triggered the inquiry into my own, and in the end the two stories became dif...more "J" is for Jaffe: Wendell Jaffe, dead these past five years. Or so it seemed until his former insurance agent spotted him in the bar of a dusty little resort halfway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz.

"In truth, the facts about Wendell Jaffe had nothing to do with my family history, but murder is seldom tidy and no one ever said revelations operate in a straight line. It was my investigation into the dead man's past that triggered the inquiry into my own, and in the end the two stories became difficult to separate."
It wasn't bad but it wasn't one of the better novels. It was kind of slow at times.

Five years ago, when Jaffe's thirty-five-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja coast, it seemed a sure thing he'd gone overboard. The note he left behind admitted he was flat broke, his business bankrupt, his real estate gambit nothing but a huge Ponzi scheme about to collapse, with criminal indictment certain to follow. When the authorities soon after descended on his banks and his books, there was nothing left: Jaffe had stripped the lot.

"Given my insatiable curiosity and my natural inclination to poke my nose in where it doesn't belong, it was odd to realize how little attention I'd paid to my own past. I'd simply accepted what I was told, constructing my personal mythology on the flimsiest of facts."

But Jaffe wasn't quite without assets. There was the $500,000 life insurance policy made out to his wife and underwritten by California Fidelity. With no corpse to prove death, however, the insurance company was in no hurry to pay the claim. Dana Jaffe had to wait out the statutory five years until her missing husband could be declared legally dead. Just two months before Wendell Jaffe was sighted in that dusty resort bar, California Fidelity finally paid in full. Now they wanted the truth. And they were willing to hire Kinsey Millhone to dig it up.

As Kinsey pushes deeper into the mystery surrounding Wendell Jaffe's pseudocide, she explores her own past, discovering that in family matters as in crime, sometimes it's better to reserve judgment.
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Mar 23, 2010 Kricket rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, mystery-suspense-thriller

in which kinsey visits mexico on the lookout for wendell jaffe, a ponzi schemer who staged his own suicide before leaving the country.

the thing that struck me yet again is that, for a self-alleged misanthrope, kinsey is really good at getting people to talk to her and trust her. she's constantly showing up unannounced at people's homes demanding information and they all invite her in for coffee and a chat, and allow her to come back even after she pisses them off. i know that this stuff makes th...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this, but not as much as some of others of the series.

Kinsey is off to Mexico to find a guy who faked his death and, as a secondary story, Kinsey learns she as a grandmother and other family she didn’t know existed. I liked the main story line but the many inconsistencies and the unexpected ending disappointed me.

I like mysteries that I can figure out, in the last few books we were not given the opportunity to solve the crime, like we did in the early editions. While this is not a deal...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Anne Toronto1 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense

(one review for series) ***** for the first book because I like the series enough to last till about R, now want more to find new authors, and finish another year. The rest get 3-4* because I cannot remember my favorites. I like strong, brave females who make choices and deal with consequences successfully. I like mysteries. I like funny eccentric, her odd sandwich and cute old landlord choices. Southern California feels warm and dry on a long cold Canadian winter. She always seems to go alone i...more

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Mar 07, 2010 Patty rated it 5 of 5 stars

These "alphabet novels" are nothing short of perfect mystery. Grafton's cleverly crafted characters will stay with you long after you are finished reading the books. Kinsey Milhone, her landord/best friend, Henry and all the others seem so much like real people it is hard to imagine a world without them. I was on the edge of my seat with all the twists and turns, never forseeing what was coming next. I felt that each novel, as Grafton advanced through the alphabet, improved in every way. I would...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-other

Something kept this novel from being a great read. It really started out with a bang -- Kinsey Millhone travels to Mexico to verify that a man thought dead for 5 years is in fact alive. With usual Kinsey fashion, she eventually discovers the truth behind the sighting of the man and uncovers a lot of intrigue along the way.

I read these kind of mysteries because they are fun and quick. They keep me wanting to read more, they are hard to put down, but what separates them is their exposition, how t...more

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Sep 07, 2008 Kellie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2005-reads, alphabet-mystery-series, mystery-thrillers, series

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 10, 2008 Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kinsey Milhone's adventures keep her fairly local in this 10th volume of the popular series by Sue Grafton. She is hired by her former imployer, insurance company California Fidelity, to look into what might be the reappearance of Wendell Jaffe, a man with questionable business tactics who supposedly committed suicide five years earlier as a result of business deals gone bad. CF just recently paid out a $500,000 claim on his death after he was declared dead. He had actually sailed his boat out t...more

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Jun 22, 2008 Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In J is for Judgment, the 1993 installment of Sue Grafton's popular "alphabet" series, private investigator Kinsey Millhone is hired by her former employer California Fidelity Insurance (CFI) to track down Wendell Jaffe. Five years prior, Jaffe took his boat, The Captain Stanley Lord, out to sea off the California coast and was never heard from again. Due to the recent collapse of Jaffe's shady real estate deals, which bankrupted his investors and landed his partner in jail, and his reported sta...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

Have read the whole series up to now. My mother and I have read them together, and we both have enjoyed them very much. I really like Kinsey Millhone. I was quite a bit older when I got married for the first time, so I can appreciate her "singleness." I liked my "singleness" too. I realize that the character has been married a couple times, but she is good at picking up her pieces and moving on. I like the new characters she introduces, and I especially like Henry and Rosie. They are great.

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Jun 17, 2012 Duckpondwithoutducks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries-grafton

In this Kinsey Millhone mystery, Kinsey is hired to find someone who was thought to have died 5 years previously but has now been sighted, and she finds out that she is not alone in the world. She has a grandmother living, and aunts and uncles and cousins. She doesn't know quite which situation is the hardest to deal with! Kinsey, as always, narrates the book with her laconic tone, describing with relish her fast food addiction, and her lack of interest in fashion sense. She also will not rest u...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Jeannette rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 21, 2009 Julianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This one takes Kinsey off to Mexico to find a dead man! She finds him, and that makes her insurance company happy, as maybe they can recover the $500,000 they just paid out to his "widow". But knowing he is there and proving it may be two different things, plus maybe the mistreated widow isn't the only one who was mistreated. Could there be another side to this story? And how did Kinsey end up with cousins? Wasn't she all alone in the world?

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Dec 28, 2012 Hobart rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads

Another solid, solid outing from Grafton and Millhone. Standard boilerplate stuff to say on the mystery front, didn't blow me away, but was fully satisfying. The personal story is potentially great, will have to see how it develops over the next book or so, but I really liked the angry, careful, confused way that Kinsey's approaching this . . . seems honest. Moreso than is standard for this kind of story.

It's reads like this that make me bound and determined to catch up on this series next year.

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Dec 07, 2011 aPriL MEOWS often with scratching rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-suspense-thrillers

It's great. The only quibble is how the involved suspects tell Kinsey their parts played in criminal activities without holding much back despite her job in bringing them to justice. Plus she seems oblivious as to how the seeking of truth and justice can wipe out whatever gains any innocent participants may have inadvertently won through wayward events. However, Kinsey's unusual perseverance never fails to impress me.

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Nov 21, 2008 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book. The story was at times slow, and the author writes in way too much detail for my taste, ie..."she opened the door and walked down the hall passing two flights of stairs, blah, blah, blah." Her books could easily be 100 pages less with some editing of nonessential information. The best part of this book was the ending and the characters last thoughts on the case. I'm glad I finished this one.

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May 06, 2013 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of my favorite book series. I have actually read all the previous books, except for I. I enjoyed this one, including the further character development of Kinsey. Mystery was a good one and kept my interest. Some parallels also, to a current news story regarding a local woman who disappeared 10 years ago, then resurfaced (but without the other features of the story line) Looking forward to reading K.

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About Sue Grafton

Connect with Sue herself on Facebook! www.facebook.com/suegrafton

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2003.

Family History:

Father: C.W. Grafton, born 1909, third son of Presbyterian Missionaries, born and raised in China, educated Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina; practicing attorney in Louisville, Kentucky with a 40-year specialty in municipal bonds. Au...more

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“It's disconcerting to realize how little you have to say to someone who once occupied such a prominent place in your bed.” — 40 people liked it

“The hard thing about death is that nothing ever changes. The hard thing about life is that nothing stays the same.” — 26 people liked it

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J is for Judgment (Kinsey Millhone #10)

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