A Is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone #1) in WACKY READING CHALLENGES

Jan 01, 2018 Li'l Owl rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books, private-detective-investigator, series, mystery-crime-suspense-thriller

An enjoyable mystery crime thriller

'My name is Kinsey Millhone. I’m a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I’m thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind. I’m a nice person and I have a lot of friends. My apartment is small but I like living in a cramped space. I’ve lived in trailers most of my life, but lately they’ve been getting too elaborate for my taste, so now I live in one room, a “ An enjoyable mystery crime thriller

'My name is Kinsey Millhone. I’m a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I’m thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind. I’m a nice person and I have a lot of friends. My apartment is small but I like living in a cramped space. I’ve lived in trailers most of my life, but lately they’ve been getting too elaborate for my taste, so now I live in one room, a “bachelorette.” I don’t have pets. I don’t have houseplants. I spend a lot of time on the road and I don’t like leaving things behind. Aside from the hazards of my profession, my life has always been ordinary, uneventful, and good. Killing someone feels odd to me and I haven’t quite sorted it through. I’ve already given a statement to the police, which I initialed page by page and then signed. I filled out a similar report for the office files. The language in both documents is neutral, the terminology oblique, and neither says quite enough.'

'I’d been out for most of the morning, only stopping by the office to pick up my camera. Nikki Fife was standing in the corridor outside my office door. I’d never really met her but I’d been present at her trial eight years before when she was convicted of murdering her husband, Laurence, a prominent divorce attorney here in town.

“Maybe you’ve heard this one before,” she went on, “but I didn’t kill Laurence and I want you to find out who did.”
“Why wait this long? You could have initiated an investigation from prison and maybe saved yourself some time.”
She smiled faintly. “I’ve been claiming I was innocent for years. Who’d believe me? The minute I was indicted, I lost my credibility. I want that back. And I want to know who did me in.”
I had thought her eyes were dark but I could see now that they were a metallic gray. Her look was level, flattened-out, as though some interior light were growing dim. She seemed to be a lady without much hope. I had never believed she was guilty myself but I couldn’t remember what had made me so sure. She seemed passionless and I couldn’t imagine her caring enough about anything to kill.
“You want to fill me in?”'

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A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton started off pretty slow for me for most of the first half of the book but then it picked up after that and was fast paced all the way to the conclusion.

I enjoyed Kinsey and the storyline was entertaining, especially when the action picked up throughout the second half of the book and I read it in one sitting.
The ending wasn't too much of a surprise for me but I enjoyed it all the the same.

Overall an okay mystery and I might consider reading more in this series in the future.

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Oct 14, 2023 christene_littlelibrary rated it really liked it

Shelves: z-wheel-a-thon-8, g-crime, g-mystery, read-in-2023, z-gn-turf-wars-2023

A is for Alibi is a mystery novel following the story of Kinsey Millhone, a detective who is new to the job and stated that she killed a man at the beginning of the book. Nikki, Kinsey client was under parole of murdering her husband but she then asked Kinsey to investigate as to who is the real culprit. The situation is a bit messy as it involves cheating and lies. I was impressed by how Kinsey portray a detective with attitude and how she come up to her deductions. It doesn't looks like that s ...more

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May 17, 2021 Alicia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2021-aty

I remember being a little girl seeing my aunt adding to her "letter collection". I've always had a curiosity about the hype of this series, and now I know! I love Kinsey. She's sassy, relatable and falls for cute guys and charm (despite her better judgment). Just like so many of us women!

This first book not only introduces us to the twice-divorced, private investigator. Our first client, Nikki, was just released from prison for killing her husband, but she still maintains her innocence. Kinsey i ...more

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