late sue grafton

[Alan]

her early books which i read some of them later on were not as good as the middle of the alphabet - if i remember correctly i went beserk on q is for quarry because it was a miserable failure for me - i found myself screaming out loud as i read it - the most amazing thing about grafton is that she stuck to this suicidal choice of writing a Kinsey Milhone for every letter in the alphabet - also that in I think the one before Q grafton dated the book so that we now knew that the whole series was taking place in the 80's - now that was an incredible shock - why did she do that - i think she's cracking under the pressure

[Quillracer]

I have a different take. I thought the middle of the alphabet books (say L thru O?) were much weaker than earlier ones, a lapse she corrected (in my opinion) with the P thru V books. I admire, too, her willingness to try new ways of telling the stories, not just cranking them out in the same format
But that's why they make vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

[Elaine]

I always look forward to the next book. I don't worry about writing styles. I just want to follow the clues and help solve who did it. To me reading is something to enjoy and relax with after a stressful day. I love the whole alphabet series; you never know what word is going to be next, but it is fun to guess.

[Stacey]

I found the earlier books weak but I can't blame her, she hadn't found her niche yet. As the books progress, I found they got better and better, deeper and deeper.

LOL, the title of this post "late sue grafton" had me thinking she had passed away, thank God she didn't! I don't know what I'd do if we didn't get all the way to "Z"!

[Nancy]

whew thought you mean she had passed away!! Don't scare me like that. I love all her books.

[Michelle]

I wa afraid she dad died. Your title, late Sue Grafton, scared me. She is one of my favorite authors. I have absolutely enjoyed all of the Alphabet series.

[Alan]

I am a fan of the entire series, but obviously some books more than others. And yes, her style has changed over the years, these later books have more POVs in them and have a different scope, but I continue to enjoy them.

[Hollisterbulldawg]

Ms Grafton is evolving very nicely. All her books are a treat to read. The later ones are taking on the texture of another Santa Barbara author: Ross MacDonald. He is the exemplar mystery writer to me and Ms Grafton has become just as good as he once was. (I have to admit I would take a couple of Tylenol halfway through a Ross mystery because it got so convoluted and complicated, but I loved it.) Having lived in that beautiful area for 12 years, I enjoy decoding the locations.

[Peg]

I heard that "V" was her last one ever. Any truth???

[Hollisterbulldawg]

Peg wrote: "I heard that "V" was her last one ever. Any truth???"

Let's see: Robert Parker has been dead for a couple of years and his books are still being published, same for Michael Crichton. Arthur Conan Doyle has been dead for over a century and new Sherlock Holmes keep coming out. I think only Tony Hillerman actually died as I have seen nothing about Jim Cree recently. I believe it safe to say that Kinsey Milhone will outlast all of us.

[Anna]

This was a long slow read.

[Ron]

I just spotted this forum. However, the title is somewhat misleading. When I read "late Sue Grafton" my first reaction was, "did she pass away?" and I had to check to see if she had. Happily, probably even more so for Ms. Grafton, that has not happened.

But, that title is misleading...

[Kat]

I personally love that she's kept the series plodding along its own timeline in the '80s -- it forces Kinsey to stick with old-fashioned sleuthing methods like phone books, friends at the DMV and the like. PI fiction isn't as fun when the character sits down to Google something.