Episode 59 - A is for Alibi

[Renata]

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers...

*pours out a bowl of Dove Promises for my late Kinsey Millhone-loving grandma*

[Caroline]

I mentioned this on Twitter but worth saying here, too -- before Grafton wrote her series there was only one or maybe two other private eye series going on that centered on a female investigator. (Marcia Muller was the first, I'm not sure if Sara Paretsky started before Grafton, but they were roughly contemporary.) So the panel was totally correct in speculating this felt much fresher when it came out; the fact that there are a million shows and series similar to this one now sort of obscures how groundbreaking it was. Ironically, the main thing that has made it stand out over time is that Grafton decided not to age the character along with the series, so that even on book 24 or whatever, I don't think she's even made it to the 90s (so no worries about catching up with technology etc).

[Renata]

That's so wild to think about! Ladies be solving crimes too!