Mystery/Crime

Background

Published in 1988, “E” is for Evidence is the fifth installment of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series. The protagonist is Kinsey Millhone. A no nonsense private investigator who solves crimes while only occasionally bending the rules.

Kinsey begins by doing a simple insurance claim on a warehouse fire but quickly becomes framed as a co-conspirator. She doesn’t know who she can trust as the framers seem to know every step she takes.

My Thoughts

This book was a little more personal than the rest. We see Kinsey make a friend out of a rival/enemy and even meet her second husband. We, as readers, are able to see why she has been so guarded and why she hasn’t been in a hurry to have men in her life.

Recommendation

A good read. There are some themes which aren’t for children.

Background

Published in 1987, “D” is for Deadbeat is the fourth installment of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series. The protagonist is Kinsey Millhone. A no nonsense private investigator who solves crimes while only occasionally bending the rules.

This book starts with Kinsey trying to collect on a bad check she was written. The man writing the check ended up dead and you wouldn’t believe who killed him…

My Thoughts

A pretty good read all and all. I liked how there were just some things that the protagonist just couldn’t fix. Life is like that sometimes and it is good to see a written work struggle with those issues.

Recommendation

A good read but not for the kids.

Background

Published in 1986, “C” is for Corpse is the third installment of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series. The protagonist is Kinsey Millhone. A no nonsense private investigator who solves crimes while only occasionally bending the rules.

The story starts with Kinsey being hired to investigate a young man being run off the road. She takes the case and afterwards finds out he has a ton of money. Kinsey has to hob nob with high society while she tries to track down who would want to do him harm. Just as she thinks she is getting a handle on the case, her employer dies. Should she continue to work for a dead man to get to the truth?

My Thoughts

Another good novel by Sue Grafton. As always, I enjoyed the 80s references and was saddened that drugs were such an issue even back then. Of course, it was all about cocaine, marijuana Valium and Quaaludes. There were some fun twists and turns in the story and I really didn’t see a lot of it coming.

Recommendation

A good book but I wouldn’t recommend it for the under teenage crowd.

Background

Published in 2018, The Fallen is the fourth book in the Memory Man series by David Baldacci. Amos Decker is the memory man due to a head injury he sustained in his first and only play in the NFL. Not only was his personality changed but he now has a perfect memory which he uses for the Ohio police and later the FBI.

Decker and his partner go to Baronville, a run down town which is only starting to make a comeback. Baronville was named for the owner of the mine who worked his employees mercilessly and grew amazingly wealthy. Now his great grandson is the last of the Baron line who lives in poverty in the ruins of his family’s broken mansion. However, the first Baron may have hid all of his wealth and some people will stop at nothing to get it.

My Thoughts

The Fallen was a book that took me along a journey that I didn’t see coming. The author does a great job of not tipping his hand as the story unfolds and everything comes into place.

The convention of Decker’s perfect memory comes in very handy as a plot device. He seems to be an ever flowing fount of wisdom and knowledge through which anything can be explained. I didn’t feel like it was overused but it was rather convenient this time around.

Recommendation

A good read.

Background

Published in 1985, “B” is for Burglar is the second installment of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series. The protagonist is Kinsey Millhone. A no nonsense private investigator who solves crimes while only occasionally bending the rules.

This mystery starts as a case of a missing person but quickly spins into money, intrigue and murder.

My Thoughts

I enjoyed reading this book not only because of the story line but because of the mid 1980’s references. Having largely grown up in the 80s, there are a number of words and situations that kick off a bout of nastalga.

Recommendation

A good read but it contains some language and adult situations.

Background

The Fix is the third book in the “Memory Man” series or the books following Amos Decker. At this point, Decker is a special agent with the FBI who is so new he still hasn’t had his clearance completed. He and his former journalist turned agent, and now roommate, work together to solve a mystery which is much bigger than they thought.

My Thoughts

Yet another fun read from David Baldacci. I was interested from start to finish and enjoyed the process.

Recommendation

Good read but start at the first book in the series.

Background

Published in 2012, The Innocent is the first of 6 books featuring the hit man “Will Robie”. Will ends up saving a young girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My Thoughts

As with the rest of the David Baldacci novels, I really enjoyed it. Everyone likes a good underdog story and this was a great one.

Recommendation

A good read.

Background

This is the first of many mystery books by Sue Grafton or book 1 of the “The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries”. These book are each titled with a letter from the alphabet. Starting from A through Y at the time of this review.

Kinsey Millhone is a private eye who is hired to help prove a woman who had already been convicted of murder was really innocent.

My Thoughts

This was a fun read. I was refreshed that the book didn’t spend so much time on the sexuality of the main protagonist who is a woman. The book was written in 1982 so I didn’t quite know what to expect. I was concerned it would have been a throw away quasi romance novel or something else. These days I’m sure we would have had to hear a whole diatribe on her sexual preferences…

However, it was just a mystery novel about how a woman private eye went about life and solved her case. I liked it.

Recommendation

A good read if you like mystery novels.

Background

Origin is Dan Brown’s latest novel. Published in 2017, Mr. Brown takes on the subject of the singularity and artificial intelligence. Again Robert Langton finds himself embroiled in politics on the world stage. This time, he finds himself on the run with Spanish royalty while both the far right and the police are trying to stop him.

My Thoughts

Dan Brown writes a good novel. He brings you into the characters and walks you easily along side of them. The subject matter on this book was pretty good. The singularity is getting closer and closer to all of us. I enjoyed his optimistic view of the future.

Recommendation

A great read