Sue Grafton

"A" is for alibi

READ THE SENSATIONAL BLOCKBUSTER THAT STARTED IT ALL! Take it from the top in #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton's knockout thriller that introduced detective Kinsey Millhone—and a hot new attitude—to crime fiction... A IS FOR AVENGER A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she's got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes. A IS FOR ACCUSED That's why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she's out on parole and needs Kinsey's help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki's bad name won't be easy. A IS FOR ALIBI If there's one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer—and sharper—than she imagined.

"A" is for Alibi

Briar's Reviews

I've been eying down the Kinsey Millhone books for years. I've always wanted to read them, but I could never find this first book! I always found the books near the middle or the end of the alphabet. It was so frustrating, but my luck turned a few weeks back - I found A is for Alibi. I truly want to read all of these books, solely because the titles are fun. Sure, don't judge a book by it's cover, but why not judge for a cool title? 

This book was slow for a thriller, but it was a real good read. We follow Kinsey, a private investigator who's recent job is for Nikki. She's been released from prison after a stint due to the murder of her husband. But, Nikki is insistent she didn't murder him and there's definitely others out there who had a reason to kill him. Kinsey is down for the challenge, and she starts looking into his ex wives, ex business partners, and even his kids...

There's a lot of filler in this book that could have been left out and the story would have been the same. I did enjoy it, but I also started getting drained by just how MUCH filler there was. The story itself wasn't obvious either. Sure, the odd clue was left behind, but I couldn't piece the mystery together myself which is my preferred kind of mystery/thriller book. If we get all of those details... Can they at least be important?

I'll still work on continuing this series. The first books aren't always the best, so here's hoping the books go up.

Two out of five stars. Just too darn slow and too much fluff for my personal tastes.

Colleen

3 Stars

I buddy read the first half of this series years ago with my mom. That was long before Goodreads, back when I consistently got frustrated trying to figure out what order book series went in. I used to spend a lot of time opening book after book to look at the original publication date then trying to figure out which one was meant to be read first. So I'll admit the primary appeal when I started reading the The Kinsey Millhone Mysteries was always knowing what order they went in.

After reading half the series in a fairly short time, I got burnt out on the series and forgot about it for a long time. But when I saw that the series is finally almost complete (Y is for Yesterday came out this year so there is only one book left to be published), I thought I would circle back around to these books. 

My overall view is that this is an alright series but certainly not the "sensational blockbuster" that the publisher claims. True, the books do get better as they go on. But for the start of such a popular series, it was a tad underwhelming. Kinsey Millhone, the main character and narrator, was not a particularly engaging character. There was a lot of set up for her backstory but no real character development. She was also supposed to be a tough ex-cop, but she seemed... average and not a strong female lead. 

A is for Alibi has a Hard Boiled / Gumshoe vibe. It's hard to strike the right balance with a Hard Boiled novel. Admittedly, that is not my favored subgenre of Mystery. The story did not have the witty dialogue of Dashiell Hammett or the masterful plots of Agatha Christie or the unforgettable characters of Arthur Conan Doyle. If I had to pinpoint one particular flaw though, it would be the story lacked vitality. I simply did not find Kinsey's narration very engaging. Part of that was because the story was told as if Kinsey was writing a report log of the case. It removed the dramatic tension because certain things were forgone conclusions. It also was not believable as a case summary because of the amount of personal minutia that were included. It hard far too much information not technically related to the case to be believable as a professional report. And who puts the details of their sex life in a work report?? 

Speaking of which, the love interest was terrible. I simply did not like the guy. I did not believe in their chemistry AT ALL which made it impossible to be interested in the romantic scenes. That entire thread of the story felt contrived. Maybe the sex scenes were popular because they were edgy back when this was published in the early 80's, but they caused more than one snort of derision from me. I suppose it also seemed far-fetched that Kinsey's character would be so uncontrollably horny at times while displaying a large lack of emotion the rest of the time.

And one last little quibble: Kinsey states multiple times in the story that the case is one where alibis mean nothing due to how the murder was committed. So the title seems pointless. 

Despite all of that, this is still a good series if you like easy to read Hard Boiled detective fiction. I'll probably keep reading this series in between my other books. 


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Fran Lewis

Carol Bailey

This was just ok. I found the story strange but also put it off to my inability to stay focused. I also wanted to read this series and assumed I needed to start with "A". Hopefully B is for bettter.

and B. is for Burglar

A. is for Alibi

Charlotte Gyselinck

I liked it decently enough and I will continue the series. I found it a bit predictable at times but I was never bored

It was a pretty good first in a series, though it seems like each could probably stand on its own from on to the next.

The only downside in my mind is how the romance was handled, it seemed a bit rushed. Otherwise Kinsey was pretty witty and fun to read.

Daryl Houston

I had read a few Grafton novels when I was a kid and decided to try her work on as a grown-up. It's about as I remembered it, though with a little more sex and swearing than I had recalled (I mean, it's still pretty vanilla, though). This was about on par for me with the rest of mysteries I've read this year. Kinsey Millhone isn't as fun or memorable as a personality as some of the others (she no Nero Wolfe or Miss Marple or Poirot or Holmes), but she's fun enough to spend a few hundred pages with.

Liv Gliese Johnsen

At times this book was mildly entertaining, but I don't think I have ever been so tired of a book. It seemed like it kept going forever. And I didn't expect that I would be able to guess the killer but I did. So it didn't even live up to my expectations of a crime fiction... I feel like I just wasted so much of my time