The best in the alphabet series - absolutely gripping

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	• S is for Silence (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) Sue Grafton Berkley, 2006 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 223 reviews view larger image
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Kinsey still rules...

Ever since *A is for Alibi*, I've been hooked to the Kinsey Millhone series. Therefore, Sue Grafton became one of my favorite authors. Throughout the series, some were great and some were not so great. Nonetheless, I was extremely excited to get the paperback edition of *S is for Silence*. I read this book every opportunity I could take advantage of.

It's 1987. Kinsey has been hired by Daisy Sullivan to find out whatever happened to her mother, Violet, who disappeared on 4th of July 1953.

4th of July 1953, Violet is getting herself ready for the festive night. In walks Liza Mellincamp, who has been hired to babysit Violet's 7 year old daughter, Daisy. Liza is in awe of Violet. Violet is ready and takes off with her new Pomeranian puppy, Baby, in her brand-new Bel Aire. She was never seen after this day.

34 years later, Daisy wants closure. She wants to know why if her mother left on her own volition. Kinsey returns to the little town where Violet lived before she disappeared. Just about 90% of the people who were there in '53 are still living there. Piece of cake, eh? Not quite so. However, Kinsey has been able to piece together the last days of Violet before she disappeared.

It was no secret that Violet was a flirt. Married men didn't stop her. It was also not a secret that she won a $50,000 lawsuit settlement. She wasn't afraid to brag about it.

The question is did she disappear on her own or was she killed? If she took off on her own, why? Was there a serious lover? If she was murdered, there are no shortage of suspects. Was it her abusive, now recovering alcoholic, husband? Was it the young salesman who sold her that car and was later fired? Was it one of the married men that she had an affair with and abruptly stopped the liasion? Was it one of the women, disgusted by Violet's absence of moral standards?

The book "toggles" between Kinsey's present time (1987), in one chapter, and the characters in 1953. *S* was an interesting change of routine. In the other series, she usually includes Henry, her landlord, Rosie, owner of a restaurant, and some lover. In *S*, they're barely mentioned. So, it was nice to see Kinsey interact more with her client and the people she interviewed.

Overall, a good book that I couldn't put down. Now, I'm just sad because I gotta wait forever before T comes out. Sue, hurry!

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The best in the alphabet series - absolutely gripping

Sue Grafton's work has matured and this was one of the best books I read this year.

A woman disappeared fifty years ago and Kinsey Millhorne is hired to find out what happened to her. As she unravels a tangle it flips between 1953 and present day. When Violet Sullivan went missing, so did her adored little dog, a new car and $50,000. Was she murdered by her drunken, violent husband? That is the general consensus but the true story is much darker and it appears that Violet's life was entwined with many others.

There are lots of red herrings, twists and turns and I never worked out what had happened on that July 4th in 1953 until the last few pages. It gripping from start to finish. The ending was quite sudden, and this is my only slight niggle with the book.

Kinsey is investigating this as a cold case and the people she interviews give their own version of events, not always complete, not always true.

I am not going to spoil it for other readers by divulging too much but there are parallel sub-plots which I found really rounded out the book for me.

Her daughter Daisy was with the babysitter, and I really liked the thread involving the teenage babysitter and her boyfriend, especially what might happen in the future.

Remember, nothing is as it it seems in a small town.

I can't wait for the next one in this series. Sue Grafton is a skilled writer and, like Tami Hoag and now Sandra Brown, she takes time over each book, honing it until it is near perfect. The quality of the writing, plot lines and editing are all excellent.

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One of Grafton's best except for the ending.

Kinsey Millhone had the mystery of `Violet Sullivan dumped on her lap through her detective friend. Tannie Ottweiler was a close friend of Daisy Sullivan, who has never gotten on with her life all this time after the disappearance of her mother. Daisy was just a small child when this happened and never understood the mystery of why her mother up and left. She wants Kinsey to try and dig it up after 30 plus years and see if she can solve the case once and for all. So reluctantly, Kinsey gives in and picks up any threads she can to start the search.

Of course Violet was a "loose woman," and had very hot pants. So this leads to a number of suspects. What Kinsey discovers as she uncovers more of this saga is that Violet was abused by her husband Foley, so of course he was the number on suspect on the list. Very shortly before she disappeared on July 3rd of 1953, Foley bought her a brand new car, a Bel Aire that Violet absolutely loved. Since they were poor though, Kinsey wondered where the money came from and dug to find out, not coming up with anything-until later that is.

After Kinsey questioned Chet Cramer, one of the men Violet had an affair with, he brought up a place called "New Cut Road," as having seen Violet there in her new car the very last time. Thinking this over carefully, and recording the fact on her index cards as always, Kinsey dug a little deeper. When she drove down that path one day, which was quite isolated by all means, she saw something peculiar-an indentation in the sand that was several feet long. She couldn't let that go, so called the authorities to investigate there in that place. The police came out, and found a team to dig up a large hole, where indeed they found what they were looking for after all these years-the car had been buried down deeply in the sand-along with Violet long dead.

As Kinsey gets closer and closer to finding out the real truth, she puts herself in danger like always. The first incident being her tires getting slashed. And when she continues to dig and find out who did this-Kinsey may just get dug in a hole this time if she's not careful. Someone wants to shut her up, and will do so at all costs.

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G is for Good

While I would not put Sue Grafton in the top tier of mystery writers - a level I reserve for folks like James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly and Raymond Chandler - she is a consistently good writer. Her "Alphabet" series of novels featuring Kinsey Millhone have reached volume nineteen with S is for Silence, and once again Grafton has treated her readers to a clever novel.

The silence in the title refers to that of Violet Sullivan who disappeared on the Fourth of July back in 1953. With an abusive husband and a not-so-secret stash of money, it is assumed by many that she ran away, while others assume the husband killed her. Thirty-four years later, her daughter Daisy retains Kinsey to try to track her mother down. Daisy has been tormented through the decades by the fact that her mother abandoned her. Kinsey is reluctant to take the case, figuring Daisy is merely wasting her money, but eventually she is persuaded to take the case.

Violet was a beautiful woman and had more than her share of lovers in her small town of Serena Station; many are still around, and Kinsey's investigation opens up a lot of old wounds. Slowly, she pieces together the facts behind that Independence Day disappearance, but the key question - if Daisy was killed (and if so, by who) or left voluntarily (and if so, where) - is much more elusive to determine.

One of the things I enjoy the most about the Millhone books is that they seem much more in the classic style of private eye fiction that I especially associate with Chandler and Ross MacDonald. In these books, the private eye is almost a non-character who is thrust into the lives of strangers, but essentially emerges untouched by the case. Millhone has a bit more of a life than Philip Marlowe or Lew Archer, but she is essentially an outsider in the stories. Contrast that with more modern mysteries where the heroes are more intimately involved in their cases. I'm not saying that one way is better than other (it all depends on the execution), but the detached detective seems rarer today than it once was.

The only real problem with this series is that the stories (while enjoyable) are kind of forgettable after a while, and even when I remember them, I find it hard to link it with a particular title. Yes, H is for Homicide, but since almost every novel involves a killing, it's hard to recall what the story was about. That should not deter anyone from reading these books, but don't expect for it to have any deep impact in your life; it is a "beach read": fun and fast. S is for Silence fits right in with A through R and will entertain mystery fans.

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Terrific.....until the ending

I found myself unable to put the book down; the structure of the novel, alternating between Kinsey's investigation and flashbacks to 1953, the days leading up to Violet's disappearance, is very effective. The characters are well-defined and Sue Grafton makes them come to life through dialogue which always rings true.
However, I was disappointed by the ending. While we find out what happened to Violet, and who is responsible for her disappearance, we are left to speculate as to that person's motives. We never find out what happened in the crucial last hours and there are a number of loose ends and unanswered questions. If not for that, I would have given the book five stars, but I like my mysteries wrapped up tidily.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, page 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

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