Kinsey Millhone is a former cop, a twice divorcee, and a private investigator. Nikki Fife, a woman accused, convicted, and imprisoned for murdering her philandering husband, Laurence Fife, has just been released on parole and wants her name cleared. She comes to Kinsey, who takes the case and begins the slow process of unraveling the truth hidden by eight years. Grafton, Sue (1982). "A" is for Alibi. Thorndike Press Large Print Famous Authors, 2008, in arrangement with Henry Holt & Company. p.5. ISBN 9781410406811. Kinsey begins her reinvestigation into Laurence Fife's murder with a visit to the Santa Teresa Police Department where she asked Lieutenant Con Dolan for a look at the Fife case files. Because Nikki had been convicted by a jury who purportedly weighed the evidence presented by both the prosecuting and defense attorneys, she wasn't expecting to discover any new evidence. But she was startled to find that just 4 days after Laurence Fife died after ingesting allergy medication laced with oleander, a young woman named Libby Glass, who had been an accountant in Fife's law firm, had also died from oleander poisoning. The police had been aware of Libby Glass's death but hadn't been able to connect her death to Nikki Fife. Con Dolan was certain that Nikki had also murdered Libby Glass but Kinsey wasn't so sure. Kinsey believed Nikki had been telling her the truth and she was determined to follow the new clues to get to the bottom of the mystery of just who murdered Laurence Fife and Libby Glass.. and why. Mildly paced with other mediocre tension, the book mainly wins through the point of view of the detective. She's a down-to-earth, relatable protagonist. Divorced and eager to help solve crimes for the underdog, even if she doesn't go to those cases intentionally, her thorough skills show a mystery where the clues are solved by actual logical work and not just nifty clue falling into her lap like most mysteries do. We get to go through random phone calls, ponderings of a next step, legwork, and misleading interviews. Good old detective classics.

Everett, Todd (May 23, 1991). "Mystery Town: Whodunit author Sue Grafton lives in Santa Barbara and sets her tales in Santa Teresa". Los Angeles Times. p.J15. The Lying Game (2003) – a Kinsey Millhone short story which appeared in the September 2003 special 40th anniversary Lands' End catalogue. It also appeared as a separate pamphlet given to attendees at Malice Domestic 2011 conference, where Grafton was recognized for Lifetime Achievement. It is included in Kinsey and Me. urn:lcp:aisforalibi00graf:epub:0cacc403-415f-48e8-adc5-a9744c56e82e Foldoutcount 0 Identifier aisforalibi00graf Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t1xd1jt0b Isbn 0553279912And if Kinsey is supposed to have her shit together, then why is she the dumbest bitch EVER?!?!?! I mean, do y’all remember what happens in this book???? A wonderful character, tough but not brutish, resourceful and sensitive, a fit knight to walk those mean streets with her male predecessors.” — Los Angeles Times on the Sue Grafton series and Kinsey Millhone Grafton had been fascinated by mysteries series whose titles were related, such as John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series, each of which included a color in the title, and Harry Kemelman's Rabbi Small series, each of which included a day of the week in the title. While reading Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies, a picture book with an alphabetized list of ways for children to die, Grafton decided to write a series of novels whose titles would follow the alphabet. She immediately sat down and made a list of all of the crime-related words that she knew. [13] Her experience as a screenwriter taught her the basics of structuring a story, writing dialogue, and creating action sequences. Grafton then felt ready to return to writing fiction. [13] While going through a "bitter divorce and custody battle that lasted six long years", Grafton imagined ways to kill or maim her ex-husband. Her fantasies were so vivid that she decided to write them down. [16] Alphabet series [ edit ] Sue Grafton

As early as 1991 Grafton had announced that the final book in the series would be called Z is for Zero, but after Y is for Yesterday she became ill with cancer and was unable even to begin that last novel. Her family ruled out further adaptations of her books or any use of ghostwriters to continue the Millhone series.I enjoy the setting of Santa Teresa and it sounds ideal at times. The series takes place here and though the years may change, Santa Teresa is the main setting. A+E Studios announced this week that it had acquired rights to Grafton’s alphabet series, with such titles as A Is for Alibi and E Is for Evidence. Grafton completed 25 Millhone books, through Y Is for Yesterday, but died in 2017 before she could write a story for Z. I'm thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids... I'm a nice person and I have a lot of friends. So, yeah, you can call me a trend-setter. I'm up on the hip scene of today. I know what is cool... or as you kids might say, I'm DTF. (That means Definitely Trendy and Fresh, right?) 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.

History of Guests of Honor". Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016 . Retrieved July 5, 2014. The husband, Laurence Fife, was a philandering attorney with a loose moral code who had antagonized any number of potential suspects. But the police and prosecutors argued that only Nikki could have poisoned one of Laurence's allergy capsules and she was thus convicted on this rather flimsy evidence. The interior was done with polished uneven red-tile flooring, mirrors floor to ceiling, and panels of raw gray wood, hung here and there with clusters of dried corn.” Unable to find success with her novels, Grafton turned to screenplays. [12] Grafton worked for the next 15 years writing screenplays for television movies, including Sex and the Single Parent; Mark, I Love You; and Nurse. Grafton sold the movie rights for The Lolly-Madonna War and co-wrote the screenplay for the feature film. The adaptation, released in 1973 as Lolly-Madonna XXX, starred Rod Steiger and Jeff Bridges. Her screenplay for Walking Through the Fire earned a Christopher Award in 1979. In collaboration with her husband, Steven Humphrey, she also adapted the Agatha Christie novels A Caribbean Mystery and Sparkling Cyanide for television and co-wrote A Killer in the Family and Love on the Run. [8] [13] She is credited with the story upon which the screenplay for the made for TV movie Svengali (1983) was based. [14] [15] Millhone has a modest solo practice as a P.I. that she runs out of a small office in the fictional town of Santa Teresa, California. Orphaned as a child and twice divorced, she lives a quiet, solitary life, eschewing the kinds of possessions and personal connections that most people take for granted. But this is her life and she's perfectly happy with it. Certainly she would never be mistaken for Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher. And unlike any number of other female sleuths, she is perfectly capable of solving difficult mysteries without the assistance of a cat.I’m interested enough to continue on with the series, especially since Ms. Grafton is a three-time Anthony and Shamus Award winner and is a recipient of the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. But I won’t rush right to my Kindle and pop open the next book. Reading Macdonald, I never felt close to Archer. Respected him, yes; his points of view—certainly. But, he was more of a mentor than a friend. Kinsey, if not an improvement on the old guard, is a rewarding detour from the archaic tight-lipped detective. When Laurence's former law partner, Charlie Scorsoni, stops by to chat her up, she feels the pull of mutual attraction. Grafton never wanted her novels to be turned into movies or TV shows. According to her family she would never allow a ghost writer to write in her name. Because of these things, and out of respect for Sue’s wishes, the family announced the alphabet now ends at “ Y” A secondary storyline involves Millhone's surveillance of Marcia Threadgill, suspected of insurance fraud in a trip-and-fall case. Although Millhone believes she has successfully documented Threadgill's deception, the insurance firm that contracted Millhone to investigate Threadgill moves to pay her claim anyway, citing potential legal costs and complications, including the risk of reprisal. 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?