There is something immensely likeable about Kensey Millhone and Grafton's series so far. Swiftly-moving and well-plotted, the books are a quick, fun read. 

We finally get a resolution that doesn't involve Kinsey in mortal peril, which was a nice change. My update mentioned that this victim had a lot of enemies and that I therefore had no idea who had done it, and the ending was a surprise to me, although I'm not sure if that was because Grafton successfully palmed the ace, or if it was because I truly didn't find it all that convincing.

I think it was the latter, really. I'm not convinced that the "villain" in this case would actually have done what happened in the book. So, while it was well-done, it really wasn't all that believable.

I really enjoyed spending the book with Kinsey, though. She is a combination of cynical and warm-hearted, and while I understand why she was conflicted at the end of the book, her willingness to seek the truth on behalf of someone as reprehensible as Dagget, the victim, speaks well of her moral compass. I'm not particularly bothered by cheating in a non-romance context, so the development in her relationship with Jonas, a married man, didn't cause me any heartburn. 

All in all, this was a satisfying entry, mostly for Kinsey, and less so for the solution to the mystery. 

Reading/Listening:

I'm still working hard on the Adventure Quilt - it has to be finished by the going away party next Saturday (2/17) because the recipient is leaving Oregon for parts unknown on 2/18. I'll post pics of the finished quilt.

Because of this, most of my reading is occurring through listening right now! I downloaded A Discovery of Witches as an audiobook because it sounded like an appealing reread. I'm about 5 hours in, and have about 18 hours left. I am still dithering on whether I will continue to listen to it, or move onto Crooked House by Agatha Christie, which I could probably finish this weekend.

I've barely dipped into A World Undone and I haven't even cracked This Rough Magic. I'm at about 20% in The Venetian Affair.

Haul:

I just bought D is for Deadbeat and E is for Evidence to continue my Kinsey Millhone read over the next ten days or so. I also picked up The Last Summer by Juliet Nicholson, which is a non-fiction book about the summer of 1911, prior to the beginning of WWI in 1914. I am planning to blow through that one (it's a mere 325 pages) before really digging into a A World Undone. I'm loosely planning on following it with Nicholson's book about the time after the armistice, called The Great Silence. I also bought Somebody at the Door by Raymond Postgate, mostly because I wanted to buy a BLCC and I liked the cover. 

Total for the week: $34.90

I thought this one was bit more complicated than it needed to be. Even re-reading this year's later, a lot doesn't gel together very well. We do get more information on Kinsey and others. I just think it was too rushed as a whole to be really enjoyable.

The fourth novel finds Kinsey in a quandry. She is hired to deliver a cashier's check, but the check to her bounces. She tracks down the man who hired her and realizes that he also lied to her about his name and past. When he turns up dead, she accepts money from his estranged daughter to find out if he was murdered or not. 

Diving into this one, we find out that there are plenty of people who wanted Kinsey's client dead. I think my disconnect was why Kinsey even cared. At times she hides things she knows from the man's daughter and goes that she was feeling protective. This is after she finds out he beat one woman, was responsible for the deaths of five people, and just was generally it sounded like unpleasant.

The writing was okay. My big gripe was the reveal at the end didn't work for me at all. I think Grafton wanted to add some shock value where none was needed. The flow was bumpy in this too. Probably because Kinsey kept traipsing from Santa Teresa to a town nearby. 

There's some movement with Kinsey and Jonah. By since I know how that turns out, I don't much care. 

The ending was a but of a letdown. All is revealed, and in the end, I didn't think justice was really served, even if Kinsey did. 

This one doesn't grab me as much as C is for Corpse. Maybe because the man that Kinsey is tracking down is a deadbeat in every sense of the word and I don't care who killed the guy. 

We do get more details about Kinsey's aunt in this one. She apparently taught her how to shoot when she was 8. She didn't care for cooking and passed that onto Kinsey as well.

It takes a few books for all of Kinsey's family history to come tumbling out. It's great though how Grafton gives early clues here and there.