Patricia S. (patsto) reviewed on 10/6/2005 + 33 more book reviews

4 stars out of five - another Grafton bestseller.
Two policemen out hunting discover a teenage girl's body near a quarry off California's

Highway 1. Eighteen years later, the two recruit Millhone to help them try to identify the

victim. Stacey Oliphant, now retired from the force, and Con Dolan, unwillingly sidelined by

heart trouble, are as quarrelsome as an old married couple, but they both desperately want

to find the killer in the quarry case. Their inquiries lead the trio from Santa Teresa to

Quorum, a town in the desert near the Arizona border. At the time of the murder, a wrecked

red convertible was found near the crime scene-stolen from an auto shop in Quorum. When

Millhone and her cohorts talk to the grumpy shop owner, Ruel McPhee, and his charming son,

Cornell, they get little information. Visits around town and probing conversations reveal

various family secrets and covert liaisons, until the somewhat precipitous unmasking of the

killer. Grafton briefly shoehorns in Millhone's interactions with her lost family And a

marvelously successful addition is the twosome of Dolan and Oliphant. Their deftly rendered

relationship is a delight; with any luck, the duo will appear in future Millhone mysteries.

A main selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club and Mystery Guild, and a BOMC

featured selection.

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