Maggie M. - , reviewed on 1/28/2016 + 400 more book reviews

Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series started out with the alphabet letter of "A" is for Alibi and has gone right on through; hence, "V" is for Vengeance. Kinsey Millhone is a 30-something female private investigator living in California, along the coast. After spending a couple of years as a cop, she's stuck with the PI and makes ends meet handling both the mundane divorce cases, as well as these high-crime investigations to what each book is based on. Kinsey lives in a converted/rebuilt garage studio apartment and is best-buds with Henry, her landlord, who is an 80-something retired baker. Henry's hypochondriac brother and wife, who has a penchant for cooking outlandish, unheard of Hungarian dishes at their local neighborhood dive bar, is a favorite hangout of Kinsey's. Throughout every book it's like a homecoming for the reader to go along with Kinsey every time she has dinner at the bar, or stops over to drink a glass of wine with Henry.

In this book, Kinsey decides to stop off at Nordstrom's to take advantage of a sale on underwear. After witnessing two women shoplift, she reports it to the saleswoman and the fun begins! Kinsey is roped further into the case when one of the shoplifters is found dead in an apparent suicide. The shoplifter's fiancé thinks it's murder, and, of course his precious Audrey couldn't be involved in shoplifting, let alone doing it more than once! He hires Kinsey to investigate. Twists and turns leads us to a big crime ring, a loan shark, a spoiled trophy wife, and more. A good surprise ending and I found I wanted to continue on reading more about Kinsey's life and cases...even after reading all of the previous 22 books! I think it's impressive an author can continue to keep the series fresh and the readers hooked after so many books...and it's all done without gore, fowl language, or prejudice in its many forms that authors throw in. A refreshing, light, yet thoroughly interesting and addictive series.

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