V is for Vengeance - Sue Grafton

This review appeared in Tuesday's Shelf Awareness for Readers and is appearing now with permission from the folks at Shelf Awareness.

First line: "Phillip Lanahan drove to Vegas in his 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, a snappy little red car his parents had given him two months before, when he graduated from Princeton."


In her twenty-second outing with P.I. Kinsey Milhone, Sue Grafton brings back all the quirky, loveable characteristics of her protagonist while ramping up the intensity of Kinsey’s experiences.

There are few authors who can open a novel with a gruesome murder and flawlessly transition to her heroine shopping for underwear without losing credibility, but that’s precisely the way Grafton begins V is for Vengeance. And in Kinsey’s world, even shopping for underwear can’t be easy. She observes a woman shoplifting and notifies the store employee. When the shoplifter is arrested and then apparently commits suicide, Kinsey finds herself investigating the woman’s death on behalf of her fiancé. As hidden details of the woman’s life are uncovered, Kinsey comes face-to-face with her own mortality and discovers her work on this investigation may very well be a threat to her own life.

Grafton’s Alphabet Series is a rare series that continues to show momentum after more than 20 books. V is for Vengeance is entertaining, while still making your heart race with a thriller’s anticipation. Kinsey Milhone remains a unique protagonist in the P.I. genre, while Grafton continues to surround her with dimensional supporting characters and antagonists. Readers can’t help but invest in the entire cast, turning pages swiftly to reveal their fates.

Grafton most assuredly still has her stride. Series fans won’t be disappointed and newcomers can pick up V without any knowledge of the previous 21 books. Another winner for the matriarch of the P.I. novel.

V is for Vengeance is available from Marian Wood Book/Putnam in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0399157868) and on unabridged audio (ASIN: B0067EYTDM) from Random House Audio, narrated by Judy Kaye.