Abandoned by Booklikes

Sigh. I needed a comfort read and even though I have read this book many many times, I was happy to re-read it again. I have this book in hardcover so it was perfect to read as I sat by the pool on Sunday afternoon. Grafton takes Kinsey through the nightlife in Santa Teresa. She feels adrift as she investigates who could have killed Lorna Kepler. With Henry being away visiting his siblings she feels even more adrift. I liked how Grafton chose to end this book and the introduction of the character of Cheney Phillips. 

"K is for Killer" is the 11th Kinsey Millhone mystery. Kinsey is paying the bills and doesn't have much going on job wise at the beginning of this book. She gets pulled into looking into the murder of Lorna Kepler after her mother comes to Kinsey asking for her to investigate what happened to her daughter. Lorna's mother, Janice believes that her daughter may have been forced into a life she didn't want or the police were using her to go undercover. Instead Kinsey finds out that Lorna was living a double life where she mostly seemed to exist at night. There's a lot of twists and turns before Kinsey figures out what happens to Lorna.

Kinsey was great in this one. Determined to get to the bottom of what happened to Lorna she does what she does best. She interviews people, puts together notes, and starts linking things together. Without Henry around she's a bit adrift though and misses the way he made things homey. We already know that Kinsey was orphaned and raised by her aunt who seemed to bear no maternal instinct at all. However, we get to see that she does like her routines like going to Rosie and really loves her little house that was renovated.

Grafton has Lieutenant Dolan appear in this one. She also introduces the character of Cheney Phillips who is working vice in Santa Teresa. It's not to see Kinsey have someone to play off against as she investigates Lorna's death. We get to see his character get further developed in future books.

The book also introduces the character of Danielle who Kinsey becomes close to and who leads Kinsey to doing something that she didn't think was in her nature to do. I remember reading this for the first time and being shocked and then when the book leaps towards the end I was left open mouthed. Grafton I thought did a good job pushing Kinsey to a darker side in this one. 

Looking forward to L.