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"H" Is for Homicide

"H" Is for Homicide

List Price: $23.95
Your Price: $16.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hurrah for Kinsey Millhone
Review: I love Sue Grafton's work. She has created a wonderful set of characters led by Kinsey Milhone, Private Investigator. In this novel Kinsey is investigating insurance fraud and takes her job seriously enough to pose as a hooker in order to get close to the hooker who will lead her to solving the case. This book is as usual a fast paced thriller.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sue Grafton Presents American Wit and Murder From S. Calif
Review: I loved H is for Homicide and believe that it is Sue Grafton at her finest. As a Sue Grafton fan, I have read all of her books and loved them all but this one really hit the spot.

Kinsey Milhone, the main character, sets out to investigate a series of suspicious automobile insurance claims and ends up hanging out in the barrio with the perpetrators. Her entree into this secluded world was an evening spent in a very nasty bar posing as an after-hours tart whose mission is to befriend a for-real gorgeous tart who is the key to the insurance fraud ring. This is not the kind of duty that most of us would sign up for with any amount of enthusiasm. But Kinsey Milhone has guts of iron and nerves of steel. Those guts of iron allow her to swallow vast quantities of greasy restaurant food and the nerves of steel facilitate the endurance of the company of sleaze-bags for record amounts of time.

None of the miscreants, be they White or Hispanic are spared her cynical witty observations. Readers will, in all likelihood, be laughing cynically at the unvarnished truth that Kinsey uncovers time and again. She lets us know when people are negligent about washing their hands after using the public restrooms. She promptly informs us when residential bathrooms are less than clean and the housework in general has been neglected, when people don't smell or look good. The things that irritate Kinsey tell us the most about her--primarily that she has high personal standards and a great sense of boundaries.

Kinsey's level of tolerance for the creeps and oddballs that are the everyday encounters of her job is nothing short of remarkable. When she ends up hanging out with the denizens of the barrio in their apartment/headquarters, I thought that for sure she would end up dead in the apartment dumpster. Yet Kinsey's unique ability to blend in with her temporary surroundings and her skills as a private investigator combine to make a cliff-hanging suspense mystery novel.

Sue Grafton is at the top of her form in H Is For Homicide. I also highly recommend L Is For Lawless to newcomers who feel inclined to jump into the series at any point. Just grab any one of her novels, curl up, and let Kinsey Milhone take over!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Classic Grafton
Review: If you have started the alphabet series, make sure you continue it! This is typical Grafton work with Kinsey getting personally affected by false insurance claims.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Classic Grafton
Review: If you have started the alphabet series, make sure you continue it! This is typical Grafton work with Kinsey getting personally affected by false insurance claims.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not Too Bad-Could Have Been A Little More Interesting
Review: In this book, Kinsey Millhone plays a cover-up investigator so she can see for herself, this deranged killer who not only kills but commits insurance fraud as well. He is after money and this is how he tags his victims.

The story takes Kinsey through bars, hospitals, and all else to try and nail this deranged man to put him away for good. The book
is full of violent chases and Kinsey goes to jail at one point for trying to help Bibianna, the victim at the killer's hands.

I thought the book was okay, but not the very best.Good enough to stick with it and see what happens.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Unrealistic Snoozer---Not Up To Grafton's Usual Standards
Review: Kinsey infiltrates an insurance scam ring that turns out to be run by LA gangsters with Touretts syndrome. She puts on some trashy clothes and bad makeup & they just invite her in for a beer. No way. I've read every one of her books, & this is definitely the least believable or entertaining.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Well written, but a snore of a plot
Review: My first Sue Grafton book, probably my last. I'd read the reviews noting the realism of her heroine, etc. and I liked the character. But does Grafton ever deliver with a little excitement in her plots? This thing goes on and on and not once was I absorbed. I like a little tension in a mystery. Even the dangerous dog is of course quickly revealed to be a pussy cat. Yawn.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A rare misfire from Sue Grafton
Review: Of all the major mystery writers of today, Sue Grafton must be the sloppiest plotter since Rex Stout. Often major plotlines are left dangling, major characters vanish without comment, and quite a few of the books don't end so much as simply come to a screeching halt. But, of course, we don't read Sue Grafton (or Rex Stout, for that matter) for plot. We read her for the richness of her writing, her psychological insights, and Kinsey Millhone's dry wit. Which goes quite a way to explaining just why this book in the Millhone series is so disappointing. Kinsey goes undercover -- accidentally -- in a hispanic gang which has an insurance racket going. Grafton tries to remake her lead character into an action hero, which neatly negates her virtues. Coincidence always plays a large part in Grafton's books, but in this case the sheer number of coincidences will cause you to yodel with disbelief. The two big plot twists can be seen coming a mile away. Hardly essential reading. Grafton quickly rebounded and the books which follow H are effortlessly superior.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Femal PI Extraordinaire
Review: Okay, it's been a few years since Sue Grafton wrote this book and I'm finally getting around to reading it and making commentary. Having been caught up in John Grisham, Elmore Leonard, and James Patterson, I am just now discovering the alphabet series of mysteries written by Grafton. Her use of a feisty female PI is refreshing, and so far none of her stories have been boring.

In H is for Homicide, Kinsey finds herself caught up in an undercover investigation of insurance fraud and spends time, virtually as a hostage, in the LA barrios. She's tough and manages to solve the mystery and save her hide. Also, in this book, there is an interesting twist at the end that is a bit unbelievable, but adds interest to the story.

Great read. Grafton never disappoints.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It could only happen to Kinsey
Review: Only Kinsey could get herself on gang turf in LA trying to investigate an insurance fraud claim for California Fidelity. The latter, who has just been bought out and is now run by an efficiency expert, wants to renegotiate her long-standing employment agreement with the previous bosses. Can Kinsey crack the case and save her job? Will she escape the clutches of Luis, Raymond and Co. in time to buy a new dress for Vera Lipton's wedding? Stay tuned. .


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