Q is for Quarry

Rating:
Summary: Kinsey rocks!
Review: Well, instead of fictionalized Santa Barbara, this one is set down in the rather remote southeastern corner of CA. Second, Kinsey actually is cooperating with someone for a change, in this case two retired cops. Third, Q is for Quarry is more procedure, detail, and plot based than are A thru P. This one is based on an old murder case, a dead girl found in a quarry. Kinsey has grown up a bit since we first met her in A is for Alibi, and it's all good. If you liked the others, don't miss this one, and look forward with me and Grafton's myriad other fans to R.

Rating:
Summary: Q Is For [There Will Be A] Quiz
Review: Q Is For Quarry by Sue Grafton is different from the average Kinsey Millhone mystery, but I found myself enjoying this book more than I've enjoyed the last few novels in the series. First off,the book takes place mostly in a fictionalized version of the southeastern corner of California [south of Blythe and west of the Colorado River] rather than the usual fictionalized version of Santa Barbara, California. Second, Q Is For Quarry is the most police proceduralesque of the novels in the series. This isn't suprising since the novel takes off from a real cold murder case and involves two retired cops as main characters. Kinsey and the cops slowly unravel and reweave the evidence concerning the murdered girl found in the quarry until they tie up the loose ends and nail the killer. If you don't like lots of detail, you probably won't like this novel. Complaints concerning Kinsey's changing personality seem unfounded to me since the changes are consistent with the evolution of the character seen in the other novels. I think that Q Is For Quarry is a very good entry in the 'Alphabet' series and I hope Sue Grafton doesn't give up on Kinsey before she reaches Z.

Rating:
Summary: Kinsey Millhone at Her Very Best
Review: Kinsey Millhone is working in her office when Homicide Lieutenant Con Dolan comes around. He's temporarily sidelined because of a series of heart attacks. His wife has passed away, so now he's alone and he is helping his old police pal Stacy Oliphant, who is currently dying of cancer and cleaning out his apartment, so no one else will be left with his mess when he passes on. He and Con have come across a cold case they want to close before he dies and they want Kinsey's help with the legwork.

The case is an unsolved eighteen-year-old mystery. A young woman had been murdered and left for dead off California's Highway 1 near Lompoc. She was a "Jane Doe," an unidentified white female, whose decomposed body was discovered near a quarry.

Kinsey resolutely pursues overlooked clues that are close to two decades old. When the body was discovered, a wrecked red convertible was found nearby and that leads them to Quorum, a desert town near the Arizona border, where the red convertible had been stolen from an auto repair shop around the time of the murder.

Oliphant's cancer kicks up, so he has to go back to the hospital, leaving Kinsey and Dolan on the road to Quorum without him. After a couple of days of dogged detective work, Kinsey comes back to the hotel to find Dolan in the midst of a heart attack. She calls an ambulance and now with him in the hospital, she strikes out alone after the killer. As her investigation continues she learns about Quorum's long-hidden secrets and that causes the killer to strike again.

As I'm a big fan of Kinsey Millhone's, I was predisposed to like this book and I wasn't disappointed. I especially liked the two hard-boiled old cops who seem to act like an old married couple. I was saddened when Dolan was stricken ill and when Oliphant had to go back to the hospital, then gladdened when Dolan got a stint in his heart and was okay and when Oliphant's problem wasn't the cancer. These cranky, curmudgeon cops make a great pair and I hope to see more of them as this alphabet series continues. I also liked the peek into Kinsey's past and family life presented in the story.

Rating:
Summary: Never tasted a Quarter Pounder?!
Review: "Q" IS FOR QUARRY was inspired by an actual unsolved murder case. The victim's body had been dumped near a quarry in Lompoc, California. Kinsey and two retired detectives take on the eighteen-year-old murder case. Lieutenant Con Dolan convinces her to take the case to help his friend Stacey Oliphant (who was involved in the original investigation) get his mind off his health problems, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
This is pretty much formulae writing except for the intermittent references to Kinsey's family problems. Her mother and father had been killed in a car accident when she was a little girl. Prior to the accident, her grandmother had disowned Kinsey's mother for marrying beneath her. Now one of her aunt's is trying to reestablishment connections. In order to add comic relief, Grafton also delves into Kinsey's relationship with her nonagenarian landlord Henry and Rosie, his friend and restaurant owner, who's been serving disgusting Hungarian concoctions, such as Pigs Knuckles and Sauerkraut, lately. Another humorous element is Kinsey's fetish for junk food. She corrupts Oliphant, who's never (would you believe?) tasted a Quarter Pounder.
One thing I found irritating was Grafton's penchant for describing every single character Kinsey comes in contact with. A few deft strokes wouldn't hurt, but she goes on and on and on, working in every possible sensory detail and simile. This slows the pace to a crawl.
I thought I had the killer figured out, too. I was wrong, and you will be, too. Grafton didn't give us much of a reason to suspect the eventual culprit. Also she/he is not really believable as a cold-blooded, shovel-wielding assassin. The story also comes to a screeching halt, although Grafton does splice on a little addendum in which we get a look at an artist's recreation of the murdered girl.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not great . . .
Review: This seventeenth installment in the Kinsey Milhone series is something of a departure both for Kinsey and for the author. The detective, while loyal to her few close friends, is essentially a loner, especially when she's working, but this time she's linked up with two retired cops in attempting to solve an eighteen-year-old murder. And Grafton has based her story on the true unsolved murder in 1969 of a teenage girl whose body turned up in a quarry near Lompoc, California. In fact, a picture of the victim's reconstructed face is included in hopes a reader will have information. The plot is well constructed, as usual in Grafton's work, with the story's progression revolving around the routine investigations that make up most real detective work. Kinsey seldom gets involved in a shoot-out. And right down to the last few pages, there are still several strong possibilities for the killer, so even if you think you know whodunnit, you won't be sure. Grafton is also very good at delineating the details of character development. But not everything in this book is perfect and, in fact, the author seems to be getting a bit sloppy as the series ages. As I have complained in my reviews of her previous books, Grafton habitually over-describes. Kinsey doesn't just make coffee, she takes the lid off the can, gets the measuring spoon out of the drawer, measures out the coffee, puts the lid back on, turns on the tap, fills a glass with water, pours the water into the resevoir of the coffee-maker, turns it on, . . etc. This book could have been 25% shorter -- and better -- without losing anything important if Grafton had a copyeditor willing to argue with a millionaire bestselling author.

Rating:
Summary: The Odd Couple engage Kinsey
Review: *****WARNING: THERE MAY BE A SPOILER*****

First, the good things about this, the 17th outing for Kinsey Millhone:

* the setting is excellent. I enjoy both the coastal and desert locales in which it is set, and, although I was about to scream if Grafton told us the colour of the desert soil once more, she did manage to capture the landscape extremely well. As well, throughout the series, Grafton has had a pretty good way with bringing to life Smalltown, USA and its inhabitants. This is no exception.
* the 'Odd Couple' like characters - the two retired / medically unfit police officers. I could see Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau perfectly cast (if they weren't dead alreay).
* Aspects of the police procedural.
* The interesting depth added to Kinsey's family relationships in this book. A newly emerging relationship with an aunt, which has surprised even Kinsey in the way it has affected her. At last she is beginning to open up to possibilities.

Now, what I didn't like:
* I agree with the reviewer who says everything is over-described. Cutting down the number of adjectives and 'languid' takes on every action and place would make a tighter read.
* However, my biggest disappointment and the reason for the 2 stars is that I think there is a major plotting / logic flaw in this novel. The key clue is dropped on page 19. To me, it stood out a million miles away. I spent the rest of the books getting angrier and angrier at what was to me an elemental flaw in something which was meant to be a police procedural. Surely, given the notes taken at the time a record was kept of who and where the missing person report, later retracted, came from. It would have eliminated about half the book, in hurrying the solving of the 'who was Jane Doe' part of the story.
* The rather formulaic and lazy way that the investigation in Quorum is plotted. "Oh, here's 2 or 3 possibilities (schools / dentists)...let's travel with Kinsey to the first two, which will be easily eliminated, although there will be a bit of a thread which we will come back to later (the school secretary/ dental records) and on the third try she will come up trumps." That's plot padding, and it's predictable. You know every conversation will be sewn with one thread of information, and I'm afraid the reader doesn't have to work very hard to pick it out.

So, in summary - the character Kinsey is developing little by little, but the plotting of the mystery is getting lazy, and the padding out of the story tiresome.

Rating:
Summary: Back to her pace and quality mystery writing.
Review: I really enjoyed this mystery. It's been a while since I enjoyed an American female writer's series...they often tend to drop off in quality of writing, and it becomes hard for authors to retain the interest in the major character/protagonist. I cannot tell how many times after about five (when you know they are going for a series) that I just barely get through the book, and I am sure the author feels that way too.

This must be a lucky letter of the alphabet for Grafton. I enjoyed the dusty desert scenery I am familar with from my youth (grandparents in Mesa and we were in SF). Also the added information about Kinsey's family is a bonus.

Kinsey finds it a treat working with two older cops who are both having health problems on a cold case. As per usual, stirring the pot causes things to come to a boil, but Grafton manages to weave into the storyline several different possible motives, which makes it very hard to determine who killed the young girl in the cold case. Kinsey also shows a more caring side of her in her treatment of the women in the story, one who loses a brother, one who is an alcoholic. Maybe she find a way to care about her family?

Karen Sadler

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I had been saving this book for a few months, knowing that once I started it, I would not put it down until I finished and that is exactly what happened. One of the blurbs on my copy of this 17th entry into the fantastic Kinsey Millhone series says that after you finish the book, you have trouble realizing that Kinsey is not a real person and, for one of the rare times, that blurb is correct.
This book is more of a police procedural than previous Grafton books. The case revolves around an unsolved murder from 18 years previously. Two cops, one retired & one on medical leave, want to revisit the case to see if they can identify the teenage victim that was brutally stabbed and tossed into a quarry and to see if they can solve the crime.
There is not a lot of personal advancement in either Kinsey's involvement with her family nor in Henry's life, but there are a few parts devoted to those issues and they whet your appetite enough to want more.
A great read, nice ending, and nice teasing on the personal side to want the next book to come out soon.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, I have read them all
Review: ...and Q is for Quarry is not the best of the best of this Grafton series, but it's pretty darn good. If you live in California, as I do, and know the Santa Barbara area in which most of Grafton's books are situated, it makes the reading doubly interesting.
One of the many neat aspects of this alphabet series of hers is that Kinsey changes over time, and characters, 'issues,' dangers, and themes recur. Milhone's character has deepened; this is no cardboard P.I.
Read it - and read all the rest. Best to start at the beginning, but you don't have to slog through A thru P in order to enjoy Q. Each book is complete within itself.

Rating:
Summary: Your typical cookie cutter mystery.
Review: This was my first time reading a Sue Grafton novel, and I must say it was sort of boring. However, if you are a mystery fan, than I am sure you will like it. It just seemed to be the details of a private investigator running around chasing up clues. After a slow start, the book does seem to heat up and it did a better job of retaining my interests from there. It is well written and I think that if you follow Grafton's books, you will have more of an opportunity to identify with her characters.

The reason I was interested in this book is that Sue Grafton used a real life unsolved murder, which happened 30 years ago, as the basis of this story. Her desire was to bring the unsolved crime to light again in hopes of finding the murdered girl's missing family and bringing closure to the crime. Because of the book and attention it did bring to the murder, the murdered girl's body was exhumed and a forensic artist did a facial reconstruction of the victim. Photos of the reconstruction are in the back of the book. Sue Grafton states in "a note to the reader", that it is her hope that someone will come forward to identify the girl. I admire Sue Grafton's intentions and hope that she will be able to make that possible by this book.