Rating: 
Summary: Q is for Quite Good, But...
Review: I've enjoyed the Kinsey Millhone series over the years and read this one quickly and with real pleasure .. so for me it was a genuine page-turner. But that was a week ago and already it's fading from my memory. The plot isn't that remarkable, the characters aren't that distinctive and I can't see myself reading it again in a hurry.Perhaps this is a literary equivalent of fast food - easy to enjoy , but ultimately not long-lasting. (if so, that's ironic, because there's a running gag about someone suddenly discovering fast food late in life). One of the pleasures of detective series is that they develop a richness of character and background. So, for example, Con Dolan, who is a minor character at the start of "A is for Alibi", is a major figure here. But some plot threads regarding Kinsey's family and Henry's love life are left hanging too obviously loose for the next installment. For what it's worth , Kinsey is investigating a murder case from years back - a teenage girl found murdered but never identified. The trail leads her to some small towns on the California /Arizona border, real coyote country. There is an interesting epilogue... Summary: worth reading if you are a Kinsey fan, but newcomers shouldn't start here.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre read
Review: I've read every novel in the Kinsey Millhone alphabet series, but this one was sub-par, at best. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great, either. The writing lacked the kick it usually has, and the setting was dull. Also, without giving away the ending, the motives behind the young woman's murder were incredibly disappointing. I was expecting more after spending 350 pages delving into the lives of such a colorful array of characters. I was like, "That was it...?" The ending was hastily written, too. It ended virtually mid-sentence. The facial reconstructions of the real-life Jane Done was a nice touch, though. I suppose diehard Kinsey fans will like this one, but I'm one of those diehard fans and I was quite let down. Let's hope 'R' is better.
Rating: 
Summary: A Yawner
Review: It took me approximately 3 weeks to get through this 350-page novel. That's because my only incentive to return to the book was to complete it. The setting is as desolate as the plot and characters. The plot is a series of back-and-forths between Kinsey's hotel room and the location of her next interview, with a too-frequent reference to a fast-food detour in between for humor (and this attempt at levity missed the mark by the third or fourth mention). Reading this book reminded me of returning to jogging after a long stretch off: it was dull and arduous and I wanted to cut it short after every 50 steps or so and in the end, I was just satisfied that I finally finished.
Rating: 
Summary: Great improvement over the last (awful) one
Review: After a generally enjoyable romp with Kinsey Millhone through the letter "O," I loathed P IS FOR PERIL and picked up Q IS FOR QUARRY with some skepticism. However, Kinsey has regained her brains, and the novel gives us several welcome new departures, including a change of venue and deepening friendships with a couple of old, sickly cops whose odd-couple relationship is well characterized. We also learn more about Kinsey's background and family, and Aunt "Gin" is getting to be less likeable with each revelation. Kinsey's still too much "lawn-order" for my sensibilities, but I suppose that's consistent with what she does for a living. At least she acts intelligently in this book, not with the abysmal stupidity of P IS FOR PERIL, and it's a good read, with a plot based loosely on an unsolved case of the 1960s. I'm sure I wasn't the only reader who felt compassion for the unknown real-life Jane Doe, murdered so many years ago, and the family from whom she permanently disappeared.
Rating:
Summary: Quitting Q is for Quarry
Review: I have read all of Sue Grafton's alphabet series and have enjoyed reading most. However, my money was totally wasted on this one. I am halfway through Q is for Quarry and fall asleep everytime I read it due to boredom. The plot and characters are uninteresting, and the narrative is marred by constant, unnecessary repetition. This is a miss for Sue Grafton. I am going to cut my losses and go on to a more interesting book. Life is too short to spend it reading boring and unimaginative books. I hope the next in the series will find Sue Grafton and Kinsey back on track
Rating: 
Summary: Q is for Quite Possibly Sue Grafton's Worst Book
Review: I know in keeping with the Alphabet, Sue had to think long and hard to come up with a story to revolve around a word beginning with Q. Well Q is for Quarry, is totally substandard. If you have EVER read one of Sue's Alphabet books, then usually there is humor, mystery, a little danger, and of course Kinsey having conflicts. But this book was slow, and when it did take off, it was still downhill. I look forward to the next book, because one bad book is not going to turn me sour on the alphabet books.
Rating:
Summary: A Break from Formula
Review: Sue Grafton's "Q is for Quarry" is a break from the usual pattern for a Kinsey Millhone (KM) novel. Usually Kinsey takes a case, finds out her client isn't who she thought they were, gets into squabbles with the police, comes upon the solution to the case, confronts her suspect alone (instead of having the police do it), tables get turned, she finds herself in grave danger, barely survives it, and closes the book with a Dragnet-esque epilogue. This book is slightly different as her client is the police, so "squabbles with the police" above should read "squabbles with her client." Actually, there are quite a few departures from the typical KM story. Very little action takes place in Santa Teresa (the Santa Barbara of Grafton's fictionalized Southern California). Instead, the reader is treated to exotic locales like Lompoc and Blythe (real cities, and the reader would do well to follow the action with a AAA map). Kinsey's family makes another appearance, with another layer of onion skin being removed (if you like her family you probably enjoy the revelation of each new layer; if you don't care for them you probably wish Grafton would take a more "yank the band-aid off" approach instead of this delicate approach). It seems to me that Kinsey was missing a lot of her spark; given the number of people who lie to her, she remains oddly calm throughout the story (she doesn't even make a sarcastic aside about what the "Oceanview Motel" is doing in the middle of the desert). The story opens with her 37th birthday a calendar-page away, so maybe she's mellowing; the kinder, gentler Millhone isn't necessarily a bad thing, but like a lot in this book, it just feels different - a number of her quirks feel like they're thrown in just to remind us that this is a KM novel (her trademark "nail-scissors hair-trim" doesn't appear until the final chapters of the book). The mystery itself is based on a real-life Jane Doe murder, another departure from the usual fare. By no means, though, is this a true-crime story; other than the location and general condition of the corpse, there is very little similarity between Grafton's book and any current police investigation. A concluding Author's Note details Grafton's involvement in reviving the actual cold case and includes a facial reconstruction of the victim. The website www.sbsheriff.org still (end of 2003) features a link to contact them if you have any information on the real Jane Doe, but there is no information detailing any recent developments. Overall, I enjoyed this book; it's not without flaw and it is a considerable departure from the norm. If you approach it expecting things to be a little different, you'll probably like it too. If you want a novel conforming to the standard formula, this book may not be among your favorite KM stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Grafton is Still Going Strong
Review: I've read all of the Alphabet series books, and there are some I like better than others. "Q is for Quarry" isn't my favorite, but it's still a good read. Maybe it's me, but I'm a little tired of the ongoing theme with Kinsey's family. I like Kinsey alone and edgy, independent and brassy. I think Grafton does this genre better than any other author out there and will always read her books. She's an intelligent writer with a good sense of story who provides great characters. She manages to stay fresh with each book, something a lot of bestsellers can't seem to manage. She's tops in my book!
Rating:
Summary: I loved it
Review: Like many of the other reviewers here, I've read all the Kinsey Millhone "alphabet series". I've found a couple of the more recent books a little less interesting than the earlier mysteries, but I found "Q is for Quarry" to be right up there with Grafton's best. Maybe you do need to read these books starting with "A". This time I particularly noticed one of the things I love about Grafton's writing. She puts so many trivial but interesting details in the story, and many of them aren't there to provide clues about the outcome, just to provide background material about the characters in the story. In fact, I think Grafton is getting better and better at doing this. The result is a story line that brings you along with Kinsey, noticing the things she notices, allowing you to inhabit the story to some extent. Too many of the mysteries on the market can be figured out just by noticing which minor details the authors make a point of telling you. Grafton never does this. I'm giving this five stars, not because I think the book is the literary equivalent of War and Peace, but because I think Grafton continues to write some of the most idosyncratic and fascinating mysteries around.
Rating:
Summary: Not the Kinsey we know and love.
Review: I have read all of the Kinsey Millhone books by Sue Grafton and have enjoyed every one of them until now. Maybe it's just me but in this book, Kinsey was barely likable. The whole time I was reading it, I was hoping that nobody started reading the series with this book. I was very, very disappointed. I will continue to read Sue Grafton's books because I'm a long time fan but I certainly hope "R" is better than "Q."
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