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Q is for
Quarry by Sue Grafton Rating: ••• (Recommended) |
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Junk Food Fans of Sue Grafton who’ve been following
the maturing of character Kinsey Millhone will devour the latest installment,
Q is
for Quarry. There are two major developments in Kinsey’s life in this
book: she’s eating a lot more junk food, and her contact with family has
increased and has crossed into her detective work. Now, we have to wait
another year or two to see where Grafton takes both these developments in
whatever she names the R book. In Q is for
Quarry, the challenge for Kinsey and friends is to unravel a murder that
took place twenty years ago. As expected, good detective work leads to new
discoveries and solves the crime. Here’s an excerpt from the beginning of
Chapter 10, pages 128-9. The calf brain restaurant is to a restaurant’s menu
item that Kinsey chose to not eat. I was home earlier than I’d intended, concerned
that calf brain would leak out of the makeshift container and contaminate the
interior of my shoulder bag. As I passed Henry's garbage can, I removed the
bundle from my purse and dumped it. I lifted my head, alerted by the dim
ringing of a phone somewhere. I banged down the lid and hurried to my front
door, unlocking it in haste. Three rings. Four. I slung my bag on a kitchen
chair and snatched up the receiver. My answering machine had already kicked
in and I was forced to override my own voice, singing, "It's me. I'm
here. Don't go away. I'm answering." "Kinsey?" The caller was male and he spoke against the dull
murmur of background conversations, I put a hand against one ear. "Who's
this?" "Pudgie." "Well, hi. This is a surprise. I didn't think
I'd hear from you. What's up?" "You said call if I thought of something, but you have to promise you won't let this get back to him." I found myself straining to hear. "Back to
who?" "Frankie. You ever meet him?" "Not yet." "He's a crazy man. You can't tell it right off
because he's good at faking it . . . like he's normal and all, but believe
me, you don't want to mess with him." "I didn't realize you knew him." "I don't, but it doesn't take a genius to
figure out the guy's a freak." "Is that why you called, to say how nuts he
is?" "Nuhn-uhn. I'll get to that, but lemme ask you
something first. Suppose someone tells him I called you?" "Come on. I can't control that. Besides, who's
going to tell? I can promise not a word of this will come from me." "You swear?" "Of course." I could hear him cup a hand over the mouthpiece,
lips so close to the phone I thought he'd slobber in my ear. "He talked
about stabbing some chick to death." "Oh, for heaven's sake, Pudgie. That's why he
went to prison. For killing Cathy Lee Pearse." "Not her. Another one. This was after he
killed her." "I'm listening." "He's bragging about what happens to anv bitch
tries to cross him. He said he picked up this chick in a bar. She had some
dope on her and the two of them got loose. They go out to the parking lot to
play grab ass, but she turns all sour on him and starts giving him a hard
time, which pisses 'him off. When she refuses to put out, he offs her and
sticks her in the trunk of Cathy Lee's car. He drives around with her two
days, but he's worried she'll start to stink, so he dumps her when he gets to
Lompoc." Every dozen or so pages, Kinsey stops at
another fast food restaurant and fills up. While she continues to jog, her
fat intake far exceeds her calorie burning, and it will be interesting to see
where Grafton goes with that, especially as Kinsey ages. If you’ve never read
Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone novels before, there’s no reason you have to start
with A. Q
is for Quarry stands alone as a serviceable mystery which readers are
likely to enjoy. Steve Hopkins, November 6, 2002 |
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ã 2002 Hopkins and Company, LLC The
recommendation rating for this book appeared in the December 2002
issue of Executive
Times For
Reprint Permission, Contact: Hopkins
& Company, LLC • 723 North Kenilworth Avenue • Oak Park, IL 60302 E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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