Grafton, Sue – S IS FOR SILENCE

[LJ Roberts]

S IS FOR SILENCE (Private Investigator-California-Cont) – G Grafton, Sue – 19th in series
Putnam, 2005- Hardcover

Investigator Kinsey Millhone is hired by Daisy, now a woman, but who had been a girl of seven when her mother, Violet Sullivan, disappeared 34 years ago on the Fourth of July. Did Violet abandon her family or did something more senister happen?

I enjoy Grafton as a reliably good read although liked this less then some of her other books. The events in the story are told from the perspective of numerous characters and I became tired of the story being told and re-told. None of the characters were particularly compelling or sympathetic. As for Kinsey, she was almost a secondary character and I found myself shaking my head at some of the patently dumb things she did. There was very little suspense—one scene at the end but even then you never felt any real threat. Don’t misunderstand; it wasn’t awful, but it lacked some of the spark of her other books.