Book Review: "G" is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton (Kinsey Millhone #7)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Two interesting cases

Cons: Pacing in the middle lags

The Bottom Line:

Search for a woman

As Kinsey hunted herself

Middle little slow

Missing Mother and an Assassin

What happens when a PI becomes a target?  Especially when she is working on another case?  That’s what we find out in “G” is for Gumshoe, the seventh entertaining Kinsey Millhone Mystery from Sue Grafton.

At the beginning of May, Kinsey is hired by Irene Gersh.  While Irene lives in Santa Teresa with her husband, her mother lives out in a community near the Salton Sea with no phone or addresses.  The mother and daughter usually talk once a month, but Irene hasn’t heard from her mother recently, and she wants Kinsey to drive out there and find her mother.

Meanwhile, Kinsey receives a call from a man she’d done a job for in the past.  The criminal she’d helped track down is vowing to get his revenge on everyone he feels wronged him, and he’s hired a hit man to kill them, including Kinsey.

Kinsey doesn’t take the threat too seriously and heads out to find the mother.  Will she be able to track her down?  Is someone out to kill her?

Sometimes, when an author has two parallel plots, they add up to a great plot as the two build off each other.  In this case, I really felt like these were two ideas that the author couldn’t quite flesh out into a full book each.  This was especially driven home in the middle when the pacing really slowed down.  It felt like we were waiting for some event to kick off both storylines again.  Once the stories got the added push they needed, we were off on a fun ride through the climax.

We are slowly getting to know some supporting characters in Kinsey’s world, and part of the middle of the book involved a sub-plot with one of them.  I do love getting to know supporting characters better, especially because they are helping us get to know Kinsey better as well.  We don’t have too many new characters this time around, but they are given plenty of page time to become real and make us care about the outcome.

I’m continuing this series on audio, and Mary Pfeiffer’s narration is outstanding as always.  She capture’s Kinsey’s attitude in the first person narration perfectly, and I really enjoy listening to them as a result.

While “G” is for Gumshoe isn’t the strongest entry in the series, there is still plenty here to entertain Kinsey’s fans.  If you are new to the series, you might want to back up to the beginning to fully enjoy this book.

Once you get hooked, you'll definitely want to read the rest of the Kinsey Millhone Mysteries.

This review is part of this week's Friday's Forgotten Books.