Yesterday, I Finished the Alphabet
I didn’t start reading Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone Mysteries until most of them had been written. When I started, I looked at the list and thought I’d never get through it. Yet here I am having finished “Y” is for Yesterday.
This last book in the series takes us to September of 1989. PI Kinsey Millhone is hired by a family in a difficult situation. 10 years ago, their son made an explicit tape. He’s just been released from prison, and now the tape has resurfaced. Someone is threatening to give the tape to the authorities if the family doesn’t pay up, and they want Kinsey to find out who it is.
Meanwhile, Kinsey is dealing with the aftermath of the attack she recently suffered. Things only heat up when she suspects her attacker might be back in the area.
Since this is the last book in the series (sadly), I definitely wouldn’t advise anyone to jump in here. Several storylines (there are four overall, by my count), involved characters introduced in the last few books. There are spoilers for those books here, plus you won’t fully understand the relationships if you have read those books.
Frankly, we could have done with a little less in this book, since it feels long. One fewer storyline would have helped for sure. We also get lots of flashbacks to the events from 1979 surrounding the tape and the aftermath from back then. A few of those scenes were interesting, but by the end, they did nothing but slow down the pacing.
We also could have done without the explicit description of what was on that tape, especially the second time it was viewed. I’m sure there would have been ways to give us the gist of what was on it without going into all the details. And the second time, all we needed was the reaction of the person watching it. We do get foul language, which isn’t a surprise for those reading the series.
I also have to question whether the tape could have been made as described in this book. Yes, I get that the teens involved were rich. I’d even buy a video camera to film. But how were they editing the film? Would they have really had the equipment or software to do that in 1979?
Leaving that aside, the main mystery is interesting. We find out early on some things Kinsey doesn’t, but it’s still interesting watching her figure them out. And we don’t have a full picture until the end of the book.
I hadn’t been satisfied with how one storyline had ended in the previous book, so I was happy to see it carryover to this one. It’s really an equal storyline to the tape mystery and creates some great suspense.
As always, it was wonderful to spend time with Kinsey here. I really do like her, and I’m going to miss her. We see quite a few of the regulars as well, which is great. The new characters make intriguing suspects as Kinsey tries to figure out exactly what is going on.
Sadly, Sue Grafton died before she could finish what she was planning as the final book in the alphabet, I mean series. I’m of two minds about that. Part of me is curious if she would have wrapped up some storylines or if it would have felt like another normal entry in the series. Knowing her vision of how Kinsey’s story would end would be nice.
In the other hand, I worry that I wouldn’t have liked how she would end things for Kinsey. Too many TV shows that feel the need to go for shocks at the end of the series have made me gun shy when someone starts pinning what they know will be the final in a series. This way, I get to imagine Kinsey’s future however I want it to be without any horrible changes. Fortunately, this book didn’t end with any major cliffhangers.
Judy Kaye again did the narration for the audio book. It is nice the series only had one change in narrator, roughly half way through. After the initial adjustment, I’ve grown to enjoy her narration, and that held true here.
Fans will want to see how the series ends. “Y” is for Yesterday isn’t one of the stronger entries in the series, but I’m still glad I finished it.
Here are the rest of the Kinsey Millhone mysteries.
Grafton's early death was so sad (especially since she lived in my town) and even more so since she didn't finish the alphabet. I think I stopped around U so need to get my act together to read the rest of them.
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