S for Silence, Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton is working her way through the alphabet which brings us to "S". S for Silence is a good story that has Lindsey Millhone, PI in Santa Teresa, investigating a 34 year old case of a disappearing woman. Violet Sulivan was a red headed beauty and fiery lady who had a reputation to have affairs with all men possible. She was married to Foley who had a temper and often beat Violet because of jealousy, leaving her with many bruises. The fourth of July in '53, Violet was to meet Foley at the local display of fire works, but she never showed up and disappeared with her new car, never to be seen since. 34 years later Daisy, her daughter wanted to find out what happened. She hires Linsey to investigate. Grafton incorporates flashbacks of the cold case with modern day sequels to keep the reader in focus of the events. With Violets scandalous reputation, there are many chacacters that are in question. Linsey finally finds Violet and her car in a grave that proved she did not leave but was murdered. One tries to figure out who the perp was, but Grafton holds her own in supplying mystery as who did it. The ending is abrupt and the perp was not my guess, but that is what makes Grafton a good author.

R is for Ricochet, Sue Grafton

Nord Lafferty was a wealthy man living in an estate in Montebello, Ca. He hired Kinsey Millhone, a private detective from Santa Teresa, to pick up his daughter, Reba who was incarcerated for two years in Corona prison for women. She embezzled $350 thousand from her former employer, Alan Beckwith, known as "Beck". Reba was a known gambler an alcoholic, a rebel. Kinsey and Reba talked little at the start of the trip, but became amiable after an hour into the drive. Kinsey had to take Reba to her parole officer. Kinsey ran into an old friend while there who was a detective on the Santa Teresa PD, Cheney. They chatted for a while and made future arrangements. Reba and Kinsey went to eat at Rosie's, Kinseys favorite hang out where Reba ran into her old boss, Beck. They were glad to see one another, Reba loved Beck and took the fall for the missing money. Kinsey was talking with Cheney about Beck, who had several federal agents after him for laundering money out of the nation. They didn't have the evidence they needed, so they approached Reba with some pictures that incremented Beck. Reba had been had, she spent two years of her life in prison listening to the lies that came from Beck. She wanted revenge! This starts a wild chase to Reno and Beverly Hills and back to Santa Teresa. The confrontation was intense, with a good ending.