About the Author

Sue Grafton has become one of the most popular mystery writers, both here and in the US. Born in Kentucky in 1940, the daughter of the mystery writer C. W. Grafton, she began her career as a TV scriptwriter before Kinsey Millhone and the 'alphabet' series took off. She lives and writes in Montecito, California, and Louisville, Kentucky.

Reviews

Grafton tackles identity theft and elder abuse in her 20th Kinsey Millhone mystery (after S Is for Silence). Gus Vronsky, Kinsey's elderly next-door neighbor, suffers a fall and needs in-home care. A health-care nurse named Solana Rojas is hired, and Kinsey even does the background check, finding nothing out of order. As Gus's condition deteriorates and Solana limits access to her patient, Kinsey and her landlord, Henry, suspect that something is a little off with Solana-and "little off" doesn't fully describe this identity thief and true sociopath. Digging around more carefully, Kinsey unearths horrifying details of Solana's past and must act quickly to save Gus. This is vintage Grafton, set in the 1980s but scarily current, carefully plotted, and fast paced. Kinsey even flirts with healthful eating (vegetables are consumed), but the reader soon sighs with relief when Kinsey returns to her old habits, frequenting the drive-thru at McDonald's and enjoying pal Rosie's hearty Hungarian fare. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/07.]-Andrea Y. Griffith, Loma Linda Univ. Libs., CA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Tony award-winner Judy Kaye has been the voice of private eye Kinsey Millhone since the beginning, and 19 titles later, she's still an inspired choice, capturing the character's unique combination of femininity and ruggedness, intelligence, street savvy and self-confidence with just a hint of uncertainty. Trespass is possibly a series best. Both reader and sleuth are working at full tilt as Kinsey interacts with a large cast. Her foremost opponent is the devious and homicidal black widow who has spun a web around the detective's aged and infirmed next door neighbor. Grafton deviates from Kinsey's narration to delve into the killer's history and mind-set, underlining the seriousness of her threat. Kaye offers a crisp, chillingly cold aural portrait of a sociopath capable of anything. Kaye's spot-on interpretation of the two very different leading characters would be praiseworthy enough, but she's just as effective in capturing the elderly men and women, the screechy landladies, the drawling rednecks, the velvet-tongued smooth operators, the fast talking lawyers and all the inhabitants of Kinsey's world. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 17). (Dec.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.