"P"is for Peril...

[fajrdrako]

I enjoyed this Sue Grafton novel: for some reason, I like Kinsey Millhone most of the female private eyes, and this kept me engrossed. If you aren't familiar with them, the Sue Grafton mysteries are about a female private eye based in Santa Teresa, California - a fictional version of Santa Barbara. Her landlord Henry was particularly good in this one.

I guessed half-wrong on one plot thread and missed guessing the killer entirely, but I'm not sure there were any clues that could have made me twig: I had guessed one character (as Kinsey did, too) but it could equally have been another, and it was.

I found it interesting that - at least as I read it - there were two lesbian couples in the story, equally unidentified as such. (One was only obliquely alluded to, the other not mentioned at all.)

Comments

[msdaccxx.livejournal.com]

I never really took to the Sue Grafton mysteries and I'm a sucker for hard-boiled detective stuff, especially with female protagonists. There's just something very - I don't know - detached about Kinsey Millhone, though I do like the portrayal of LA in the books.

Ever read any of Barbara Wilson's "Pam Nilsen" mysteries? Seattle-based lesbian sleuth stuff? "The Dog Collar Murders" is a witty and enlightening take on the "porn wars" that tore apart academic feminism in the late-80s. Sounds dry, but actually great fun.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Kinsey Millhone is very detached - anti-social and alienated. I like it in her, but I wouldn't like it as a reagular thing.

No, I haven't read Barbarn Wilson but thanks for recommending her - that sounds like just my thing. And I love Seattle, and the idea of Seattle as a setting. Is "The Dog Collar Murders" the place I should start?

[msdaccxx.livejournal.com]

"Murder in the Collective" is the first in the series, but "The Dog Collar Murders" is definitely the best, IMO. I read that one first becuase it was one of the texts for my detective fiction course when I was in college. She's published by Seattle's Seal Press

The Pam Nilsen series:
*Murder in the Collective
*Sisters of the Road
*The Dog Collar Murders

The Cassandra Reilly series:
*Gaudi Afternoon
*Trouble in Transylvania
*Death of a much-travelled woman

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the list! I'll hunt them out. Or should I say, hunt them down?

Good titles!

Amazing what Google can find!

[catalenamara]

I just finished listening to "P is For Peril" and wasn't all that thrilled with the ending, so I googled for reviews, and here's your review from nearly 10 years ago! (waves hi!)
I read A through 0 in the 80s and 90s and then stopped. I finally decided to pick up the series again, this time as audio books to listen to on my commute. Have you read the rest of the ones available? Do you have any favorites?

(I didn't know Dreamwidth was this old...!