L Is for Lawless (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)
by Sue Grafton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sue GraftonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-07-31
ISBN: 0449221490
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Fawcett
Book Reviews of L Is for Lawless (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)
Book Review: Flimsy, disappointing characters and plot -- a chase and travelogue, not a detective story
Summary: 1 Stars
As soon as I read her earliest books, Sue Grafton became one of my favorite writers of light, straight, credible detective fiction. She can be a terrific storyteller. Unfortunately, after rallying from the skimpy, disorganized "G" and "H" stories with stronger efforts in "I," "J," and "K," the "Lawless" book dropped right back to the bottom of the barrel.
"Lawless" worried me from the start, because it recalled not only the light-weight "action" or "chase" approaches of the "G" and "H" books but also a trait of the weakest of Marcia Muller's work: a small-potatoes, penny-ante case, here an investigation into getting VA burial benefits for a neighbor's friend. Unlike Muller, Grafton usually manages to build something bigger out of such mundane beginnings of a story. Not so here.
"Lawless" is merely a fast-paced legwork/chase story about a supposed hidden treasure. It involves a small circle of characters (65-year-old Ray Rawson, his estranged daughter Laura, his aged mom Helen, and his nemesis, Gilbert Hays; Rawson, in jail for the last 45 years, and Hays, who snitched and got out early, along with a now-dead Asian named Johnny and three others robbed a bank in Louisville decades before).
There are no suspects and no suspense about what is going on or who is doing it, no serious legwork or detection. The story simply involves running away from Gilbert and for the money, with Millhone whining all along the way (as constant and tedious as Roderick Alleyn about his lack of official authority in "Death And Dancing Footman") that she's not getting paid for anything. The only thing that kept any interest going at all was what sort of treasure it would be and where it would be, with two keys conveniently turning up along the way to help provide the answer.
A double meaning of "Lawless" and a reference to the rag-tag 65-year-old, his raggedy daughter, and his old mother as being something like a "family" to Millhone is a mildly interesting intersection of the case and the personal, but that is about all there is to recommend this book other than its breezy readability. It is hard to believe how relatively complicated and consequential the "K" book is compared to this one.
"Lawless" is nothing more than a ride-along buddy tale. And because the whole story pretty much takes place on the road, there is nothing interesting to be learned about Millhone or her environs, just a travelogue about flights from Santa Theresa to Dallas and drives from Dallas, through Arkansas, to Louisville, in tow with some not-very-interesting marginal types. Contrary to simplistic, happy-talk reviews that seem unable to come to grips with the weaknesses as well as the strengths of Grafton's work, the book cannot be given a pass simply because of its supposed "humor" or any other strained, contrived excuse. The book is a very flimsy, disappointing effort that ranks with "G" and "H" as Grafton's worst.
Summary of L Is for Lawless (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)
"THIS IS ONE OF GRAFTON'S MOST FUN-TO-READ BOOKS. . . . One of [Kinsey Millhone's] wildest adventures yet."--San Francisco Examiner
When Kinsey Millhone agrees to do a favor for Henry Pitts, her lovable octogenarian landlord, she literally gets taken for the ride of her life. The family of a recently deceased WWII veteran wants her to find out why the military has no record of his service. All Kinsey has to do, she thinks, is cut through some government red tape. But when the dead man's house is ransacked and his old army buddy is beaten up, she quickly realizes he was not all he seemed. Before long Kinsey is trailing crooks halfway across the country, impersonating a hotel maid, tangling with a baseball bat-wielding grandmother, and running from one very dangerous character. With her money almost gone and her nerves frayed, Kinsey's got to solve a decades-old crime and make it back home in time for Henry's wedding . . . if she can make it back at all. . . .
Both new readers and old fans will welcome this 12th Kinsey Milhone adventure in the "A" is for Alibi series by Sue Grafton. In this case, Kinsey agrees to do a favor for a friend of a friend and gets herself into so much trouble that she promises at the outset never to do such a thing again without careful consideration.
Henry Pitt, her longtime landlord asks her to help a fellow neighbor find evidence that his grandfather served in the military during the Second World War. With such proof, the man can be decently buried, courtesy of the U.S. government. It seems such a simple thing, but with Kinsey, it rarely is. Before long she finds herself entangled with an eccentric and quarrelsome family as well as a long lost buddy who has turned up just in time to get himself beaten up in a robbery attempt of the alleged veteran's apartment. It seems there is a reason the Armed Services have no record of the dead man's service. Kinsey sets out to determine what he might have been doing instead of fighting against the Japanese and why someone might think his shabby apartment worth a burgle.
Typical of the series, the mystery is not the central point of the story, but rather a starting point for Kinsey to become embroiled in a suspenseful (and delightful) search-and-rescue operation, usually against her better judgement. In this case, a gun-toting, arthritic octogenarian and revelations of the inner workings of bargain-rate motels are all part of the adventure. This is an easy and enjoyable read, and a solid addition to Grafton's string of alphabetical hits. --K.A. Crouch
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