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N Is for Noose (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) by Sue Grafton
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Sue Grafton Edition: Mass Market Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 1999-03-29 ISBN: 0449223612 Number of pages: 336 Publisher: Fawcett
Book Reviews of N Is for Noose (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)Book Review: Grafton Running Out of Steam?? Summary: 3 Stars
In N IS FOR NOOSE, Kinsey Millhone takes on one of Robert Dietz' cases after he has knee surgery. (Remember her bodyguard turned lover from G IS FOR GUMSHOE?? Well, heeee's baaaack... or at least we get a glimpse of him anyway). Ok, back to the book ... Kinsey drives Dietz' Porsche back to Carson City for him and is a little shocked at his lifestyle - he actually lives in a penthouse! This part of the story falls short - I wasn't sure if this romance would continue sometime in the future, or if the spark had been doused. I guess Grafton wants to keep all the possibilities open and kept any details locked away from her readers!
From Carson City, Kinsey goes to Nota Lake and her new case, that of a Selma Newquist. Selma's husband (a police detective) dies suddenly from a heart attack, but Selma suspects something else had killed her husband and Kinsey is the one to help solve the puzzle. Selma is a fresh character -- she's not too bright, applies her make up with a trowel, and just has one of those unique personalities that intrigue you and drive you nuts at the same time!
I found this book to be very predictable (to the point of being almost boring) and found the most enjoyable parts to be those in which Selma was involved. The overall mystery was not there, and the normal spellbinding material that was typical for Grafton is missing.
As Sue Grafton continues on her alphabetic journey, I sense she's running out of enthusiasm. Maybe she should jump out of this alphabet nightmare and write something different before she continues.
Do I recommend this book? Yeah, but with reservations - it's not the worst book on the market, but it's definitely not the best either!
Summary of N Is for Noose (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff's office--a tough, honest cop respected by everyone. When he died suddenly, the townfolk were sad but not surprised. Just shy of sixty-five, Newquist worked too hard, drank too much, and exercised too little.
Newquist's widow, Selma, didn't doubt the coroner's report. But still, she couldn't help wondering what had so bothered Tom in the last six weeks of his life. What was it that had made him prowl restlessly at night and brood constantly? Determined to help Selma find the answer, Kinsey Millhone sets up shop in Nota Lake, where she finds that looking for a needle in a haystack can draw blood--very likely, her own. . . . "Suppose we could peer through a tiny peephole in time and chance upon a flash of what was coming up in the years ahead?" The questioner is Kinsey Millhone, middle-aged, two-time divorcee detective and junk food junkie star of Sue Grafton's popular "alphabet" mysteries; the book is 'N' Is for Noose. If Kinsey had had just a smidgen of foresight, she would never have taken her current case, handed down to her from her on-again, off-again flame and comrade in arms, Robert Dietz. We encounter the two this time out after Deitz's knee surgery, as Kinsey drives his "snazzy little red Porsche" back to Carson City, where she checks out his digs for the first time. To her surprise, he lives in a palatial penthouse, which--under the unspoken bylaws of investigative etiquette--she qualmlessly snoops through. They sit around for a fortnight playing gin rummy and eating peanut butter and pickle sandwiches together, but perennially single Kinsey grows wary: "It was time to hit the road before our togetherness began to chafe." She heads off to meet Dietz's former client, Mrs. Selma Newquist, a devastated widow whose makeup tips seem to come from Tammy Faye Baker. Her husband Tom Newquist, a detective himself, had been working on a mysterious case when he abruptly died of a heart attack. Selma suspects foul play, but bless her, she isn't the brightest star in the sky and can't figure out what Tom was working on even though he's left behind enough paper to fill a recycling truck. Kinsey digs right in and roams the sleepy, one-horse town of Nota Lake for clues, interviewing a colorful cast of in-laws and locals. Beneath the quaint, quiet, country veneer, she unearths a bubbling hotbed of internal strife and familial double-dealing. Was Tom covering up for his partner? Is Selma protecting someone? Grafton's knack for gritty details and realistic characters ("[Selma's] skin tones suggested dark coloring, but her hair was a confection of white-blond curls, like a cloud of cotton candy"), coupled with the fast-paced, believable story line, makes for another delightful, entertaining read. --Rebekah Warren, Bestsellers editor
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