In the realm of fictional private investigators, Kinsey Millhone stands apart for a number of reasons. She’s a woman, first of all, though that was a lot more unusual in 1982, when Sue Grafton launched her bestselling series of alphabetically ordered mystery novels. She’s also iconoclastic and minimalist, preferring her tiny apartment and a steady […]
This summer brings a fresh crop of brand-new books, including a creepy thriller by the king of creepy thrillers, the return of an author we’ve loved since childhood, and what might be the most anticipated novel of the century. Throw them in your beach bag, bring them on your road trip, or just use them to make your lunch […]
It’s a curious thing that can happen in ongoing book series: characters often seem to exist in a strange universe where nothing changes and no one ages. Over the course of dozens of novels and decades of real time, they remain unchanged and eternal. It’s even more uncanny when the writer passes away and someone new takes […]
Writing fiction is a lot like playing chess: very few people actually understand how it’s done, and most seem to think it involves randomly moving things around and shouting out words (checkmate!). There are a finite number of moves, pieces, openings, and endgames, and the trick isn’t to invent a whole new way of playing, but […]
After 23 novels, Sue Grafton’s “Alphabet” series, featuring scrappy California private investigator Kinsey Millhone, is showing no signs of age. Instead, Grafton’s latest, X—which dispenses with her usual “… is for” title formula for the simple reason that she couldn’t make it work—is one of the most anticipated mysteries of the year. This is thanks not only to Grafton’s skill as a […]