Beverly Danziger looked like an expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop. Only her compulsive chatter hinted at the nervousness beneath her cool surface. It was a nervousness out of all proportion to the problem she placed before Kinsey Millhone. There was an absent sister. A will to be settled–a matter of only a few thousand dollars. Mrs. Danziger did not look as … look as if she needed a few thousand dollars. And she didn’t seem like someone longing for a family reunion.
Still, business was slow, and even a private investigator has bills to pay. Millhone took the job. It looked routine.
Elaine Boldt’s wrappings were a good deal flashier than her sister’s, but they signaled the same thing: The lady had money. A rich widow in her early forties, she owned a condo in Boca Raton and another in Santa Teresa. According to the manager of the California building, she was last seen draped in her $12,000 lynx coat heading for Boca Raton. According to the manager of the Florida building, she never got there. But someone else had and she was camping out illegally in Mrs. Boldt’s apartment. The job was beginning to seem a bit less routine.
It turned tricky when Beverly Danziger ordered Millhone to drop the case and it took on an ominous quality when Aubrey Danziger surfaced, making all kinds of wild accusations about his wife. But it only became sinister when Millhone learned that just days before Elaine Boldt went missing, her next-door neighbor and bridge partner had been murdered and the killer was still at large.
A house destroyed by arson. A brutally murdered a woman. A missing lynx coat. An apartment burgled of valueless papers, another ransacked in a melee of mindless destruction. And more murder. As Millhone digs deeper into the case, she finds herself in a nightmarish hall of mirrors in which reality is distorted by illusion and nothing–except danger–is quite what it seems.
”more
Kinsey is hired to track down a missing woman by the woman’s estranged sister. It seems like a boring routine case at first, but the more she digs into it, the more Kinsey begins to question what is happening. No one has seen the woman for months, and the normal avenues of inquiry just aren’t adding up. What is going on?
I really got pulled into this book and great enjoyed it. The plot is strong with plenty of clues and red herrings, but everything came together at the end. The characters are sharp, often with just a few words or sentences. It’s easy to see why this series has been so popular for so long.
I liked all of her books in this series.
Sue Grafton’s books are all good. The earlier ones are the best.
One of my favorite series. Love Kinsey Milhone!
I love Sue Grafton books and have read all of them
Excellent book!!
Good book
Loved it
Love this series!
Sue Grafton’s novels were always fun! I’m so sorry she didn’t get to write her Z book… It had been so many years since I’d read her earlier novels.. saw this and got it. Her first Kinsey books held up well.
Loved it
I loved it. It was the first book of the series that I read, and I have now read them all. Great characters, especially the heroine, Kinsey Millhone. Great case.
Fun book to read. Also a quick read.
A classic!
This series of books is right up there with John D. MacDonald’s Travis Magee series. Start at the beginning and go to the end. You will not be sorry.
I am enjoying this series! I find that the author put in the time and energy needed to write a well-researched and informative story.
Pretty good mystery. Not a lot of profanity, I like that. Flowed well and kept me guessing.
Best series ever……always entertaining
Sue Grafton’s stores are fun to read!
Sue Grafton never disappoints. Another good one.