#1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton crafts a thriller set in a town so small that P.I. Kinsey Millhone wonders just how private her investigation can be . . . F is for Fugitive Floral Beach wasn’t much of a town: six streets long and three deep, its only notable feature a strip of sand fronting the Pacific. It was on that sandy beach seventeen years ago that the strangled body of … the strangled body of Jean Timberlake had been found.
The people of floral Beach didn’t pay a whole lot of mind to past history, especially when Bailey Fowler, the self-confessed killer, had been properly processed and convicted. They weren’t even unduly concerned when, a year after the murder, Fowler walked away from the men’s prison at San Luis Obispo, never to be seen again. After all, everyone knew Jean had been a wild kid. “Like mother, like daughter,” some said–though never within hearing of Shana Timberlake, who, whatever her faults, still mourned her murdered child.
And then, by sheer fluke, the cops stumbled on Bailey Fowler. And a case seventeen years dead came murderously to life again.
For Royce Fowler, old and sick with not much time left, his son’s reappearance was the chance to heal an old wound. For Kinsey Millhone, the case was a long shot, but she agreed to take it on. She couldn’t know then it would lead her to probe the passions buried just below the surface of family relations, where old wounds fester and the most cherished emotions become warped until they fuse into deadly, soul-destroying time bombs.
“A” Is for Alibi
“B” Is for Burglar
“C” Is for Corpse
“D” Is for Deadbeat
“E” Is for Evidence
“F” Is for Fugitive
“G” Is for Gumshoe
“H” Is for Homicide
“I” Is for Innocent
“J” Is for Judgment
“K” Is for Killer
“L” is for Lawless
“M” Is for Malice
“N” Is for Noose
“O” Is for Outlaw
“P” Is for Peril
“Q” Is for Quarry
“R” Is for Ricochet
“S” Is for Silence
“T” Is for Trespass
“U” Is for Undertow
“V” Is for Vengeance
“W” Is for Wasted
“X”
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The entire series was fun to read—good characters and mysteries.
This is typical of Sue Grafton; it’s an easy, entertaining mystery with plenty of plot twists and interesting characters. Kinsey is her usual normal wise-cracking, skeptical self. The perfect book for a quick escape.
Another great read from this author.
I went through a period where I read every one of her books. Dropped off the alphabet somewhere around R. They were too graphic and I found I was taking them into my sleep. Getting wimpy in my old age, I guess.
I have read everything that Sue Grafton has written. Her characters are real, intriguing and relatable. The stories keep me coming back for more.
As all her books, this one is top notch for sure!
Any book from this series is a great read. F is for Fugitive provides that intriguing heroine Kinsey Milhone, great characters, and well-plotted mystery characteristic of Sue Grafton’s detective stories
I love this series
Fantastic author!
Love every book in this series!
I read this some time ago and can hardly remember what it was about! Don’t often read this type of lit, but thought I’d give it a try. Was entertaining at the time, I suppose. Have other tastes.
Can’t get enough. Whimsy to mayhem.
I’ve read through O is for Outlaw and will be sorry to finish the series, which ended one short of the alphabet due to the death of the author. So Y is for (something) will close the door on my fictional friend Kinsey Millhone. I’ll miss my new favorite PI.
I miss Sue Grafton. Loved all of her Kinsey Milhone books!
Have loved every single one of Sue Grafton’s Books! Hope she starts over with “Double AA’s” after she gets to “z!”
Love Kinsey and will read her stories forever!
3 of 5 stars to F is for Fugitive, the 6th book in the “Kinsey Millhone” mystery series written in 1988 by Sue Grafton. In between a cozy mystery and a traditional mystery, this series toes the line with its strong and serious private investigator, Kinsey, based in California during the 1980s. In this one, she takes on a case close to 20 years old, trying to collect as many details as she can from the family who has hired her. But they won’t tell her everything… and it’s about their son who murdered his girlfriend, but really says “I didn’t do it.” Of course he didn’t, and that’s why Kinsey agreed to search for the truth. But when she falls prey to some lies, she has to decide how much money is worth her own frustration. A good book in the series, not one of the best ones, but certainly not one of the less fun ones. Has some shock factor. Takes Kinsey out of her normal Santa Teresa homestead. The family she deal with are a bunch of loons, which of course makes for a few very funny pages.
Sue Grafton is one of the best. Kinsey Milhone is realistic, quirky and smart as ever in her 6th adventure.
All books in this series arewonderful!!!
Sue Grafton writes a good read every time. Period. They are original and never cookie cutter stories.
Seventeen years ago, the murder of a teen shocked the small community of Floral Beach. The young man who confessed to the crime broke out of prison a year later, but he’s been recaptured and Kinsey has been hired to prove his innocence. With the trails cold, she has her work cut out for her, and it seems everyone in town is hiding a secret. Can she learn the truth of what happened all those years ago?
One again, we are off on a wild ride that only gets wilder as we go along. Since we spend almost the entire book outside of Kinsey’s normal stomping grounds, the cast of characters are all new, and they are fantastic. Everything comes together for a great and logical ending, and I’m curious to see how the growth Kinsey experienced here will translate in the next in the series.