"C" is for Corpse (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Sue Grafton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kinsey Millhone Mysteries | Publication Date: May 15, 1986

He was young-maybe twenty or so-and he must once have been a good-looking kid. Kinsey could see that. But now his body was covered in scars, his face half-collapsed. It saddened Kinsey and made her curious. She could see he was in a lot of pain. But for three weeks, as Kinsey'd watched him him doggedly working out at the local gym, putting himself through a grueling exercise routine, he never spoke.

Then one Monday morning when there was no one else in the gym, Bobby Callahan approached her. His story was hard to credit: a murderous assault by a tailgating car on a lonely rural road, a roadside smash into a canyon 400 feet below, his Porsche a bare ruin, his best friend dead. The doctors had managed to put his body back together again-sort of. His mother's money had seen to that. What they couldn't fix was his mind, couldn't restore the huge chunks of memory wiped out by the crash. Bobby knew someone had tried to kill him, but he didn't know why. He knew he had the key to something that made him dangerous to the killer, but he didn't know what it was. And he sensed that someone was still out there, ready to pounce at the first sign his memory was coming back. He'd been to the cops, but they'd shrugged off his story. His family thought he had a screw loose. But he was scared-scared to death. He wanted to hire Kinsey.

His case didn't have a whole lot going for it, but he was hard to resist: young, brave, hurt. She took him on. And three days later, Bobby Callahan was dead.

Kinsey Millhone never welshed a deal. She'd been hired to stop a killing. Now she'd find the killer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The corpse in private eye Kinsey Millhone's third adventure ("A" Is for Alibi and "B" Is for Burglar is that of Bobby Callahan, a young man she first meets while both are working out in a local gym. Bobby is convinced the car crash he'd been injured in was really an attempt on his life and, fearful of another assault, persuades Kinsey to investigate. A few days later, Bobby is indeed killed, and Kinsey stays on the case. She is befriended by Bobby's wealthy mother, his opportunistic stepfather and druggie, anoretic stepsister. She learns Bobby was having an affair with a friend of his mother's whose first husband had been killed in a suspicious burglary, and whose second is county pathologist. While the almost hard-boiled Kinsey ferrets out the ugly secrets behind Bobby's death, she's also trying to save her elderly landlord from the schemes of the scam-operating senior lady he's smitten with. Kinsey Millhone is nobody's fool; she's also sensitive, funny and very likable. Writing with a light, sure touch, Grafton has produced a fast-moving California story about quirky, believable people.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Kinsey Millhone is smart, sexual, likeable and a very modern operator. A pleasure to read." --Dorothy Salisbury Davis on "A" Is for Alibi

"[This] is what grandpa used to call a class act." --Stanley Ellin on "A" Is for Alibi

"Millhone is my favorite among the new female private eyes. She's feisty, stubborn, resourceful, guardedly romantic, and willfully practical...she's my kind of loner." --Cryptus, Detroit News on "B" Is for Burglar

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 243 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition edition (May 15, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805028188
• ISBN-13: 978-0805028188
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, August 9, 2001

By 

Robert Von Gerds "robgerds" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: C Is for Corpse (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Another Great Book by Sue Grafton. In 'C is for Corpse' our hero Kinsey Millhone is hired by Bobby, a young man who fell victim to a terrible car accident almost a year ago and has left the once handsome young man freak-looking. Bobby believes the accident was an attempt to kill him, because of a secret he knows. Unfortunately, Bobby suffers from amnesia because of the accident ad cannot remember what the secret was. Our friend Kinsey quickly takes a liking to him, but unfortunatley Bobby meets an untimely end. Now it is up to Kinsey to find out who is behind his death and what the horrible secret is...

Once again, Sue Grafton portrays Kinsey as the odd yet likeable person that she is. I have always been able to identify very well with Kinsey Millhone and have taken a real liking to her. I can't wait to read the rest of her books!!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging mystery - kept me gripped till the end, January 31, 2001

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: C Is for Corpse (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Kinsey Millhone, single female, Private Investigator and all-round ordinary person is still recovering from the beating she received solving her last crime (told to us in B is for Burglar). This is later on in 1982 and as part of her recovery programme she is working out at the gym. That's where she sees Bobby Callahan. He is also recovering from a serious accident, and he looks bad. A few months before he lost control of his car and drove off a canyon road killing his friend and almost killing himself. He lost most of his memory in the accident, and as it returns in flashes, he realises that someone was trying to kill him - and could try again.

Kinsey takes the case wondering where to start - but before she gets too far Bobby is killed what seems to be an accidental crash, but Kinsey has her doubts. Given that he hired her to find his killers and left her with a retainer she feels she must, for his honour and memory, continue the case. Someone else in these reviews commented on Kinsey's loyalty, and that is right. She has a lot of likeable characteristics and this is one of them.

Bobby's friends and family must be interviewed and eliminated from her investigation and these include mother, Glen; his stepfather, Derek ; his step-sister (a drug addict and anoretic), Kitty; - a beautiful ex-girlfriend ;- Doctor Fraker whom Bobby worked for ; Fraker's beautiful wife Nola whose first husband died in mysterious circumstances and a host of his mother's friends. Kinsey must find out who the mystery woman Bobby was meeting before his first accident and how his job at the morgue fitted in to all of this.

At the same time Kinsey is having personal problems. Her personable landlord, Henry, has taken up with a widow by the name of Lila who has aroused everyone's suspicions except Henry's. Kinsey doesn't trust her and wants to find out what going on much closer to home as well....and then there are her feelings for Jonah Robb, gorgeous Policeman whom we first met in B is for Burglar.

I do love Kinsey she is definitely addictive in all the good sense of the word. She is an engaging narrator for these books, detailed, good sense of humour and likeable. If she carries any chips on her shoulder she doesn't brood darkly about them, and I like that.. The mystery is satisfying to solve too - picking away at layers of clues and lies to find out what is going on beneath this all. The conclusion is somewhat Gothic but the story was so good I didn't mind that at all. Sue Grafton is definitely on my Keeper shelf - while C is for Corpse is not one of my favourites of her series - I just like Kinsey so much - she is readable, and human, and I enjoy that.

In case you are wondering - you definitely don't have to read the series in order to make sense of the series. They are stand alone books in their own right.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars C is for Corpse = Glorious Reading, August 31, 2005

By 

Twistamojo "Twistamojo" - See all my reviews

This review is from: "C" is for Corpse (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Hardcover)

My mom handed me this book when i was leaving on a plane for london. I needed something to do so i decided to read it just so i had something to do on the nine hour flight. What surprised me was that this book was actually engaging and interesting! The main character, Kinsey Millhone is frequently put into interesting and sometimes life threatening situations. Combine that with an interesting plot and a surprise ending and you got yourself quite a good thriller/mystery. Sue Grafton goes to great length to express the detail of Kinsey Millhone's every movement, which i enjoyed. Every move she made, be it getting out of a car or dodging a bullet, was written in great detail that kept me on the edge of my seat. Sue Grafton is also quite skilled at creating a very diverse set of characters for each novel. Its good to have diversity in mystery novels because each character is thuroghly analyzed. I dont know if i would plan on reading all of Sue Grafton's novels, because i could see myself getting quite bored very quickly of the style. But if you have a few hours to kill i definitely suggest this book.