Customer Reviews

D Is for Deadbeat (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone is back again in this fourth installment of Sue Grafton's alphabet series. This time she is offered a fee to give a $25,000 cashier's check to a young man named Tony Gahan. The check for the fee bounces and Kinsey is now looking for the man who gave it to her, plus the young man she is to give the cashier's check to. Everything she finds out about her client is bad. He is a drunk, who has killed several people in a car wreck, and appears to be a bigamist. When he is found dead, Kinsey has plenty of suspects including survivors of the dead motorists and two angry wives. This book is written in Grafton's usual breezy style, and Kinsey becomes more independent and more likeable with each book. I would recommend the whole series to mystery-lovers.

The alphabet detective is back and as good as ever. Grafton does a great job setting this mystery up and the ending is a complete surprise. The twists and turn in the book take you all over the place, where you end up is the one place you never would have figured. You will read this without putting the book down.

No one can make a funeral funnier than Kinsey. For that matter, I laughed till I wheezed over her description of the deadbeat's wife--a somewhat unstable Fundamentalist--and the picture taken on their 40th wedding anniversary. But the last chapter is a real nail-biter, as usual, and looking through Kinsey's eyes, these folks may be quirky, but human just the same. I've read all the books in the series, but this is the one I'd recommend to someone who hasn't read any of these books yet. What a sleuth

I am big mystery / crime book fan, so have been looking forward to getting into the Sue Grafton Alphabet mysteries for some time. This was the first book I have read in the series.

The main character, Kinsey Millhone, is very likable, and has a lot of depth. That's probably the most important thing for a series. The story itself is reasonable. It was far from the biggest page turner I've read but kept me going to the end. In a nutshell, it is about an ex-con who is savagely murdered one night. The police rule the death an accident, but Kinsey Millhone and the victim's daughter believe it is the work of foul-play. In steps P.I. Millhone. The list of suspects is as long as the victim's criminal record.

The book was set in 1986, but the only clue to its age is several references to "West Germany" which took me aback.

I can't say I am in a huge hurry to read the rest of the Kinsey Millhone series. Nonetheless, I will persevere and have just picked up I is for Innocent from the library. I will prob read 3 or 4 of these a year until I finish the series, it's good filler!

The funniest passages in this book involve the deadbeat's wife/widow (and she's not who you think in the beginning of the book) both at home and later at the funeral parlor. (Sue Grafton does funny funerals). When I first read this book, I snickered over the anniversary picture description, Kinsey's Sunday School memories, and her Wonder Woman sheets for days. Then I handed it to my mother and said, "you have to read this. It's FUNNY." She liked it, too. Like most of the "Alphabet" books, this one builds to a tension-filled last chapter, with the "respectfully submitted" epilogue that wraps it up for this go-around.

Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone narrates another great thriller in this fourth installment in the alphabet mystery series. In "'D' is for Deadbeat", she's approached by Alvin Limardo (real name: John Daggett) who wants her to locate a 15-year-old boy named Tony Gahan and deliver a $25,000 check to him. Although she's wary of John, she proceeds with the case, only to have his $400 retainer check bounce--and his corpse wash up on the California shore a short time later.

After his death, John's estranged, successful daughter Barbara Daggett requests Kinsey to pursue the situation. Both women don't believe his death was an accident, especially now that Kinsey has learned more about his past--that he had just been released from prison for doing a few months' time for vehicular manslaughter, which killed the above-mentioned teen's family. Now Kinsey must sort through a handful of possible suspects who were all too happy Daggett passed away, including one of his wives (Lovella Daggett) and one of Tony Gahan's guardians (Ramona Westfall).

I thought "'D' is for Deadbeat" was a really good mystery, even though I had guessed the killer about halfway into it. I doubt most people will guess him/her right away, though; it is a bit of an unexpected twist.

Like a lot of Grafton's books, there's always a sudden, wild ending, and this one is no exception. So, if you're a Sue Grafton fan, then I'd certainly recommend this book.

"D" is for Deadbeat is up there with Grafton's best. This one has a very good plot and an ending that is sure to take one by surprise. This is an excellent novel with which to start the Milhone series. An excellent read!

John Daggett, an alcoholic jailed for vehicular homicide hires Milhone to deliver a $25000 cashier's check to a relative of one of his victims then turns up dead. Re-reading it I realized I should have figured the murderer by page 200 but I didn't the first time.
The atmosphere is dark - several children's deaths- but this also has some her greatest humor. Daggett married "but the warranty on his first wife hadn't expired."
The affair with Jonah is on again. Mike the likeable teenage drug dealer from B is for Burglat and Ron from the TipTop cab company have bit parts. Intersting parallels between the scuzzy LA apartment building where Daggett lived and the one on O is for Outlaw where her first husband lived.

D IS FOR DEADBEAT is an odd story - Kinsey is hired to give $ 25,000 to a fifteen-year-old. Should be simple, right? Not with Sue Grafton writing the book!! When Kinsey's retainer check bounces things really start to get interesting!! Next Kinsey finds the deadbeat who wrote the check, he was dead. Now she has to find out who killed him in order to get paid!

This is the first Sue Grafton book that I read and I was hooked after reading it. It's exciting and keeps a fast pace so you're never in danger of becoming bored. The plot is well developed, as are the characters. We see more into the personalities that make up not only Kinsey, but Henry the landlord as well. If Kinsey were older or Henry younger, you might see some romantic sparks fly - but that's not in the future, only a deep friendship.

Grafton also starts expanding the supporting cast of characters with a glimpse at Rosie, the Hungarian diner owner down the street. The people Grafton writes about are all flamboyant in their own ways.

Definitely a great book to spend some time with, but make sure you have the next book (E IS FOR EVIDENCE) ready to pick up as soon as you read the last page of this one - you won't want to stop reading!

The client came to Kinsey Millhone with an easy job she thought-deliver $25,000 to a fifteen-year-old kid. A little odd, and Kinsey wasn't sure what to make of this thing. So she takes Alvin Limardo's retainer check anyhow. It turns out that his real name is not Alvin Limardo, but John Daggett. And the check of course, is as phony as he is. John Daggett has a record as long as your arm and a reputation for sleazy deals. But he wasn't just a deadbeat. By the time Kinsey caught up with him, he was a dead body-with a whole host of people who were delighted to see him dead. There was four in particular that REALLY wanted him dead. Kinsey knew his death was no suicide-it was a plan to kill John. But which one of the four did it? Kinsey must put her detective skills to work and find out someone's secret.