"F" is for Fugitive (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Sue Grafton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1989 | Series: Kinsey Millhone Mysteries

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 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Exceptionally entertaining…an offbeat sense of humor and a feisty sense of justice."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"Millhone is an engaging detective-for-hire…P.I. Kinsey Millhone and her creator…are arguably the best of [the] distaff invaders of the hitherto sacrosanct turf of gumshoes."
--The Buffalo News

"Once a fan reads one of Grafton's alphabetically titled detective novels, he or she will not rest until all the others are found."--Los Angeles Herald Examiner

"Millhone is a refreshingly strong and resourceful female private eye."--Library Journal

"Tough but compassionate…There is no one better than Kinsey Millhone."--Best Sellers

"A woman we feel we know, a tough cookie with a soft center, a gregarious loner."--Newsweek

"Lord, how I like this Kinsey Millhone…The best detective fiction I have read in years."--The New York Times Book Review

"Smart, tough, and thorough…Kinsey Millhone is a pleasure."--The Bloomsbury Review

"Kinsey is one of the most persuasive of the new female operatives…She's refreshingly free of gender clichés. Grafton, who is a very witty writer, has also given her sleuth a nice sense of humor--and a set of Wonder Woman sheets to prove it."--Boston Herald

"What grandpa used to call a class act."--Stanley Ellin

"Smart, sexual, likable and a very modern operator."--Dorothy Salisbury Davis

"Kinsey's got brains and a sense of humor."--Kirkus Reviews

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Everyone knew the kind of girl Jean Timberlake was -- ask anybody in the sleepy surf town of Floral Beach and they'd say Jean was wild, looking for trouble. But she certainly wasn't looking for murder. She was found dead on the beach seventeen years ago, and a rowdy ex-boyfriend named Bailey Fowler was convicted of her murder and imprisoned -- and then Bailey escaped. Now private eye Kinsey Millhone steps into a case that should have never been closed, in a town where there's no such thing as a private investigation. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 261 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (May 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805004602
• ISBN-13: 978-0805004601
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times-bestselling author Sue Grafton is published in twenty-eight countries and twenty-six languages--including Estonian, Bulgarian, and Indonesian. Books in her alphabet series, begun in 1982, are international bestsellers with readership in the millions. And like Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, Grafton has earned new respect for the mystery form. Readers appreciate her buoyant style, her eye for detail, her deft hand with character, her acute social observances, and her abundant storytelling prowess. She has been named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America (2009) and is a recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award (2004).

Sue Grafton has been married to Steve Humphrey for more than thirty years, and they divide their time between Montecito, California, and Louisville, Kentucky, where she was born and raised. Grafton, who has three children and four grandchildren, loves cats, gardens, and good cuisine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars F is for Fabulous!, March 23, 1999

By 

John D Lewallen Jr (Tucker, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: F Is for Fugitive (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

It is probably pretty easy to write a book where a one-dimensional, uninteresting protagonist solves an easy mystery. It would be harder to write one where that same character solves an intriguing mystery, or where an interesting, multi-faceted protagonist solves a boring mystery. It is perhaps easiest of all to baffle the readers throughout, then pull a rabbit of the the hat at the end, trying to be clever. Sue Grafton does not take any of these easy routes. Kinsey Millhone is a very interesting, believable, just plain human, character. The mystery in this 6th installment plays fair. Until the very end, you have several choices of who the culprit might be. The actual killer was not a total surprise, but wasn't one of the ones I was thinking were most likely. I enjoyed this book, and I recommend it highly. By the time I get a chance to read the rest of the current books, "O is for Outlaw" should be out, then I guess I will have to eagerly await each future book, just like those who have been reading this series all along.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an unusual and excellent mystery, December 7, 2003

By 

erica "ejs192" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: F Is for Fugitive (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

"F is for Fugitive" is one of the better Kinsey mysteries: engrossing from the first chapter, it reads quickly and consistently. Although the book is 300 pages long - longer than most of Grafton's novels - there is no mid-story lull. It bypasses much of Kinsey's usual backdrop: the action takes place in a small town ninety miles away from Santa Teresa, so Henry Pitts, Rosie, the California Fidelity crew, and Kinsey's bachelorette life in her small apartment are peripheral or entirely absent from the story. The book focuses entirely on the mystery of an twenty-year-old murder in a small town and a cast of characters who all seem to have something to hide. It's quintessential Sue Grafton: suspenseful and well-written, a pleasure to read from beginning to end.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Secrets, suspects, and schemes., June 3, 2000

By 

Sharon Wylie (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: "F" is for Fugitive (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Sue Grafton's books are so GOOD that she makes mystery writing look easy. But it's not, she's just excellent at what she does.

"F" takes Kinsey Millhone out of town to solve a 17-year-old murder case, and she's soon up to her ears in decades-old clues and crimes. One of the things Grafton does best is to create vivid and realistic communities of people. "F" is a great example of this--each character we meet is interesting, complex, AND has interactive relationships with other characters we've met. Everyone's connected, and when Kinsey solves the mystery, it makes sense because it FITS the characters.

My only (minor) complaints are that I missed the usual cast of characters (especially that Hungarian-type woman at the bar where Kinsey eats) and that Grafton indulges in a little moralizing at the end, which seemed heavy-handed.