H Is for Homicide (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Sue Grafton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kinsey Millhone Mysteries | Publication Date: March 22, 1992

"THE LADY CAN WRITE . . .

Any reader who needs a smart and sassy P.I. would do well to hire Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone. . . . H' is for Homicide continues to show the author in strong storytelling form. . . . [It] finds Kinsey Millhone working on a case involving the death of a claims adjuster for a California insurance company. The story takes her into the Los Angeles barrio in pursuit of a violent criminal, into jails and hospitals, and into a grungy bar named the Meat Locker. . . . Count on Millhone not only to corner the murderer but also to make a statement against the foibles of the insurance game."
--The New York Times

"The eighth in Grafton's bestselling series is perhaps the wildest ride yet. . . . Grafton's skill with dialogue, her vivid characterizations and California scenery are priceless. . . . There are moments when the tension becomes so unbearable that you are tempted to skip paragraphs out of self-preservation."
--USA Today

"One of the best . . . A vivid, funny portrait of life in an ethnic underworld, viewed without judgment. Suspense there is, plentifully, and a final suggestion that Kinsey will be exploring different mischiefs next time. Outstanding."
--Los Angeles Times

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This eighth in an alphabetically titled mystery series--Holt will publish "I" is for Innocentor is quotes around the letters PW style? in May--finds sleuth Kinsey Millhone undercover in a Los Angeles barrio. Some 178,000 hardcover copies of this Literary and Mystery Guild selection have been sold. (May
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Intelligent, fast-paced, and filled with memorable characters…Kinsey remains as engaging as ever.”—The New York Times Book Review

PHENOMENAL PRAISE FOR THE MYSTERY NOVELS OF

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

SUE GRAFTON

“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 an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett; 10th Printing Edition edition (March 22, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449219461
• ISBN-13: 978-0449219461
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #976,152 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

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sue Grafton Presents American Wit and Murder From S. Calif, June 7, 2000

By 

Liz "Birdmother" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: H Is for Homicide (Paperback)

I loved H is for Homicide and believe that it is Sue Grafton at her finest. As a Sue Grafton fan, I have read all of her books and loved them all but this one really hit the spot.

Kinsey Milhone, the main character, sets out to investigate a series of suspicious automobile insurance claims and ends up hanging out in the barrio with the perpetrators. Her entree into this secluded world was an evening spent in a very nasty bar posing as an after-hours tart whose mission is to befriend a for-real gorgeous tart who is the key to the insurance fraud ring. This is not the kind of duty that most of us would sign up for with any amount of enthusiasm. But Kinsey Milhone has guts of iron and nerves of steel. Those guts of iron allow her to swallow vast quantities of greasy restaurant food and the nerves of steel facilitate the endurance of the company of sleaze-bags for record amounts of time.

None of the miscreants, be they White or Hispanic are spared her cynical witty observations. Readers will, in all likelihood, be laughing cynically at the unvarnished truth that Kinsey uncovers time and again. She lets us know when people are negligent about washing their hands after using the public restrooms. She promptly informs us when residential bathrooms are less than clean and the housework in general has been neglected, when people don't smell or look good. The things that irritate Kinsey tell us the most about her--primarily that she has high personal standards and a great sense of boundaries.

Kinsey's level of tolerance for the creeps and oddballs that are the everyday encounters of her job is nothing short of remarkable. When she ends up hanging out with the denizens of the barrio in their apartment/headquarters, I thought that for sure she would end up dead in the apartment dumpster. Yet Kinsey's unique ability to blend in with her temporary surroundings and her skills as a private investigator combine to make a cliff-hanging suspense mystery novel.

Sue Grafton is at the top of her form in H Is For Homicide. I also highly recommend L Is For Lawless to newcomers who feel inclined to jump into the series at any point. Just grab any one of her novels, curl up, and let Kinsey Milhone take over!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars H is for Hostage, not Homicide, May 26, 2001

By 

Paul Skinner (Manassas, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: H Is for Homicide (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

From the title and the early entry of a dead body, the reader thinks that Kinsey is going to set out to solve a homicide. However, she gets tangled up in a most unusual situation, as a virtual hostage in a Latino run auto insurance fraud ring. This is the only alphabet book I have read where Kinsey is not working for a client, and I guess this is part of the reason I thought this book was sub-par, by Sue Grafton standards. There is little mention of the usual Santa Teresa characters. Even so, this book was an easy page turner, as all other alphabet books are. If this is your first Millhone mystery, don't worry. Most of them are much, much better.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Weak Link in a Great Series, September 6, 2006

By 

Steph - See all my reviews

This review is from: H Is for Homicide (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I read A is for Alibi years ago and did not get pulled into the series. Years later I read S is for Silence and was hooked. I started to read the series--backwards at first and then jumped to the beginning. I have really enjoyed the books and felt a connection to the heroine (and forgiven Ms. Grafton for making her weigh 118 lbs on her 5'6" frame). However, I agree with the other readers who feel like this is not Grafton at her best. You just can't believe that Kinsey would put herself in these ridiculous positions---belting a police officer to endear herself to a woman she is investigating, remaining in an incredibly (and unbelievable) dangerous situation, to name a few. The dialogue is weak,the sexual situations seem gratutitous, and there is a fair amount of stereotyping of hispanics. But even with these issues, I did finish the book. Grafton at her low point is still a good read!