M is for Malice [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Sue Grafton (Author), Liza Ross (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2009

'M' is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California. 'M' is for Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit a fortune four men with very different temperaments and needs, linked only by blood and money. Eighteen years ago, one of them angry, troubled and in trouble went missing. 'M' is for Millhone, now hired to trace that missing black sheep brother. And, in brutal consequence, 'M' is for murder ...'Another treat from the alphabet queen' Daily Mail 'An unusually compelling series of novels with a notably convincing central character' Guardian

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Kinsey Millhone, the normally bubbly California private investigator, is depressed in Sue Grafton's new alphabet mystery; so depressed she goes back with old flame Robert Dietz for a while. Bad move. Meanwhile she gets wrapped up in a family affair, locating the missing heir to a fortune and then protecting him from his ill-intentioned brothers. Typically, our woman Kinsey has little patience with the boys, but a firm grasp of family dysfunction. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Approaching middle age warily, PI Kinsey Millhone of the Southern California coast is mildly depressed, romantically vulnerable and in the process of reassessing her family ties. Yet, when it comes to her professional abilities, she's at the top of her form, as this deftly plotted and absorbing novel (her 13th appearance, after L Is for Lawless) proves. Bader Malek, a local industrial tycoon, has died, and his four sons now stand to inherit a substantial fortune. But one of them, Guy, has been missing since 1968. A drug addict, ne'er-do-well and all-around miscreant, Guy had been disinherited by his exasperated father shortly before he vanished. But that particular will has disappeared, and Kinsey has been hired by the family to find out if Guy is still alive and thus in line to collect his original portion of the estate. She quickly succeeds in locating him and brings back a sweet, guileless and totally reformed man. But is he? The three other brothers?a truly devious, arrogant and greedy lot?are deeply ambivalent about Guy's return. A murder in the family leaves the surviving Malek kin as prime suspects. This is a subtle and swiftly moving novel, pleasantly unpredictable, with an agreeable overlay of smoldering romance, as fellow PI and former lover Robert Dietz reenters Kinsey's life. Grafton's heroine?more introspective, yet still feisty and surefooted?leads this finely tuned and at times electrifying tale to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. 1,000,000 first printing.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: ISIS Audio Books (May 1, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0753143720
• ISBN-13: 978-0753143728
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)

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:

3.0 out of 5 stars Loved it up till the very end and then was disappointed, February 20, 2000

By 

D. Jones "Dan-X !" (Denton, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: M Is for Malice (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've looked over the reviews and for the most part they are either of the "loved it" or "hated it" type. I fall somewhere inbetween. I've read all the books in order. Some are certainly better than others but I have to say that once I got into this one I kept thinking "Wow! This is the best one yet!" There were a couple of scenes in which Kinsey might have been encountering a ghost that genuinely creeped me out. Another reviewer complained about Ms. Grafton's thorough descriptions of surroundings but that's one of the reasons why I love her series so much. I feel as though I'm there or I'm watching a movie but I also get the psychological aspect too. Also, I was at a total loss as to who might have done it and I hate it when I read a mystery and figure out who the bad guy is before the author reveals them. However, typical of the Grafton novels, you don't find out until the last few pages who committed the crime. When that revelation came my praise of the book went out the window. I won't give it away but I'll just say that it was a total soap opera twist and VERY UNBELIEVABLE and silly. If the ending had just been more convincing I'd laud this book to high heaven but the climax was just straight from a Day's Of Our Lives episode.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kinsey Millhone is utterly addictive, 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: M Is for Malice (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book seems to be all about the possible pitfalls of catching up with relatives you haven't met before, or see for years. At the same time that Kinsey Millhone finally begins catching up with her long-lost Howard cousins, Robert Dietz drifts back into her life - and she is hired for case to find a family's long-lost brother.

It is through her new found cousin, Tasha, a lawyer, that she is bought into a case to find a Guy Malek - tearaway, drug addict and all-round fraudster who has been missing for 18 years. He has to be traced as he is mentioned in his father's will and Kinsey is brought in to help the three remaining Malek brothers track him down to settle the will. Its a straight-forward case and it hardly takes her a chapter to do - but all is not well in the Malek household. There is bitterness there that dates back to well before Guy left - and it all seems to be centred on Guy .

However Kinsey seems to think that Guy really is a changed person. So when a murder is committed in the Malek household only a few nights after his return Kinsey must return to find out what happened within those walls. There is unhappiness, malice and old crimes which must be solved before the perpetrator of this latest murder can be brought to justice. This is another story of Loyalty which reminds of C is for Corpse - where she is investigating for love as well as for money.

Sue Grafton cleverly (I think) dovetails Kinsey's life and issues with those of her new cousins, and the case she is trying to address. The return of her Dietz into her life and the conflict of emotions she feels in herself for Guy Malek, the man she was hired to find, and also her relationship - or lack of it, with Jonah Robb who is now Lieutenant, made this quite sad for me. In each book we are given further tantalising flashes of Kinsey's personal life.

I found the mystery quite complex, there were quite a number of leads to follow - some of which ended in dead ends. One thing I found a little hard to take was the supernatural aspect of it but it only intruded a little into the book. I think this is the best Kinsey Millhone mystery so far.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Close to Vintage Kinsey, February 14, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: M is for Malice (The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I read A Is for Alibi when it first came out--and will continue to read each new Sue Grafton book as it come off the press--but let's be realistic: some are better than others. I number myself among the ranks of those addicted Sue Grafton readers who don't like a lot of change going on with their favorite character. And I have been disappointed a lot lately. There were actually 4-5 Kinsey books published receently that I truly did not enjoy because Kinsey was not Kinsey. But now she's finally back! The crisp wit (a la Sam Spade and the hard drinking, wise cracking PIs of the 30s and 40s) and acid tongue are still sadly muted, but some of the old characters are back and the mystery is at the center of the plot again. A good read--one that is close to being up there with the best of Sue Grafton