Customer Reviews

N Is for Noose

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(54)
2 star:		(36)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

One of my favorite detective story lines is the one where the whole community turns against the protagonist. Despite this, the detective solves the crime. N Is for Noose follows that plot, and is well done. In fact, the book borders on the genre of the Western in many ways. Read it that way, and you'll like it better.

The book has one uncharacteristic quality for this series, Kinsey is quite slow to solve the mystery. I found that intriguing. Most problem-solving is slow and ineffective. To me, it made the story more realistic and interesting to follow. Others will call it slow plot development.

The resolution in the end is extremely unusual. It combines elements that are found in many other stories, but never in combination. It literally took my breath away. I could not read it fast enough, even though it is over quickly. Such a powerful coda after so many lento sections is an astonishing surprise, and one that worked well for me.

Although this is certainly not the best book in the series, it is a very fine one. I urge you to read it, and appreciate its strengths.

If you are like me, you will see N Is for Noose as the ultimate development of the theme, "I am woman . . . hear me roar."

One of my favorite detective story lines is the one where the whole community turns against the protagonist. Despite this, the detective solves the crime. N Is for Noose follows that plot, and is well done. In fact, the book borders on the genre of the Western in many ways. Read it that way, and you'll like it better.

The book has one uncharacteristic quality for this series, Kinsey is quite slow to solve the mystery. I found that intriguing. Most problem-solving in reality is slow and ineffective. To me, it made the story more realistic and interesting to follow. Others will call it slow plot development.

The resolution in the final 40 pages or so is extremely unusual. It combines elements that are found in many other stories, but never in combination. It literally took my breath away. I could not read it fast enough, even though it is over quickly. Such a powerful coda after so many lento sections is an astonishing surprise, and one that worked well for me. Think of this book as having three long, slow movements followed by one allegro one done fortissimo!

Although this is certainly not the best book in the series, it is a very fine one. I urge you to read it, and appreciate its strengths.

Also, think about whether you really want your novels (and especially mysteries) to be too predictable. What kind of unpredictability is good? What kind isn't?

Stand up for what you believe in, too!

N is for Noose by Sue Grafton Henry Holt and Company 1998

I have read nearly all Sue Grafton's books in this series and find that this is a little slower than the others and not nearly as exciting. The widow of a small town policeman asks Kinsey Millhone to find the reason for her husbands fretfulness and ill-ease just before he dies of a heart attack. While this appears at first to be a fruitless exercise, Kinsey obviously disturbs someone during her rooting around into his life and begins to wonder who is upset enough to harm her. Two related murders separated by 5 years throw suspicion on the staff of the local police department and others in the small town in the Sierra mountains. Kinsey's search puts her in harms way and only through skilful questioning and deduction does she arrive at the answers she seeks and escapes a final deadly encounter with the guilty party.

The story moves fairly quickly but there is a lack of tension and excitement until the final chapter where Kinsey once again survives to rule the day.

On the whole this book is not up to the standards I have come to expect from Sue Grafton but I still look forward to her next mystery "O is for Outlaw".

Sue Grafton and Kinsey Millhone are both like the Energizer Bunny! They just keep on going! N is for Noose is another in a long line of suspenseful Kinsey mysteries.

In this book, a detective dies and his widow hires Kinsey to find out what had been bothering him lately. Kinsey investigates and unearths a big mess, not to mention nearly losing her life!

I bought it Friday, and read it Sunday. As usual Sue Grafton keeps me turning the pages waiting to see what comes next. The plot was good, the characters interesting and the descriptions enjoyable. I read other customer comments, and I'd wondered why Kinsey hasn't come to the big screen. But I agree that so often movies ruin the characters. I know that while I enjoyed V I Warshawski on the big screen, she didn't fit my imagined character at all. If Kinsey ever makes it to film, I hope Ms. Grafton has total control so her vision can be portrayed.

I have read many of the reviews of Sue Grafton's books that you people have put here. I know many of you share a hate-like relationship of her books, but whoever reviews Patricia Cornwell better bear in mind that in my opinion Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky beat her out any day. The main plot of "N" is For Noose centers in Nota Lake, Kinsey has been hired by Selma Newquist to find out how her husband Tom Newquist died. Sue Grafton always writes her novels with lots of description and I mean lots, hilarious dialogue, action, and smart-mouthed Kinsey Millhone who keeps getting better by the book, In Stephen King's On Writing he says that Grafton, although she writes real fast, seems to produce great books, He's right. Her best novel is probably O is for Outlaw, Her weakest would be L is for Lawless, since there wasn't a real mystery in this. If you are a fan of Grafton (Like I Am) I suggest you get this one, if you have read all of Grafton's books and need something to read that's like her style I recommend Sara Paretsky, Janet Evanovich and Marcia Muller. If you want Alternatives to other mystery writers, read Kathy Reichs, she's like Patricia Cornwell except much, much better. If you like British Mystery like P.D. James read Elizabeth George. As for N is for Noose it is excellent, exciting and fun. Grade: A-

In N IS FOR NOOSE, Kinsey Millhone takes on one of Robert Dietz' cases after he has knee surgery. (Remember her bodyguard turned lover from G IS FOR GUMSHOE?? Well, heeee's baaaack... or at least we get a glimpse of him anyway). Ok, back to the book ... Kinsey drives Dietz' Porsche back to Carson City for him and is a little shocked at his lifestyle - he actually lives in a penthouse! This part of the story falls short - I wasn't sure if this romance would continue sometime in the future, or if the spark had been doused. I guess Grafton wants to keep all the possibilities open and kept any details locked away from her readers!

From Carson City, Kinsey goes to Nota Lake and her new case, that of a Selma Newquist. Selma's husband (a police detective) dies suddenly from a heart attack, but Selma suspects something else had killed her husband and Kinsey is the one to help solve the puzzle. Selma is a fresh character -- she's not too bright, applies her make up with a trowel, and just has one of those unique personalities that intrigue you and drive you nuts at the same time!

I found this book to be very predictable (to the point of being almost boring) and found the most enjoyable parts to be those in which Selma was involved. The overall mystery was not there, and the normal spellbinding material that was typical for Grafton is missing.

As Sue Grafton continues on her alphabetic journey, I sense she's running out of enthusiasm. Maybe she should jump out of this alphabet nightmare and write something different before she continues.

Do I recommend this book? Yeah, but with reservations - it's not the worst book on the market, but it's definitely not the best either!

Sue Grafton writes in an energetic, highly readable style and has the gift for creating memorable characters; at the same time, as the series has progressed it has aquired a formula quality, and where N IS FOR NOOSE is concerned Grafton makes an incredibly gross error that gives the work a distinctly unfinished feeling.

Kinsey Millhone is a no-nonsense private detective whose work usually consists of skip traces, missing persons, and leg work; on this occasion, however, she is summoned from her usual stomping grounds in Santa Teresa to the isolated community of Nota Lake, where she is hired by Selma Newquist to discover why Selma's husband Tom was so peturbed in the weeks before his natural-causes death. As it happens, Tom was an extremely well-respected man and police officer, and his family, friends, and co-workers do not take kindly to an investigation they believe may tarnish his reputation.

As in all Grafton novels, Kinsey is presented as one smart cookie--but as in most Grafton novels in the series, the climax of the story is actually precipitated through Kinsey's incredibly stupid blunder. Even so, the book reads at a fast clip and is quite entertaining until you realize that Grafton has provided no motive for two of three murders that drive the plot. In the first instance the motive is clear; in the second two, however, we are merely told who the killer is and given no idea of how the victims were connected with the killer, much less why they were killed. The result is a non-conclusion, and it not been for this flaw I would have ranked the title slightly higher.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This is the first Grafton book I've read. It features Kinsey Millhone, a female private investigator who's doing a friend a favor by checking out some suspicions a widow has about her husband's last weeks. The husband died of quite natural causes; what is bothering the widow is how stressed out her husband was.

As with most simple cases, this one is everything but simple. No one wants to talk about the deceased or what might have been eating him. Everyone in the small California town east of the Sierras knows everyone else's business. And someone clearly does NOT want Kinsey snooping around.

The writing was pretty good, though the dialogue didn't sound much like the way people talk. Kinsey is likable enough -- a real woman -- but she almost had me missing Janet Evanovich's bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. Even if I often get annoyed at how girly Plum can be, she's a lot funnier than Millhone.

By the time I got near the end of the book, I wanted to scream at Millhone, because it was quite clear to me who it was threatening her and why, but maybe she couldn't have been expected to see that clearly, given... well, you have to read it yourself and see.

This was an entertaining little diversion -- suitable for the train or beach or vacation or for your 10-minutes-before-you-fall-asleep reading. Not stunning literature, but fun.

Does detective fiction get any better than Sue Grafton? Her 14th (N's place in the alphabet) in the famous series is another great piece of writing. Kinsey Millhone is one of the most likable protagonists in contemporary literature. She succeeds in a male-dominated field, but is still believable as a real woman, suffering from the same problems as the rest of us (dating woes, age sensitivity, unresolved family issues). My only concern is what will happen when I've finished reading the Z novel; there's the potential for serious Kinsey-withdrawal.