Customer Reviews

O Is for Outlaw

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A "storage space scavenger" calls Kinsey Millhone saying that he has items that once belonged to her. A rented storage space has fallen into arrears, and he has bought the contents. The storage space had been rented by Mickey Magruder, Kinsey's first ex-husband.

Kinsey buys a box of items that were originally hers. In it, she finds a letter addressed to her that reached Mickey after she had left. The letter is from a woman named Dixie Hightower, a barmaid. From it, Kinsey learns that Mickey had had an affair with Dixie, but that Mickey could not have caused the beating death of a man named Benny Quintero. Kinsey had left Mickey because she believed that he was guilty.

Mickey had resigned from the Santa Teresa Police Department under the cloud of the Quintero scandal. He had not allowed Dixie to alibi him, for fear of hurting Kinsey.

Kinsey searches for Mickey, to come to terms with him and with what she has learned. However, she learns that Mickey has recently been shot and is in a coma--and that the police suspect her as the shooter.

Determined to seek justice for Mickey, and to clear her name, Kinsey investigates what really happened to her ex-husband. She follows a trail that leads to Dixie Hightower (who is now rich and snooty), to Louisville Kentucky, through old infidelities, and then reaches back to pretension and murderous rage during the Vietnam War.

The plot is driven largely by the issues of romantic fidelity or the lack thereof, and by romantic jealousy. These are subjects on which the narrator and protagonist, Kinsey Millhone, has strong and conservative opinions.

In my opinion, most of the writing is quite good: perceptive and sometimes amusing. There is keen observation of the southern California social scene, and of the effect of time on people and relationships. There is interesting commentary on quite a few subjects.

On the other hand, there are patches of silly dialog--and a shrewd, remorseless killer who patiently explains his crimes to someone he intends to kill. The machinations of criminals hoping to dupe Kinsey into overlooking their crimes seem too clever by half. Some of Kinsey's adventures and methods of obtaining information are unconvincing. The novel's three central crimes are neither very interesting nor very believable. However, the good points of O is for Outlaw far outweigh the bad points--and in any case, the novel is fun because Kinsey Millhone is always fun.

A friend recommended Grafton's work to me, and said she liked this book in particular. I read it and enjoyed it. It's not my normal choice for leisure reading (I typically go for Stephen King, HP Lovecraft, JRR Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, and other fantastic/horror types), but felt this was a welcome change. Grafton has a nice wit in her writing; I often found myself chuckling after reading some passages. The only downfall I have to say is the "James Bond" style ending, where the bad guy tells all just before his end...