Q Is For Quarry [Large Print] [Paperback]

Sue Grafton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2003

A New York Times Bestseller

Eighteen years ago, two men found the decomposed body of a murder victim near a quarry off California's Highway 1. The "Jane Doe" case fell to the Santa Teresa County Sheriff's Department but, with little to go on, it remained unsolved. Now the men, both nearing the end of long careers in law enforcement, want one last shot at the case. Old and ill, they need someone to do the legwork for them, and they turn to Kinsey Millhone. Just to identify the victim, they say, would bring some closure. Kinsey, intrigued, agrees to work with them. But revisiting the past can be a dangerous business, and what begins with the pursuit of Jane Doe's identity ends in a high-risk hunt for her killer.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Private investigator Kinsey Millhone has served Sue Grafton well through 16 letters of the alphabet in a perennially popular series that occasionally breaks new ground but more often traverses familiar territory, as is the case here. Two old, ailing cops--one retired, the other disabled--try to breathe some life into an 18-year-old mystery that haunts them both for different reasons. They enlist Kinsey's help in identifying the victim, a young woman who was murdered and left for dead in the old quarry of the title. Neither they nor Kinsey expect that reopening an old case will incite the killer to strike again--not once, but twice. And while the real case of the still-unidentified victim that inspired this fictionalized scenario continues to languish in the cold case file in the Santa Barbara sheriff's office, Grafton's solution is as plausible as any. While the unlikely trio of Millhone and her cranky geezer sidekicks offers a few chuckles, the inner reaches of Kinsey's soul remain largely inaccessible to her as well as to the reader, which will probably not bother most of Kinsey's or Grafton's many admirers. --Jane Adams --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

While Kinsey Millhone is as energetic and tenacious as ever, and the plot hustles along at a gratifying pace, her 17th adventure is a little slow getting underway with all the initial accumulated biographical data. Two policemen out hunting discover a teenage girl's body near a quarry off California's Highway 1. Eighteen years later, the two recruit Millhone to help them try to identify the victim. Stacey Oliphant, now retired from the force, and Con Dolan, unwillingly sidelined by heart trouble, are as quarrelsome as an old married couple, but they both desperately want to find the killer in the quarry case. Their inquiries lead the trio from Santa Teresa to Quorum, a town in the desert near the Arizona border. At the time of the murder, a wrecked red convertible was found near the crime scene-stolen from an auto shop in Quorum. When Millhone and her cohorts talk to the grumpy shop owner, Ruel McPhee, and his charming son, Cornell, they get little information. Visits around town and probing conversations reveal various family secrets and covert liaisons, until the somewhat precipitous unmasking of the killer. Grafton briefly shoehorns in Millhone's interactions with her lost family, but that subject continues to feel as artificially imposed as it did in earlier books. A marvelously successful addition, however, is the twosome of Dolan and Oliphant. Their deftly rendered relationship is a delight; with any luck, the duo will appear in future Millhone mysteries. A main selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club and Mystery Guild, and a BOMC featured selection.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 619 pages
• Publisher: Large Print Press; 1 edition (September 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410401634
• ISBN-13: 978-1410401632
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (189 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,591,729 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

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Q Is For [There Will Be A] Quiz, December 14, 2002

By 

Bruce Crocker "agnostictrickster" (Whittier, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Q is for Quarry (Kinsey Millhone Mystery) (Hardcover)

Q Is For Quarry by Sue Grafton is different from the average Kinsey Millhone mystery, but I found myself enjoying this book more than I've enjoyed the last few novels in the series. First off,the book takes place mostly in a fictionalized version of the southeastern corner of California [south of Blythe and west of the Colorado River] rather than the usual fictionalized version of Santa Barbara, California. Second, Q Is For Quarry is the most police proceduralesque of the novels in the series. This isn't suprising since the novel takes off from a real cold murder case and involves two retired cops as main characters. Kinsey and the cops slowly unravel and reweave the evidence concerning the murdered girl found in the quarry until they tie up the loose ends and nail the killer. If you don't like lots of detail, you probably won't like this novel. Complaints concerning Kinsey's changing personality seem unfounded to me since the changes are consistent with the evolution of the character seen in the other novels. I think that Q Is For Quarry is a very good entry in the 'Alphabet' series and I hope Sue Grafton doesn't give up on Kinsey before she reaches Z.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Q is a Winner....., December 1, 2002

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Q is for Quarry (Kinsey Millhone Mystery) (Hardcover)

It was eighteen years ago that officers Stacey Oliphant and Con Dolan, out on a morning hunting trip, found the decomposing body near the quarry. She was young, white, bound, and stabbed multiple times, and then her throat was slashed. She'd never been identified, her murderer never brought to justice, and the unsolved case has haunted Oliphant and Dolan all these many years. Now, old and sick, and at the end of their respective careers, they want one more shot at solving this Jane Doe homicide, and decide to enlist the help of Santa Teresa private detective, Kinsey Millhone. After hearing the whole story, and reading over the old murder book, Kinsey has to admit she's hooked, packs her duffle, and joins this "odd couple" on what turns out to be quite an intriguing and ultimately dangerous adventure in search of the truth..... Inspired by a still unsolved murder in Santa Barbara County over thirty years ago, Sue Grafton weaves a compelling and suspenseful story. Her well paced plot is filled with clever twists and turns, vivid, laugh-out-loud scenes, and witty and irreverent dialogue. But it's Ms Grafton's brilliant characterizations and delicious descriptions that really make this novel stand out and sparkle, and no one does it better. Q Is For Quarry is the seventeenth mystery in this marvelous alphabet series, and definitely one of the strongest entries. If you're new to Kinsey and company, begin at the beginning with A Is For Alibi and read them all. If you're already a fan, Q is a very satisfying and engaging read that should find itself at the top of your "must read" list.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Dimensions of Kinsey's Family in a Reality-Based Mystery, June 13, 2003

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Q is for Quarry (Kinsey Millhone Mystery) (Hardcover)

This book is essential reading for all Kinsey Millhone fans!

Ms. Grafton has outdone her usual brilliance. She has taken a marvelous series and made it better by adding two new elements to her well-honed heroine and typical plot. The first new element is that you will learn a lot more about what was going on in Kinsey's family before, during and after she was born. This new information will provide the basis for many satisfying plot complications in future to expand your enjoyment. If you skip this book, the next books in the series probably won't work as well for you. The second new element is basing her mystery on an actual unsolved homicide in Santa Barbara County, California in August 1969. As a result, we can all speculate along with Ms. Grafton about what really happened. If the real case is ever solved, we can also see how close she and we came to the right answer. By including four forensic reconstructions of the real victim, readers can also potentially help identify the victim. It's one thing to make up one's own neat little mysteries. It's a much grander and exciting thing to take on the real thing. I hope that Ms. Grafton will create other reality-based mysteries in the future.

As the book opens, Kinsey is about to turn 37 in four weeks . . . and is in a little more reflective mood than usual. Soon some of that's dispelled when she takes on a new role as leg woman for Lieutenant Dolan and Stacey Oliphant, who originally investigated killing of the stabbed and dumped young female victim in 1969 at Grayson Quarry on Highway 1 in Lompoc. Stacey had retired from the Sheriff's Department eight years earlier, but is back working part time on cold cases. This one?s lack of closure has always bothered him. He's suffering from a bad case of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma from which the odds against recovery are long. Dolan and Oliphant have known each other for forty years, and Dolan wants to help his friend regain his zest for life. As you can imagine, Kinsey doesn't like direction from anyone and working for men of retirement age who are more than old enough to be her father is a challenge. Oliphant is 73 and Dolan is 63. To that, you can add the complications of illness and lack of physical vigor. It's a whole new set of challenges for Kinsey.

There were several aspects of the story that especially appealed to me. First, Kinsey's disconnection from her family has seemed somewhat artificial to me over the prior books. How many people do you know who are so distant from most of their living relatives? By beginning to make some connections, Kinsey will become a more interesting character. For instance, what would Stephanie Plum's appeal be without her family? Second, some writers overdo family connections over time. The Amelia Peabody series seems to be bordering on that problem now. The books then become more about the family than about the story. Ms. Grafton has wisely avoided that. Third, Kinsey is working with people whom she normally would not have as colleagues. That also provides lots of new scope for her as a character and the chance to introduce interesting new characters. Both aspects of this book were successful. Fourth, part of the book also takes place in the Southern California desert, which is a rich counterpoint for the usual Santa Teresa surroundings in these novels. Having grown up near that area, I loved her treatment of desert life there. It's one of the best I have seen.

After you finish this story, think about some part of your family with whom you've never had much contact or have lost touch with. Give them a call and get together. Find out what you've been missing!