M is for Malice (The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries) (Hardcover)

by Sue Grafton (Author) "Robert Dietz came back into life on Wednesday, January 8..." (more)
Key Phrases: rare documents, Guy Malek, Santa Teresa, Max Outhwaite (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"Every investigation has a nature of its own, but there are certain shared characteristics," explains private eye Kinsey Millhone in her 13th alphabetic outing. "Here's what you hope for: a chance remark from the former neighbor on a skip-trace, a penciled notation on the corner of a document, an ex-spouse with a grudge, the number on an account, an item overlooked at the scene of a crime. Here's what you expect: the dead ends, bureaucratic bullheadedness, the cul-de-sacs, trails that go nowhere or simply fade into thin air, denials, prevarications, the blank-eyed stares from all the hostile witnesses. Here's what you know: that you've done it before and you have the toughness and determination to pull it off again. Here's what you want: justice. Here's what you'll settle for: something equivalent, the quid pro quo." All of the above are on display in Grafton's latest entry in her increasingly popular series set in a thinly-disguised Santa Barbara, as the virtually ageless Kinsey finds and loses a missing heir and gets back an old lover.

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition edition (November 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805036377
• ISBN-13: 978-0805036374
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #749,830 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 13 in The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mystery Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 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.

6 of 7 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 500 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:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't Start This Series With this Book!, August 3, 2001

By	Dawnee "-dd-" (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews

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

I have to say that I am very disappointed in M. I have loved the series so far but I have picked up and put down this book at least 15 times. With the others, I barely stopped reading long enough to run to the bathroom!! The characters lack depth, the most interesting character gets murdered, and quite honestly, the other characters are so ..., I didn't even care who did it. Overall, great series, poor book.