'n' Is For Noose - A Kinsey Millhone Mystery [Import] [Hardcover]

Sue Grafton (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt And Company; 1ST edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333669827
• ISBN-13: 978-0333669822
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (180 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,951,726 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

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Whole Town Is Against Me, May 3, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: N Is for Noose (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Woman Takes on the Whole Town!, February 18, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: N Is for Noose (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit slow, July 20, 2000

By 

Glenn McLeod - See all my reviews

This review is from: N Is for Noose (Kinsey Millhone Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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".