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Title: Q Is for Quarry by Sue Grafton ISBN: 0-425-19272-5 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.49 (130 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Never tasted a Quarter Pounder?!
Comment: "Q" IS FOR QUARRY was inspired by an actual unsolved murder case. The victim's body had been dumped near a quarry in Lompoc, California. Kinsey and two retired detectives take on the eighteen-year-old murder case. Lieutenant Con Dolan convinces her to take the case to help his friend Stacey Oliphant (who was involved in the original investigation) get his mind off his health problems, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
This is pretty much formulae writing except for the intermittent references to Kinsey's family problems. Her mother and father had been killed in a car accident when she was a little girl. Prior to the accident, her grandmother had disowned Kinsey's mother for marrying beneath her. Now one of her aunt's is trying to reestablishment connections. In order to add comic relief, Grafton also delves into Kinsey's relationship with her nonagenarian landlord Henry and Rosie, his friend and restaurant owner, who's been serving disgusting Hungarian concoctions, such as Pigs Knuckles and Sauerkraut, lately. Another humorous element is Kinsey's fetish for junk food. She corrupts Oliphant, who's never (would you believe?) tasted a Quarter Pounder.
One thing I found irritating was Grafton's penchant for describing every single character Kinsey comes in contact with. A few deft strokes wouldn't hurt, but she goes on and on and on, working in every possible sensory detail and simile. This slows the pace to a crawl.
I thought I had the killer figured out, too. I was wrong, and you will be, too. Grafton didn't give us much of a reason to suspect the eventual culprit. Also she/he is not really believable as a cold-blooded, shovel-wielding assassin. The story also comes to a screeching halt, although Grafton does splice on a little addendum in which we get a look at an artist's recreation of the murdered girl.
Rating: 2
Summary: The Odd Couple engage Kinsey
Comment: *****WARNING: THERE MAY BE A SPOILER*****
First, the good things about this, the 17th outing for Kinsey Millhone:
* the setting is excellent. I enjoy both the coastal and desert locales in which it is set, and, although I was about to scream if Grafton told us the colour of the desert soil once more, she did manage to capture the landscape extremely well. As well, throughout the series, Grafton has had a pretty good way with bringing to life Smalltown, USA and its inhabitants. This is no exception.
* the 'Odd Couple' like characters - the two retired / medically unfit police officers. I could see Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau perfectly cast (if they weren't dead alreay).
* Aspects of the police procedural.
* The interesting depth added to Kinsey's family relationships in this book. A newly emerging relationship with an aunt, which has surprised even Kinsey in the way it has affected her. At last she is beginning to open up to possibilities.
Now, what I didn't like:
* I agree with the reviewer who says everything is over-described. Cutting down the number of adjectives and 'languid' takes on every action and place would make a tighter read.
* However, my biggest disappointment and the reason for the 2 stars is that I think there is a major plotting / logic flaw in this novel. The key clue is dropped on page 19. To me, it stood out a million miles away. I spent the rest of the books getting angrier and angrier at what was to me an elemental flaw in something which was meant to be a police procedural. Surely, given the notes taken at the time a record was kept of who and where the missing person report, later retracted, came from. It would have eliminated about half the book, in hurrying the solving of the 'who was Jane Doe' part of the story.
* The rather formulaic and lazy way that the investigation in Quorum is plotted. "Oh, here's 2 or 3 possibilities (schools / dentists)...let's travel with Kinsey to the first two, which will be easily eliminated, although there will be a bit of a thread which we will come back to later (the school secretary/ dental records) and on the third try she will come up trumps." That's plot padding, and it's predictable. You know every conversation will be sewn with one thread of information, and I'm afraid the reader doesn't have to work very hard to pick it out.
So, in summary - the character Kinsey is developing little by little, but the plotting of the mystery is getting lazy, and the padding out of the story tiresome.
Rating: 4
Summary: Back to her pace and quality mystery writing.
Comment: I really enjoyed this mystery. It's been a while since I enjoyed an American female writer's series...they often tend to drop off in quality of writing, and it becomes hard for authors to retain the interest in the major character/protagonist. I cannot tell how many times after about five (when you know they are going for a series) that I just barely get through the book, and I am sure the author feels that way too.
This must be a lucky letter of the alphabet for Grafton. I enjoyed the dusty desert scenery I am familar with from my youth (grandparents in Mesa and we were in SF). Also the added information about Kinsey's family is a bonus.
Kinsey finds it a treat working with two older cops who are both having health problems on a cold case. As per usual, stirring the pot causes things to come to a boil, but Grafton manages to weave into the storyline several different possible motives, which makes it very hard to determine who killed the young girl in the cold case. Kinsey also shows a more caring side of her in her treatment of the women in the story, one who loses a brother, one who is an alcoholic. Maybe she find a way to care about her family?
Karen Sadler
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Title: P Is for Peril by Sue Grafton ISBN: 0449003795 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: "O" Is for Outlaw by SUE GRAFTON ISBN: 0449003787 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 02 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: N Is for Noose by Sue Grafton ISBN: 0449223612 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 29 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: M Is for Malice by Sue Grafton ISBN: 0449223604 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 26 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: L Is for Lawless by Sue Grafton ISBN: 0449221490 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 31 July, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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