2006-04-24 K Is for Killer

In K is for Killer Sue Grafton takes her plucky investigatorive heroine Kinsey Millhone
on the trail of a murderer whose crime was committed over a year ago.
One night whilst working late in the office space she rents from the law firm, Kinsey
is approached by Janice Kelper whose daughter, Lorna, was found dead in her ramshackle
house off the beaten track in woodland. Although the police investigation was thorough,
it was never closed and Janice is unsatisfied with the result beleiving Lorna was the
victim of a brutal murder and wishes the purportrator to be brought to justice.

Kinsey is soon hot on the trail, tracking down all those involved with Lorna's former
life.
It would seem that Lorna led something of an unconventional lifestyle and apart from
fiercely protecting her independance she was also working as a high-class call girl.
Kinsey meets up with the late night Jazz station disc-jockey who befriended Lorna, her
employer at the water treatment plant and his wife (who was the one who actually found
Lorna's Body) and the policeman who originally investigated the murder. Although there's
not the sparks that surrounds Kinsey and Jonah Rob's relationship, her contact with Cheney
Phillips is still full of mutual attraction and gives the reader much thought for
speculation.

Best of all the characters Kinsey meets is Lorna's protitute friend Danielle, who is a
fiesty and amusing person and is a joy to read about.

Ms Grafton goes to great lengths in this book to create a more moody and shadowy
atmosphere. Much is made of the fact that most of Kinsey's investigations are made at
night, surviving only on a diet of string coffee she inhabits these twilight hours
interacting with the shady and sometimes sinister characters that lurk around at these
times. Kinsey equates the search for the murderer as if the victim is crying out from
beyond the grave to have their crime solved so they can finally rest. This is also
reflected in the final ending when Kinsey believes she might have finally crossed
"the line" in bringing the criminal to justice.

Although I do repect the efforts that have been made to make this book stand out from
the others in the alphabet series, I'm not 100% sure that this has been successful. In
Sue Grafton's efforts to give the book a shadowy complextion she leaves far too many
story threads hanging and without proper closure. There's many elements of the story
which have been nicely built up throughout the book which are then just left unresolved.
I wanted to know how Kinsey finshes with the Kelper family, especially as she's developed
a good relationship with Janice and Lorna's sistser Trinny and on the other hand alienated
and been alienated by Lorna's father and other sister Berlyn. I wanted to know what
happens between Kinsey and Cheney when the investigation is closed and I really wanted
to know what finally happens with Danielle after the tragic events of the final chapter.

Perhaps these questions might be answered further on in the series but I was left feeling
slightly dissatisfied by this one.