D Is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton

D Is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton's #1 New York Times bestselling series, reissued for a whole new generation of readers!

The award-winning author's knockout series introduced detective Kinsey Millhone--and a hot new attitude--to crime fiction...

"Kinsey Millhone is an entirely fresh and original character"--Patricia Moyes, author of the Henry Tibbett mysteries

D IS FOR DEADBEAT

He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. Ex-con. Inveterate liar. Chronic drunk. And dead. The cops called it an accident--death by drowning. Kinsey wasn't so sure.

Pulled into the detritus of a dead man's life, Kinsey soon realizes that Daggett had an awful lot of enemies. There's the daughter who grew up with a cheating drunk for a father, and the wife who's become a religious nut in response to an intolerable marriage. There's the lady who thought she was Mrs. Daggett--and has the bruises to prove it--only to discover the legal Mrs. D. And there are the drug dealers out $25,000. But most of all, there are the families of the five people John Daggett killed, victims of his wild, drunken driving. The D.A. called it vehicular manslaughter and put him away for two years. The families called it murder and had very good reason to want John Daggett dead.

Deft, cunning, and clever, this latest Millhone mystery also confronts some messy truths, for, as Kinsey herself says, "Some debts of the human soul are so enormous only life itself is sufficient forfeit"--but as she'd be the first to admit, murder is not a socially acceptable solution.

Sue Grafton debuted in the mystery genre with the release of 'A' Is for Alibi in 1982, which introduced Kinsey Millhone, a female hard-boiled private investigator based in the fictional town of Santa Teresa (or Santa Barbara) California. In 1995, 'B' is for Burglar was released, and the 'alphabet' mystery series, also known as 'the alphabet' mysteries, is still going strong. She's also written several Kinsey Millhone short tales, and she and her husband, Steven Humphrey, wrote several television movies, including A Killer in the Family (with Robert Mitchum), Love on the Run (starring Alec Baldwin and Stephanie Zimbalist), and two Agatha Christie adaptations, Sparkling Cyanide and Caribbean Mystery (both starring Helen Hayes). Grafton is available in 26 languages and 28 countries. She adores pets, gardens, and delicious food. Sue lives in both Montecito, California, and Louisville, Kentucky, where she was born and reared.