Rating: 
Summary: P is for (sorry) Predictable
Review: I've read most of the books in the alphabeth series, and try to consider Sue Grafton as one of my favorite authors, at least I always keep in mind to read one of her books every year.
I call P as Predictable for many reasons, and don't worry I won't ruin the book for you revealing the ending (not withstanding most of the readers seem to find its last plot turn a bit confusing). The thing is her books usually are better.
Kinsey is there, the supporting characters we know and love are there, the city and locations are there, the humor is there (a bit muffled), and the talent and craft of the writer is there. Only the story is, well, dissapointing.
All the subplot with the brothers, the office leasing and so on is frankly tedious and unbelievable. The moment she says "its too good to be true" we know it is, and nothing in it proves its worth to be, not say in the book, but in the series, it seems Grafton was lacking any "peril" in the P and added it in an effort to keep the reader in (there's an absolute lack of peril in the other plot lines).
About the main case I don't have a problem in understanding who is the killer as most reviewers have, of course is an odd ending for series that uses to close things more neatly, but hell, I don't have a problem with it.
The problem is in the pace. 200 pages to find a corpse and get things going, adds for a bit too much build-up. The book is full of too much description, and too much of the Kinsey routine we frequent readers love, but that is not enough to sustain a bleak plot. As a reviewer wrote previously, Kinsey keeps driving up and down, comenting about the rain, putting on and off her raincoat, looking for parking space or filling blank cards.
Sorry Sue, lets hope Q is better so my favorite detective series doesn't plummet to the land of the forgettable pulp.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's The Last Chapter??????
Review: I am an avid fan of Grafton's A-O mysteries, and couldn't wait to dive into "P is for Peril." I found the story satisfying enough, if you don't count Kinsey's sudden, albeit short-lived, transformation into an air-headed bimbo. (At times I didn't recognize her as the self-assured, no-nonsense character from the previous 15 books.) I was blind-sided, however, by the abrupt ending of the book. I read the last chapter twice trying to make sense of it. Then I returned to the beginning of the book and skimmed through each chapter trying to find what I must have missed in order to understand the ending. When a writer puts out a series of books like these, there should be a few constants the reader can hang his/her hat on. The wrap-up at the end, ("respectfully submitted") is one of those constants, I think. I was SURE I got a defective copy that was missing the final chapter. I even took it back to the bookstore to exchange it for one that was complete......no such luck.
Rating: 
Summary: Grafton in Peril
Review: I have read all of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone books and, in spite of what I am about to say in this review, I will continue to read them through to 'Z' if they go that far (I just will not be buying hardbacks for the foreseeable future). Generally, I have enjoyed Grafton's writing style; her places, scenes and people are so alive, most especially Kinsey who is so well drawn that I find my self thinking of her as real. So it was with great anticipation that on June 4 of last year - on my way to the airport and vacation - I was at the bookstore when it opened for business. I was lucky enough to get a signed copy, my first Grafton hardback. The read I had so looked forward to while sitting on the beach was a huge disappointment. This book is a dud. It lacks memorable plot, interesting people, or character development; it is poorly written and boring. I barely got through it and kept putting it aside for other reading matter. Peril has two main stories, one with many branches, one more straightforward. The latter is more typical of Grafton/Milhone and is the more interesting but plays a much smaller part. The main plot is filled with serendipity, red herrings, and dead ends. Neither were as good as plots from past works such as Lawless and Killer. I do not actually read Grafton's books for the plots: I enjoy them as I go along, I expect them to be interesting enough to maintain my curiosity, and five minutes later I have forgotten them. I read mostly for character development, for snappy dialog, for Kinsey's observations on life and everything else. I re-read them periodically just for the enjoyment of experiencing Kinsey's wit and snappy comebacks. I agree with a previous reviewer who stated that Peril is two rewrites and an edit short of being ready for publication. Where was the editor on this book? The plots, such as they are, are worsened by the amount of filler in this book. It is just not like the Kinsey I know to spend so much time thinking about furnishings and what people are wearing. I lost count, too, of how many times Kinsey took off her slicker, hung her slicker on a peg, put her umbrella in a corner, put her slicker on, etc., etc. Trips in an out of Horton Ravine - countless numbers of them - are described over and over. All of the people in the book are outstandingly forgettable. Grafton's books always have filler - and it is usually some of the most interesting stuff. Not in Peril. Mostly I miss the humor. The filler was made even more annoying by the writing. A good deal of the sentence structure in Peril just does not seem like Grafton, being simplistic, rhythmic, and irritating, lacking her usual wit, sarcasm, and pithy views presented through Kinsey. There is a new Kinsey in Peril - whether purposefully or not only time will tell. The new Kinsey is wishy-washy and wimpy. The old Kinsey is adventurous, takes risks, and is generally unafraid. She often puts herself unnecessarily in danger, not calling for help, setting out in the middle of the night to track someone down, going alone when she could ask for help. She is a loner and, as Henry has noted, she usually "acts first, thinks later." Kinsey takes the case in Peril against her own better judgement. She is manipulated into danger by others that she would normally be suspicious of on first meeting. She does ask for help but not in the way you might expect. For example, when Henry finds an ad for a new office and advises Kinsey to check it out, the dialog goes like this: Henry - "it won't hurt to call." Kinsey - "you really think so?" Henry - "Of course." Kinsey - What if it's rented?." For crying out loud; the Kinsey I know would not say these things. She might pooh pooh the idea, or just go do it, but she wold not normally ask twice for reassurance; she never asks for reassurance, she rushes headlong into action. Kinsey is a character not yet fully explored, I feel, and Peril does not move the exploration forward one bit. Something needs to happen to snap her out of her comfort zone. As in real life, she sometimes surprises, sometimes disappoints. Outlaw seemed to open the door to some personal growth and Peril slammed it shut again, along with the other "doors" of Dietz and what is left of her family. After 19 years and 15 books, she is still telling the same old story. I still love her because she reminds me of me. Peril gives me the feeling that Grafton has run out of ideas for the series and that she is unwilling to introduce changes in Kinsey that might liven it. There have been signs of staleness in past books, notably Malice. I had high hopes after Outlaw, one of the best in the series. In that book, Kinsey was forced to confront some mistakes in her past and she makes reparations for them. It was a hopeful sign that has apparently been dropped. Change is needed, though, to keep this series interesting and fresh. It must be very difficult to write a continuing series, especially one in which the author has decided to keep the characters in an older time period. The author is trapped, Kinsey is trapped. The other day I heard a former Vietnam POW say "Few people are called on to use what they really have." We do not know what Kinsey really has, nor Sue Grafton. Peril is a great disappointment and I have high hopes that 'Q' will shake things up. I have a secret hope that Grafton is up to something with Peril, leading us into to it, that Kinsey really is in peril and will work her way out of it.
Rating:
Summary: Unreal Characters and Plot
Review: I'm a Kinsey Millhone fan, but this novel is warped. The subplot destroys what could have been a good one. So Kinsey's attracted to Tommy? I could not believe she would change that attraction to her dumb-dumb vigilante mode INSTANTLY--on the word of a total stranger! Why didn't she at least go to Texas and nose around? Then she wouldn't have been suckered by a femme fatale con artist, who herself was unreal. (The "insurance investigator" is so smart and sharp looking, but with a dumb low-life brother?? Come on.) I guess Grafton wants us to think Kinsey's infallible, but no one is, and that's why we have a Constitution and courts, folks. Where's Grafton been? Last I heard, juries were convicting the retarded, the insane, and the innocent, and these poor (people) were getting death sentences--ESPECIALLY in Texas. Come into the real world, Sue. Put Kinsey back in jail a while, and let her see what's really going on.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best entries in the series
Review: The Kinsey Millhone series has gone up and down in quality during its life, but even in the weakest efforts Kinsey herself is always an entertaining tourguide to the past (1986, in this case). This story, though, isn't among the weak efforts. Despite the negative reviews submitted by several others, "P Is for Peril" is one of the strongest entries in the series (which is remarkable considering that just two volumes ago was one of the very weakest, "N Is for Noose"). Clearly, it's not time to write this series off. As to the reviewers who thought the ending wasn't clear, or that they didn't know who the murderer was or why the murder occurred: uh, the ending is very clear, as is the who and why. P>As it turns out, there are three intertwined plots here. Each of the plots is clever in its own right. One of the plots will teach you how certain forms of Medicare fraud work (apparently Sue Grafton was taking notes from the misadventures of HCA/Humana), which is where the nursing home comes in. The three plots work well together, giving Kinsey a number of red herrings (and some not-so-red herrings) to chase down that are worhty of her talents and her intellect. If many of the characters aren't young, vibrant and exciting -- that's a big part of what makes them seem like real people in a real time and place. Because of her relative poverty and casual ways, Kinsey is easy to identify with. I can appreciate her choices in a way that I was never able to appreciate Spade's or Marlowe's. Would you be willing to follow a hunch even if you might be humiliated if you were wrong? Would you keep following that hunch despite being so humiliated once? Most of us wouldn't. As a result, we wouldn't have solved this case. I LOVED this aspect of the ending. Perhaps that's why I rate this volume of the series so highly. Or perhaps it's just because I'm so relieved that Sue Grafton can still write both intelligently and entertainingly; I was starting to worry after "N Is for Noose." It's nice to know that Kinsey is still in good hands.
Rating: 
Summary: P Is for Peril
Review: The 16th in bestselling author Sue Grafton's hugely popular series finds sleuth Kinsey Millhone entering the world of noir, as she probes the mysterious disappearance of a prominent physician.
Rating:
Summary: Is a chapter missing?
Review: I'm a big Kinsey Millhone fan and, as expected, really enjoyed the P issue. But only untill I got to the very last sentence; is a chapter missing? Up to O, Sue Grafton has ended her Kinsey mysteries with an epilogue, concluding with the words: "respectfully submitted, Kinsey Millhone". In the paperback edition, there is no such conclusion and I must admit I still don't know who the killer is. I figured maybe it was an author's trick, like a weird teaser. I hope it is and that she will give us some clue in Q.
Rating:
Summary: Not the Strongest Entry in the Series
Review: What Grafton seems to have here is enough material for two Kinsey short stories, with some walk-ons from her supporting cast. Neither of the two cases is particularly engaging, and Kinsey herself doesn't seem to learn or grow this time out, and we don't really learn anything about her that we don't already know. Grafton can still outwrite most of the detective writers around with one hand behind her back, but this outing is definitely a bit shorter on spark than the usual.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: I love Kinsey Millhone and have read every book in this series. What I love most about them is that Kinsey doesn't take herself seriously and knows that we aren't taking her seriously either. It is fun light reading for those times when you don't really want to use your brain too much!
This book, however left me feeling like I had missed something. I reread the last chapter three times and still felt like there was some connection I wasn't drawing. When every other ending in the Alphabet Series has been tied up in a neat little bow, this one left me feeling unsatisfied, and frankly, unhappy.
Rating:
Summary: "P" is not for "Puzzle"¿and never was
Review: Late in this book, Grafton's detective, Kinsey Millhone, describes herself as "Philip Marlowe in drag." She could equally well have said Sam Spade. These books are not intended to set elegant puzzles. Their function is to walk us around Southern California while providing dry observations we readers wish we'd had the wit to articulate ourselves. It rings wonderfully true, for example, when Kinsey describes a neighborhood as looking as though it had been hit by an explosion at a Toys 'R Us store. The mystery is simply the vehicle by which Grafton maneuvers Kinsey into situations in which her comments lead us, however briefly, to look at our world and its inhabitants it in a slightly different light. Measured by that yardstick, this book is as successful as any in the series-at least as reliable as Kinsey's much-loved VW Beetle. Like the Beetle, these books are also period pieces. Grafton started writing them in the 1980s, but real-world time has progressed about five times faster than "Kinsey time." This book is set in 1986, an era that an increasing number of people don't recall accurately. Kinsey can't call for help on a cell phone, for example, because cell phones didn't exist. For the same reason, she can't speed her detective work with web searches.
Grafton has always downplayed the differences between Kinsey's era and the present, but the time may have come to reverse that approach. By 1986, Kinsey could be writing her reports on a computer. Fax machines are looming, and modems were moving from 300 baud to the incredibly fast speeds of 1200 or 2,400 baud. It might be interesting for future books to have Kinsey struggle with the degree to which to "modernize" with technology that today looks unbelievable clunky. Meanwhile, this is a good book. Sure, the ending is abrupt, but all of Grafton's endings are abrupt. The killer is clear, the motive is clear, and Grafton's quick endings leave room for wry imaginings of how Kinsey manages to clean up the messes in which she inevitably lands. Bottom line: this is a solid addition to the series-although I do wonder if 1980s California can provide enough cultural observations to support enough books to fill out the rest of the alphabet.
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