Rating: 
Summary: Fun and Frustrating
Review: The alphebet series has provided many hours of enjoyment. This latest installment is entertaining with an interesting plot and amusing characters. However, the ending is abrupt and provides only a single obscure clue to the killer. In fact, the clue is more of a mystery than the book itself. Very unsatisfying!
Rating: 
Summary: Still entertaining
Review: I disagree with the person who says "perhaps Grafton was hoping readers would take an interest in the aged". Why not? Is good reading only good if it's about the young? I, personally, cannot discriminate based on age and found that this latest Grafton mystery was very entertaining. In fact, her description of the residents of Pacific Meadows was both stirring and sweet - especially when I think of my own aging parents. On the reverse, she hit the nail on the head when she describes Blanche and her children. I felt as if I were there. This is a good book, with an insight that is great. I couldn't put it down - although I agree that many questions were left unanswered.
Rating:
Summary: P Is For Parse
Review: Sue Grafton gives the reader lots of things to tease apart in P Is For Peril, the latest Kinsey Millhone mystery. The main mystery revolves around Dr. Dowan Purcell, a doctor who has disappeared with suspicions of Medicare fraud hanging over his head. Suspects abound: Dowan's ex-wife, Dowan's current wife, the current wife's ex-husband, the daughters from the first marriage, the troubled stepdaughter, the delinquent friend of the stepdaughter, the second wife's trainer, the male nanny, the stepdaughter's guidance counselor, and all the folks who work or did work at the old folks home. Kinsey is being paid by the first wife, but as always, she works to solve the greater mystery. I enjoyed the book a lot, although it isn't as good as the best of this series. My biggest complaint revolves around the twist at the end of the story. Without giving away the ending, I need to say that the twist seems to play on a prejudice of a hopefully dwindling number of readers. I suspected the eventual twist early on in the novel and it seems like a thin motive for what ultimately happens in this otherwise entertaining mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Kinsey Milhone does it again
Review: This latest entry in the Kinsey Milhone series is a good mystery; while not compellingly great, it is definitely a pleasure for any fan of the series.In this case, the "Peril" that Kinsey faces has little to do with the murder mystery she is investigating. Instead, it deals with a major subplot involving two brothers who have killed their parents and now have become involved with her life. The fact that there are two separate storylines is a bit of a distraction, even if both stories are interesting. This series is reminiscent of earlier private eye novels such as Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer books in which the private eye/narrator is essentially a noncharacter who observes the soap opera-like lives of the other characters. Yes, Kinsey does have a life, but not much of one, and that's fine. It makes this series more like the classic hardboiled mysteries of yesteryear, and that's a good thing.
Rating:
Summary: P is for pleasurable........
Review: Before reading this book I read reviews that panned it because so much of the action took place in a nursing home. I always read the reviews, but read the book and make up my own mind. So it WAS in a nursing home. Kinsey met a very interesting old lady there and it was quite entertaining.
I have enjoyed all of Ms. Grafton's books. More than anything, I love the character of Kinsey and following her life. I love her discipline and the simplicity of her housing arrangements. She is not a materialistic person and I find that so refreshing. I feel like I know her.
Each book is different and enjoyable in its own way, and this one certainly did not disappoint me. As with each one, I enjoyed turning each page and getting deeper and deeper into the story. I can't wait for Q....
Rating:
Summary: Loose ends
Review: This was a good book, but it lacked the crisp answers we are used to seeing in a Grafton book. It had a good basic plot line, but the obvious red herrings detracted from the story. The ending, while interesting, did not wrap, or tie in, all of the story lines and subplots. A good read, but not the emotionally taut novel O is for Outlaw was. Still, it held your interest even with the predictable ending. I'll buy Q when it comes out.
Rating:
Summary: A day in the life of Kinsey Millhone
Review: I am a fan of the incredible Sue Grafton, the blockbuster writer, and unassuming Kinsey Millhone, the tenacious detective. I buy all of her paperbacks as they come out. I finished "P is for Peril" this morning, hours after Letterman finished his show and went home. It IS light fiction, good for a rainy day. In fact, it WAS a rainy day. By and large, I did enjoyed it. It was good to check it on my old friend, Kinsey. But a few things bothered me. (Good fans are the harshest critics.) 1. Kinsey needs to join the modern age. Everyone but me has a cell phone. She should have one. She can still "get out of range" or have "low batteries" if she needs to knock on a few doors, but women and detectives these days have cell phones. 2. She should join the computer age. People use the Google search engine to find out about each other now. They "Google" each other before they go on dates. Kinsey would be nosy; she would Google everybody she meets, such as her clients, the insurance poser and the boys from Texas. Google me, for example. Does my bio come up? 3. She should get credit reports on line too... Kinsey would "landlord" everybody, especially her clients and witnesses. She would know everybody's credit history, how much they spent, etc. This would change the plot drastically, for when Kinsey meets the Texas boys, she would be immediately suspicious of them: Their news-making Texas activities would show up on a "Google." 4. Detectives nowadays have all sorts if little and inexpensive cameras for surveillance work. Kinsey wouldn't joke about a tampon camera, she would have one. 5. I did like the way the sub-plot with the Texas brothers did not take the easy route and somehow become enmeshed with the main plot. That was nice. 6. In "P is for Peril," the female insurance poser from Texas sets Kinsey up to smoke out the where abouts of the missing jewels. But how does she know when the Texas boys have them? They come and go from their house and the business offices regularly, so the lady would not know which trip they got the jewels. She would only know when they went to the fake jeweler. If she hits the boys the first time they visit the jeweler, they probably won't have the jewels with them; they are just checking him out. Of course, if no such jeweler exists, that is another problem. 7. As much as I like Kinsey, I also like the taut, lean and mean storytelling of John (Camp) Sanford. Sometimes, I wish Kinsey would skip the long descriptions and would get on with it. Respectfully submitted, A. Colin
Rating: 
Summary: Give me a break.
Review: Just go to Santa Barbara and see for yourself if all the C--s could have happened in that small boring town with only one State Street across in ten lousy minutes, all traffic lights included. That city only equipped with one Community College, one Cottage Hospital and one Samsung Clinic, with lot of nursing facilities, small clinics around to rip you off, and UC Santa Barbara is actually in way up north in Goleta, twenty minutes away. The whole city is in a jam with lot of illegal aliens, drunks and drug abusers. Montecito is only for the riches and rich-wannabe. Just tell me which insurance company would have such female investigator under their payroll to specially serve this touring town? And after the P, how many letters left? Give me a break, will you?
Rating:
Summary: Not Her Best
Review: I really didn't find either storyline to be compelling, and from the way they were wrapped up (or rather, not wrapped up), I'm betting the author didn't either. Quite disappointing from Ms. Grafton.
Rating:
Summary: Plots within plots
Review: This novel is what my niece calls "brain candy." It is light fiction for a rainy afternoon. The novel is set in November 1986. The plot starts out a bit slow, but the pace picks up as the story develops. Kinsey is hired to investigate the disappearance of a prominent local doctor. The investigation opens many cans of worms. There is his ex-wife, broke and benefiting from a life insurance policy; his present wife and her personal trainer; an out-of-control stepdaughter and her friend; the ex-husband of the present wife; and some associates in a business which is under investigation for Medicare fraud. Things are compounded by a pair of brothers interested in renting Kinsey a new office, and an investigator looking for missing jewels (sub-plot number one). There is also the question of mysterious withdrawals from the doctor's bank account over a period of time (sub-plot number two). Many of the characters in the novel are over-extended financially (living on credit cards). Considering how often Kinsey lies to people in the course of an investigation (and how often she breaks the law), it is amazing how much she trusts other people. You can guess about guilty parties along the way, but the case has a few surprising twists. Even at the end, things are not certain. A suspect is implied, but the evidence is such that it would be hard to prove in court. Only one sub-plot has someone with a smoking gun. Some of the actions seem improbable, but criminals are not known for brillance. There are a few glitches, like the fact that rain would increase the reservoir water levels.
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