Rating: 
Summary: Um...
Review: It's hard to enjoy a book when you're not rooting for the protagonist, and it's still harder to root for the protagonist when the protagonist is a potty-mouthed, dishonest, promiscuous head case. It is even harder to dismiss a protagonist as a potty-mouthed, dishonest, promiscuous head case when everyone else who reads the books thinks they're wonderful, and it's hardest to accept the fact that everyone else thinks they're wonderful when you know that it's probably because they're just like she is. The story was very good and occasionally theme-heavy, but I cheered at certain parts of the book and kept praying for Kinsey to die. Good books to read when you're angry.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Grafton
Review: John Daggett, an alcoholic jailed for vehicular homicide hires Milhone to deliver a $25000 cashier's check to a relative of one of his victims then turns up dead. Re-reading it I realized I should have figured the murderer by page 200 but I didn't the first time.
The atmosphere is dark - several children's deaths- but this also has some her greatest humor. Daggett married "but the warranty on his first wife hadn't expired."
The affair with Jonah is on again. Mike the likeable teenage drug dealer from B is for Burglat and Ron from the TipTop cab company have bit parts. Intersting parallels between the scuzzy LA apartment building where Daggett lived and the one on O is for Outlaw where her first husband lived.
Rating:
Summary: Serious fun!
Review: No one can make a funeral funnier than Kinsey. For that matter, I laughed till I wheezed over her description of the deadbeat's wife--a somewhat unstable Fundamentalist--and the picture taken on their 40th wedding anniversary. But the last chapter is a real nail-biter, as usual, and looking through Kinsey's eyes, these folks may be quirky, but human just the same. I've read all the books in the series, but this is the one I'd recommend to someone who hasn't read any of these books yet. What a sleuth
Rating:
Summary: Not her best!
Review: Ok so it really deserves 3 in a half stars while 4 is too many. IMO I thought that it was a slow moving book. Not much action happened until near the end. I just finished Evidence which also starts off slow but it definitly picks up, while Deadbeat I felt remained slow. Granted, in a Grafton novel slow really isn't as slow as other novels. This books saving grace was Kinsey. She was as hard-headed and wise-cracking as ever. The funeral scence was hysterical. The ending was also a saving grace. It was a twist ending,though I figured it out,mainly because others reviews said what a twist it was. A must-read for fans of Grafton/Kinsey though.
Rating:
Summary: Why the profanity?
Review: Okay, it had a good plot and an excellent ending. I will probably read more by this author. My question is "Why the profanity?" It was not necessary for the plot, the character or the overall essence of the book - It just sounded nasty and unnecessary.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of suspects
Review: Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone is back again in this fourth installment of Sue Grafton's alphabet series. This time she is offered a fee to give a $25,000 cashier's check to a young man named Tony Gahan. The check for the fee bounces and Kinsey is now looking for the man who gave it to her, plus the young man she is to give the cashier's check to. Everything she finds out about her client is bad. He is a drunk, who has killed several people in a car wreck, and appears to be a bigamist. When he is found dead, Kinsey has plenty of suspects including survivors of the dead motorists and two angry wives. This book is written in Grafton's usual breezy style, and Kinsey becomes more independent and more likeable with each book. I would recommend the whole series to mystery-lovers.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of suspects
Review: Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone is back again in this fourth installment of Sue Grafton's alphabet series. This time she is offered a fee to give a $25,000 cashier's check to a young man named Tony Gahan. The check for the fee bounces and Kinsey is now looking for the man who gave it to her, plus the young man she is to give the cashier's check to. Everything she finds out about her client is bad. He is a drunk, who has killed several people in a car wreck, and appears to be a bigamist. When he is found dead, Kinsey has plenty of suspects including survivors of the dead motorists and two angry wives. This book is written in Grafton's usual breezy style, and Kinsey becomes more independent and more likeable with each book. I would recommend the whole series to mystery-lovers.
Rating:
Summary: Fourth Kinsey Millhone Mystery
Review: Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone narrates another great thriller in this fourth installment in the alphabet mystery series. In "'D' is for Deadbeat", she's approached by Alvin Limardo (real name: John Daggett) who wants her to locate a 15-year-old boy named Tony Gahan and deliver a $25,000 check to him. Although she's wary of John, she proceeds with the case, only to have his $400 retainer check bounce--and his corpse wash up on the California shore a short time later.After his death, John's estranged, successful daughter Barbara Daggett requests Kinsey to pursue the situation. Both women don't believe his death was an accident, especially now that Kinsey has learned more about his past--that he had just been released from prison for doing a few months' time for vehicular manslaughter, which killed the above-mentioned teen's family. Now Kinsey must sort through a handful of possible suspects who were all too happy Daggett passed away, including one of his wives (Lovella Daggett) and one of Tony Gahan's guardians (Ramona Westfall). I thought "'D' is for Deadbeat" was a really good mystery, even though I had guessed the killer about halfway into it. I doubt most people will guess him/her right away, though; it is a bit of an unexpected twist. Like a lot of Grafton's books, there's always a sudden, wild ending, and this one is no exception. So, if you're a Sue Grafton fan, then I'd certainly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: D is for delightful
Review: Sue Grafton does a great job keeping this series fresh and interesting. Four books in and I still can't wait to read more! And she gets better with each book. In this book (and to a smaller degree in 'C') there were many times where I couldn't fathom how Kinsey would keep on the trail and solve the case. But she always manages to plausibley get back on the trail without causing the reader to lose interest. Kinsey's development as a character is also very well done. She is a very real, likeable person with amazing depth.
Rating:
Summary: Great story with a surprise ending.
Review: The alphabet detective is back and as good as ever. Grafton does a great job setting this mystery up and the ending is a complete surprise. The twists and turn in the book take you all over the place, where you end up is the one place you never would have figured. You will read this without putting the book down.
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