J is for Judgment (Sue Grafton)

Rating:
Summary: "J" is for Judgment and Jaffe
Review: "Wendell Jaffe is about six four, weight maybe 230. He's in his late 50's, but is in good shape," for a dead guy. Around this man and his infamous disappearing acts, Sue Grafton opens the files to a once closed case about money fraud and alleged suicides. Narrator, Kinsey Milhone, along with the Jaffe family paves the way for this suspense filled and invigorating novel. Through Grafton's use of setting, characterization, language and plot she ties this story into a well-written piece of literature. For any aspiring investigator or just a fan of a good mystery, this book along with the rest of the Grafton alphabet series would be appropriate.
Kinsey, ex-California Fidelity Insurance Agency employee, just received a call to open a case from about five years before involving millions of dollars said to be stolen. The suspect's, Jaffe, boat was found off the Californian coast with a suicide note alongside soon after the news of his business' failure. Kinsey immediately launches a tracking excursion and follows him to Mexico. While there, they receive news of Jaffe's youngest boy being arrested and charged with murder. Suddenly, Jaffe disappears, yet again. While Jaffe runs from the cops and searches for the love of his family left behind, Kinsey gets involved with a little family exploration as well.
To get the full affect, go back in time about ten years ago. Take a trip west to the southern part of California and there Ms. Milhone and the Jaffe family's story will take place. Grafton uses so much descriptive language that one feels they are surfing the waves as Kinsey "...drives down Highway 10 with the salty air from the ocean rushing by." In everything Grafton masters imagery, by telling just enough and then letting each imagination complete the picture as it sees fit.
Just as well as Grafton uses the setting to draw the reader into this realistic, yet make-believe world, she takes the reader into Kinsey's head as well. Throughout the story, Kinsey is the omniscient narrator and therefore can only tell us x-number of details. However each character has been used accordingly and created purposefully for every detail in the book. Characters bring not only their actions, but their individual lives and stories to help devise this mystery of love, lose, and revenge.
Each specific character is a unique individual as well as there dialogue should be, too. Grafton uses very likely and everyday language for each specific character and circumstance. Since they live in southern California, quite close to Mexico, Kinsey enrolls in a Spanish class to help further her knowledge of the language and it actually helps her to gain information about the Jaffe case while in Mexico. Another instance, the Jaffe boys receive news of their fathers doings and are outraged. As young adults growing up in this era, both express some extreme and foul language to show their emotions.
Since the main purpose, stereotypically, of a mystery should represent suspense and misleading, Grafton does not leave anything out. She does an excellent job of keeping the book snappy and going, making each chapter significant and exposing new evidence or yet another twist. She tends to lead you to believe one thing, letting the imagination soar, and then veers off course with new facts that turn the whole lot around. The conflicts seem to be mostly external are and easy to pick out. The dénouement and resolution do not appear until the end, making it harder and harder to wait for those last unraveling details.
Putting this all, the setting, characterization, language, and plot, plus everything not mentioned composes quite the tale. With Kinsey's high spirits and Jaffe's well-known disappearing acts, this book is full of apprehension and a shocking ending. Kinsey said, "Put me close to an interesting proposition and my pulse accelerates," and for readers, that is captured.

Rating:
Summary: No murder
Review: Actually somebody has been killed by the end, and Brian may have been involved in a murder but the core plot is about embezzlement and a man who fakes his own death.
This is one of the most psychological and philosophical ones in the series. The con man is trying to re-establish a relationship with his family and Kinsey Milhone's long-lost family is trying to re-establish a relationship with her. Henry's bother William is also trying something. The counterpoint and parallels are pointed out, and even to some extent I would have to say, the point is labored. As usual there are a multiplicity of other sub-plots.
All of Grafton's penetrating humor and careful description of every sight and sound and smell and taste. Fans of the classic hardcore hardboiled classics, of Highsmith and of "Double Indemnity" might find it slow, and fans of Hannibal Lecter not bloody enough.

Rating:
Summary: Unsure
Review: At first this book seemed to be very interesting, with Kinsey hunting down Wendall Jaffee in Mexico, and stumbling upon him. But after the first part of the book, too many characters were introduced that had promise of being interesting but weren't explored up to their potential. It was almost distracting to build up these characters, only to let their stories lag or not close up at all at the end. For example, what becomes of the remaining Jaffees, especially Brian? And what does Kinsey decide about meeting her long lost family? I also was disturbed by how carefree Wendall was when he met Kinsey, not the slightest bit scared or afraid of what she would do. Also Harris Brown, just offers her up info without being afraid she will go to the police. I think it was unrealistic how much information these people just gave up to Kinsey. It was a decent read though.

Rating:
Summary: Where is Wendall Jaffe? Did He Fake His Own Death?
Review: Kinsey Millhone has to solve the case of what happened to Wendall Jaffe. Did he fake his own death in order to defraud the
insurance company? Kinsey spends most of the book trying to put the clues together and runs into trouble along her way.

I enjoyed the book and found it a good read, though not as good as some of the others in this series.

Rating:
Summary: A good mystery, and well-written
Review: Sue Grafton is amazing in this book. With her writing she is able to take a woman and show how strong, independant, strong-willed, and driven she is in her activities. It all begins with the thought of a man trying to claim bankruptcy for his old company, yet someone sees him in Mexico five years prior to the bankruptcy claim. Her job is to investigate and see if it is really him, how he is able to hide from the insurance and police, as well as what his intentions are.
As Mrs. Grafton takes us through the trials and tribulations of Kinsey Millhone (the private investigator) and her search for Wendell Jaffe we are drawn further into the story. Sue Grafton's work is very strong in her ways of describing characters or scenes to the point that it gives the characters or scene their personality and appeals.

Rating:
Summary: Lame detective
Review: The premise of the story caught my attention -- a man presumed dead for years, whose wife had already collected a large insurance policy on him, appears to be alive after all. The problem is that Sue Grafton's fictional detective Kinsey Millhone is too incompetent to solve the case. How does she resolve her dilemma? By asking two other perpetrators if they were involved just to satisfy Ms. Milhone's curiosity. Lame! And then there is this subplot into Ms. Millhone's personal life that leads to nowhere. I don't know what "K" or the rest of the alphabet has in store for readers, but I'm not interested in finding out.

Rating:
Summary: J is for Judgment
Review: This is a must read for any Grafton fan. I would not recommend it as a first read of hers considering a lot of Kinsey's personal history appears for the first time in this book. It is another quick read. In this one, Kinsey is hired to find a missing person, one that allegedly committed suicide years ago, in order to make sure that the wife is eligible for a huge life insurance policy. Very entertaining like Grafton's books are.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best in the series (so far)
Review: This is the 10th book in the series and so far the weakest ("H" is a close second). There wasn't enough "mystery" or "suspense" in this one. I hope "K" is better.

Rating:
Summary: "J" is for Judgment and Jaffe
Review: Wendell Jaffe swindled a lot of people out of money and then conveniently disappeared from his boat. The verdict was suicide, but the insurance company that had sold him a half-million dollar insurance policy is not convinced. When 5 years passed, the company was forced to pay the premium to Jaffe's wife. Two months later, a man looking very much like Jaffe is spotted in Mexico. The insurance company hires private investigator Kinsey Millhone to investigate and she does spot a man who appears to be Jaffe, along with his girlfriend Renata. They escape Kinsey's surveillance and she returns to California. Jaffe's son Brian is in big trouble with the police and Kinsey concludes that Jaffe will return to help his son. As she continues her investigation she becomes acquainted with Jaffe's supposed widow and his two troubled sons. She also comes in contact with some of her long-lost family, and agonizes over whether she wants to establish a relationship with them, and open up old wounds. Sue Grafton can be relied on to provide a good read, and this book, although not the best in the series, is no exception.

Rating:
Summary: Missing person
Review: Wendell Jaffe swindled a lot of people out of money and then conveniently disappeared from his boat. The verdict was suicide, but the insurance company that had sold him a half-million dollar insurance policy is not convinced. When 5 years passed, the company was forced to pay the premium to Jaffe's wife. Two months later, a man looking very much like Jaffe is spotted in Mexico. The insurance company hires private investigator Kinsey Millhone to investigate and she does spot a man who appears to be Jaffe, along with his girlfriend Renata. They escape Kinsey's surveillance and she returns to California. Jaffe's son Brian is in big trouble with the police and Kinsey concludes that Jaffe will return to help his son. As she continues her investigation she becomes acquainted with Jaffe's supposed widow and his two troubled sons. She also comes in contact with some of her long-lost family, and agonizes over whether she wants to establish a relationship with them, and open up old wounds. Sue Grafton can be relied on to provide a good read, and this book, although not the best in the series, is no exception.