Rating: 
Summary: thumbs up
Review: Grafton is a pro, and M IS FOR MALICE has tension and action and all the things that make for good suspense (if you like this, you might like my own novel THE SHAPE by Craig Furnas). She has 12 more letters to get through, and it will be fun to see her do it. -- C.F.
Rating:
Summary: Better than some, not as good as others....
Review: I have read all of the Grafton alphabet series through "M is for Malice", which I just finished recently. I find Kinsey to be a believable and compelling character, and I enjoy her "loner on the fringes of polite society" point of view about things. I was a little disappointed with "M is for Malice" -- I felt that after all of the background and sleuthing around, the ending felt a little rushed, a little thrown-together-at-the-last-minute. And call me a purist, but I prefer the endings where Kinsey is in mortal danger at the end, like when she has to fight her way out of a dark basement where the killer thinks s/he has trapped her.... I'm also kind of disinterested in Kinsey's newfound family members. Kinsey herself is not that interested in them, so why should I be?
Rating: 
Summary: mostly agree with the 4s or so; just one additional ?
Review: Almost all first-person private eye novels are written in the past tense, which always creates a little bit of a problem--why is the PI thinking back over the entire case in such a chronological, narrative manner? Usually, however, we just suspend our disbelief and enjoy. Yet Grafton, at least in this book, has Millhone more or less address--and certainly demonstrate an awareness of--her audience. #$(*#)@@(#)? She may not realize it, but such a move endangers the entire private eye genre (one of my personal favorites, don't get me wrong) forever. N had better be for Normal.
Rating: 
Summary: M is for Meandering
Review: I thought that after diving head first into the mystery and thriller genre, that I should read some of the great alphabet series. Someone convince me that I should read more, because this book did not make a good case for the author. Is this what happens when lengthy contracts are written, or when we expect "M" to follow "L"? It was painful to wait for the obvious to happen, and the payoff was not worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: She's *almost* back. . .
Review: Kinsey seems to have been in a real funk ever since "K is for Killer." I enjoyed "L is for Lawless" primarily because it was set in my home state of Kentucky, but somehow Kinsey just hasn't had that sassy spark that cracked me up in the early part of the series. However, there are hints of it here. Another reviewer referred to her as a "man hater." I would respectfully disgree--her experiences with men have not always been positive, but then that's true of a lot of single thirty-something women out there. Kinsey was able to look at Guy Malek and see that there was much more to him than the hell-raising sociopathic label his family had put on him. Indeed, as Kinsey states in the book, he turned out to be the most decent one in the bunch after he got away from his family and grew up a little bit. Grafton's portrayal of the fundamentalist Christians who took Guy in and helped him straighten out is one of the most refreshingly balanced I have read in mainstream literature. Most of the time these characters come off as caricatures--not here. They geniunely cared about Guy for who he was, not realizing that he was really a lost heir to part of a fortune. What Kinsey needs to do is stumble into a really bizarre case and start having a little more fun again. You know what I mean? Maybe stay in another cheap motel, have an excuse to wear that fabulous all-purpose dress, watch Dietz and Jonah Robb argue over her, have California Fidelity call her up in desperate need of her services so Vera Lipton can fuss at her about her wardrobe. Oh, shoot, why not just go the whole nine yards and have her meet her long-lost family, who turn out to be so wacky that she realizes she was lucky that Aunt Gin raised her not to know them? Meanwhile, read this and be happy that Kinsey at least "got lucky" in this outing. . .if you know what I mean. . .
Rating: 
Summary: A Pro-Female Book for Man Haters
Review: If you are a female who thinks it's neat when a fictional lady/sleuth outwits and outsmarts all those terrible men, then this book is for you. As for the rest of us (who don't need to feel empowered by a make-believe private eye) this book reeks. Once again, we are treated to Kinsey Milhone's big-mouthed ways. This time, however, we are expected to believe that she can span an eighteen year time span to bring the Malek family back together. Blah. Grafton's flights of fancy have finally gotten out of hand. Why do these man haters feel the need to denigrate every man in their books?
Rating:
Summary: Not Up To Par
Review: I'm a big fan of Sue Grafton's, but I was disappointed in this installment in the Kinsey Millhone series. The first half of the book was tedious. Too much introspection by Kinsey. Detailed descriptions of every room she enters and the clothes worn by everyone she meets. Things improve when she finally has a murder to solve, but the mystery itself wasn't challenging. Maybe it's time to branch out and find some new characters, these are getting a little stale.
Rating:
Summary: M is for monotonous
Review: The first and last book of this series that I will become mired in.The characters were shallow, almostsophomoric and the story was slow. Good reading for an insomniac.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best in the series
Review: I have read every single one of Grafton's books and this one was my favorite. It seems routine and mechanical for the first 80 pages or so but becomes a twisty web after closer scrutiny. Things aren't what they seem and some things you think are real clues are just red herrings. I came the closest to guessing the killer in this one than I have in a long time. Her other great ones to check out are B, I and K. I would love to get e-mail from dissenders or fellow fans
Rating:
Summary: Slow and Boring
Review: This is the first and probably the last of Sue Grafton's alphabet books I will read. The storyline is slow to develop and I didn't find any of the characters very interesting. It was only half way through the book that anything interseting developed. M Is for Maybe Her Next Book Will be Better.
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