"H" is for Homicide: A Kinsey Millhone Novel (Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries, 8)

His name was Parnell Perkins, and until shortly after midnight, he'd been a claims adjustor for California Fidelity. Then someone came along and put paid to that line of work. And to any other. Parnell Perkins had been shot at close range and left for dead in the parking lot outside California Fidelity's offices. To the cops, it looked like a robbery gone sour. To Kinsey Millhone, it looked like the cops were walking away from the case. She didn't like the idea that a colleague and sometime drinking companion had been murdered. Or the idea that his murderer was loose and on the prowl. It made her feel exposed. Vulnerable. Bibianna Diaz was afraid for her life. If there was one thing she knew for sure, it was that you didn't cross Raymond Maldonado and live to tell the tale. And Bibianna had well and truly crossed him, running out on his crazy wedding plans and going into hiding in Santa Teresa--light years away from the Los Angeles barrio that was home turf to Raymond and his gang. Now she needed money to buy time, to make sure she'd put enough space between them. And the quickest way she knew to get money was to work an insurance scam--just like the ones Raymond was running down in L.A. The trouble was, Bibianna picked California Fidelity as her mark. And it wasn't long before her name surfaced in one of Parnell Perkins's open files and Kinsey was on her case. But so, too, was her spurned suitor, Raymond Maldonado. He had a rap sheet as long as his arm, a hair-trigger temper that was best left untested, and an inability to take no for an answer. He also had Tourette's syndrome, which did nothing to smooth out the kinks in his erratic and often violent behavior. All in all, Raymond Maldonado was not someone to spend a lot of time hanging out with. Unfortunately for Kinsey, she didn't have a lot of choice in the mater. Not after the love-sick Raymond kidnapped Bibianna. Like it or not, Kinsey was stuck babysitting Bibianna along with Raymond and his macho crew. You might say she was a prisoner of love. It may be Kinsey Millhone's most complicated and risk-filled case. It certainly is Sue Grafton's wittiest venture into low-life crime. It's "H" is for Homicide, and it confirms yet again that Kinsey Millhone is "a wonderful character, tough but not brutish, resourceful and sensitive, a fit knight to walk those mean streets with her male predecessors" (the Los Angeles Times) and that Sue Grafton is "a heads-up delight" (Detroit News)

It started with the murder of Kinsey Millhone's sometime drinking buddy, an insurance claims adjuster. But before long Kinsey stumbles onto a massive insurance scam. Going undercover as a wisecracking vamp, Millhone descends into the Los Angeles nether world of machismo and gang hideouts. Her companion, terrified at having crossed the violent crook Raymond Maldonado, is Bibianna Diaz no Girl Scout herself.

As the Los Angeles Times notes, this book confirms yet again that Kinsey Millhone is "a wonderful character, tough but not brutish, resourceful and sensitive, a fit knight to walk those mean streets with her male predecessors."

Herbert Mitgang

The latest Millhone mystery is "'H' Is for Homicide." It continues to show the author in strong storytelling form in her Southern California locale....There is a fundamental difference between Ms. Grafton's protagonist and the classic male private detectives. For one thing, there's added tension and a greater sense of danger when her vulnerable heroine is walking down some dark alley, stalking and being stalked. Even more important, Ms. Grafton brings a woman's perspective to her people and their romances....The lady can write. -- New York Times

Kinsey Millhone Is Working On A Case Involving The Death Of A Claims Adjuster For A California Insurance Company. The Story Takes Her Into The Los Angeles Barrio In Pursuit Of A Violent Criminal, Into Jails And Hospitals, And Into A Grungy Bar Named The Meat Locker. Sue Grafton. looking back, it's hard to remember if the low morale at California Fidelity originated with the death of one of the claims adjusters or the transfer of Gordon Titus, an "efficiency expert" from the Palm Springs office, who was brought in to bolster profits. What she needed most was a few quiet days by herself - but two things happened to change her plans. First she ran into a murder case. Then Kinsey met Bibianna Diaz, and before the night was over they were sharing a prison cell... When Kinsey Millhone tracks an insurance scam to Bibianna Diaz, she finds herself entangled in the murderous path of Bibianna's spurned suitor--gangster Raymond Maldonado