by Sue Grafton
Part of Kinsey Millhone, book 1
First published 2005
Nikki Fife sits across from private investigator Kinsey Millhone with a desperate request. Eight years ago, Nikki was convicted of poisoning her husband Laurence, a ruthless divorce lawyer in Santa Teresa, California. Now out on parole, she insists she's innocent and wants Millhone to prove it. The cold trail leads Millhone through a web of suspects who had every reason to want Fife dead. She encounters a wealthy woman with a vicious tongue, a deaf boy whose testimony can't be trusted, and Fife's former law partner who seems both protective of his dead colleague's reputation and surprisingly appealing. There's also Fife's bitter ex-wife, still seething over his infidelities, and a secretary whose modest skills don't match her generous salary or mounting debts. As Millhone digs deeper into each lead, the investigation circles back on itself, bringing her face to face with a killer clever enough to have framed an innocent woman and escaped justice for nearly a decade.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cold-case, framed-for-crime, innocent-accused
Setting: California, Santa Teresa
Period: 1980s
320 pages · Kindle Edition · St. Martin's Griffin