by Sue Grafton
Part of Kinsey Millhone, book 6
First published 2005
Private investigator Kinsey Millhone arrives in tiny Floral Beach, California, where the Pacific meets six short streets and long-buried secrets. Seventeen years ago, Jean Timberlake's strangled body washed up on the local sand. Bailey Fowler confessed to the killing, got convicted, then walked away from San Luis Obispo prison a year later. The small town moved on. Then police stumble across Bailey by accident, dragging the cold case back into the light. His dying father Royce sees one last chance to mend their broken relationship. He hires Kinsey to prove Bailey's innocence, though the evidence looks thin. Kinsey starts digging into what really happened that night. She discovers Jean had a reputation as wild as her mother Shana, who still grieves her dead daughter in silence. The deeper Kinsey probes, the more she uncovers the twisted family dynamics that simmer beneath Floral Beach's quiet surface. Old resentments and buried desires have been festering for nearly two decades. What started as a long shot case pulls Kinsey into a web of warped emotions that threaten to explode.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, cold-case, family-secrets
Setting: Floral Beach, San Luis Obispo
Period: Seventeen Years Ago
320 pages · Mass Market Paperback · St. Martin's Paperbacks