Kinsey Millhone

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Grafton's introduction of a young, no-nonsense female private detective in the Alphabet Mystery series was ground-breaking at the time when A is for Alibi was first released in 1982. Until the creation of Kinsey Milhone and V.I. Warshawski, created by Sarah Paretsky, in Indemnity Only, also in 1982, private detectives in fiction were almost always male.
—Wikipedia's page about Sue Grafton

Kinsey Millhone is series of mystery novels sometimes referred to as the Alphabet Mysteries, created by Sue Grafton. They follow the titular Kinsey Millhone, a private investigator in the fictional Santa Teresa, California. Reportedly: "Kinsey is 5'6" and weighs about 118 pounds. She has short, dark, thick hair that she trims with nail scissors, being generally uninterested in her physical appearance."

Each book is named for a letter of the alphabet. The series began in 1982 and continued until 2017, although in-universe only seven years passed. According to the author, the final book would have been called "Z" is for Zero and would have taken place in 1990; alas, Author Existence Failure ended the series one book early.

The books in the series are:

  1. "A" Is for Alibi (1982)
  2. "B" Is for Burglar (1985)
  3. "C" Is for Corpse (1986)
  4. "D" Is for Deadbeat (1987)
  5. "E" Is for Evidence (1988)
  6. "F" Is for Fugitive (1989)
  7. "G" Is for Gumshoe (1990)
  8. "H" Is for Homicide (1991)
  9. "I" Is for Innocent (1992)
  10. "J" Is for Judgment (1993)
  11. "K" Is for Killer (1994)
  12. "L" Is for Lawless (1995)
  13. "M" Is for Malice (1996)
  14. "N" Is for Noose (1998)
  15. "O" Is for Outlaw (1999)
  16. "P" Is for Peril (2001)
  17. "Q" Is for Quarry (2002)
  18. "R" Is for Ricochet (2004)
  19. "S" Is for Silence (2005)
  20. "T" Is for Trespass (2007)
  21. "U" Is for Undertow (2009)
  22. "V" Is for Vengeance (2011)
  23. "W" Is for Wasted (2013)
  24. "X" (2015)
  25. "Y" Is for Yesterday (2017)
The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Kinsey Millhone franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.
  • Comic Book Time: Averted, the books still take place in the '80s despite being written in the 1990s, 2000s, or 2010s.
  • Cake Eater: Kinsey finds her eighty-year-old landlord quite sexy, and wonders whether the fifty year age difference would be a hindrance to a relationship. Lawrence Fife, the victim in "A" is for Alibi, also had a liking for older women.
  • Cool Old Guy: Kinsey's neighbor and landlord Henry is definitely one of these.
  • Costume Porn: The outfit of every character will be described every time you meet them.
  • Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: Henry, according to Kinsey.
  • Long Runners: There were thirty-five years between the publication of "A" Is for Alibi and "Y" Is for Yesterday.
  • Private Detective: Kinsey's a private investigator.
  • Scenery Porn: Grafton often described and explained the back story to different parts of the fictional Santa Teresa.
  • The Sociopath: in "T" Is for Trespass, the major antagonist Solana is one.
  • Steel Ear Drums: Averted hard. Kinsey is forced to shoot a man in self-defense at the end of the first book, and her ears don't stop ringing for weeks. It's later mentioned that she never gets all her hearing back. The fact that she has hiding in a metal trash can probably didn't help matters
  • Theme Naming: "(Letter)" is for (word related to crime)
  • Your Cheating Heart: Lawrence Fife was a serial adulterer. It was what got him killed.
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