Review by Booklist Review
Spunky private eye Kinsey Millhone is swept up in a tangle of hate, violence, and families torn asunder. Grafton has a fine eye for detail and an uncanny ability to evoke the distinctive California life-style through even the briefest turn of phrase. (Ap 1 87)
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
``D'' is for Detective Kinsey Millhone, given $25,000 of stolen drug money by a drunkard named Daggett who then dies in a drowning. When she decides to deliver the money to Daggett's designee, a young man who was the sole survivor of an auto accident perpetrated by Daggett, Kinsey finds herself in a dilemma: too many ``D's'' are after the loot. There are two Mrs. Daggetts, a daughter, the drug dealers and a determined killer who soon claims a second life. At this point, Grafton's lively, well-written adventure develops a deadly flaw. Kinsey comes upon the second victim shortly after he's been shot. Though dying, he is conscious and coherent. Why, then, doesn't she ask who did it? When asked the same thing by the police, she says, ``I didn't want the last minutes of his life taken up with that stuff''a humane but unlikely rejoiner from any private eye. Even so, the pleasure of this story comes through. Let's give it a ``D'' for Dandy. (May 14) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Kinsey Millhone, the author's gritty, appealing P.I., based in California's Santa Teresa (""C"" is for Corpse), is hired by shabby alcoholic ex-con John Daggett to deliver a cashier's check for $25,000 to one Tony Gahan, address unknown. A few days later, Daggett's body is washed ashore--accidental drowning according to police. Meanwhile, Kinsey has located Tony Gahan, the teen-aged lone survivor of a family killed by a drunken Daggett in a car crash years before. She's also talked to Daggett's ugly, Bible-spouting wife Essie; his unsavory, colorful friend Billy Polo; his bigamous second wife Lovella, and his sleek, brittle daughter Barbara. Kinsey's conviction that Daggett was killed becomes firmer as she burrows deeper into the hours before his death. A second murder points the way to a dramatic confrontation with the killer. Solid plot with a sometimes poignant undercurrent; a brisk pace; and people and places infused with vivid reality--Grafton gets better all the time. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
