O Is for Outlaw - Softcover

Grafton, Sue

3.97

29,533 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330371959 ISBN 13: 9780330371957

Publisher: Pan MacMillan, 2008

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'First there was a phone call from a stranger, then a letter showed up fourteen years after it was sent. That's how I learned I'd made a serious error in judgement and ended up risking my life ...' The call comes on a Monday morning from a guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction. Last weekend he bought a stack. They had stuff in them Kinsey stuff. For thirty bucks, he'll sell her the lot. Kinsey's never been one for personal possessions, but curiousity wins out and she hands over a twenty (she may be curious but she loves a bargain). What she finds amid childhood memorabilia is an old undelivered letter. It will force her to re-examine her beliefs about the break-up of her first marriage, about the honour of her first husband, about an old unsolved murder. And it will put her life in the gravest peril. 'A fascinating insight into what made Kinsey the women she is now' Daily Express 'Grafton's fans will be thrilled with this knockout Kinsey Millhone mystery ...One of the very best entries in a long-lived and much-loved series' Publishers Weekly

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Review:

Wise-cracking, staunchly independent, and chronically curious, Grafton's gritty gumshoe Kinsey Millhone is back. This time, the alphabet series star will take on the toughest case to date: her past. What begins as a random phone call from a "storage space scavenger" (someone who buys the contents of defaulted storage units) leads Kinsey to a box of old papers and personal effects that her ex-husband, Mickey Magruder, left behind. Inside, she finds a 15-year-old unsent letter from a bartender that, among other things, reveals her former hubby was having an affair. The letter also contains details about the murder of a transient--a crime for which Mickey was blamed. Although never convicted, Mickey was ruined--losing his job, wife, and friends. But 15 years later, Kinsey realizes that foul play may have been involved in the murder, a deadly temptation for her.

Die-hard fans will especially enjoy Kinsey's self-disclosure--something she's infamous for not doing--about her childhood, the fate of her parents, and the randy details of her first marriage. A very vulnerable and interesting side to Kinsey's character is also revealed when her obsessive-compulsive fact-finding bent is mixed up with matters of the heart.

A fast, fun read, O Is for Outlaw is packed with Grafton's clear, colorful imagery and signature metaphors: "Our recollection of the past is not simply distorted by our faulty perception of events remembered, but skewed by those forgotten. The memory is like orbiting twin stars, one visible, one dark, the trajectory of what's evident forever affected by the gravity of what's concealed." --Rebekah Warren

From the Inside Flap:

O IS FOR OUTLAW

Read by Judy Kaye
6 casseettes / approx. 10 hours

The call comes on a Monday morning from a guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction.  The weekend before, he'd bought a stack of cardboard boxes.  In one, there was a collection of childhood memorabilia with Kinsey's name all over it.

Though she's never been one for personal possessions, curiousity is a power force.  What she finds among the items is an old undelivered letter to her that will force her to reexamine her beliefs about the breakup of her first marriage...about the honor of her first husband...and about an unsolved murder.  It will put her life in the gravest peril.

Through fourteen books, listeners have been fed short rations when it comes to Kinsey Millhone's past:  a morsel here, a dollop there.  We know about the aunt who raised her, the second husband who left her, the long-lost family up the California coast.  But husband number one has remained a blip on the screen.  Until now.   "O" Is for Outlaw:  a revealing excursion into Kindey's past.

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