Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Grafton, Sue (Y is for Yesterday)

In this installment, Kinsey contends with the villain from "X" in addition to trying to solve an ages-old mystery that has most of the characters still alive and mostly well. It's as engaging as all her more recent novels, with the usual cast including Henry, Rosie, her apartment and the neighborhood bar.

However, I didn't love the arrangement of this one because each of the flashbacks to the characters' high school days sounded too perfectly contrived. The dialogue was too emotionally on target and the situations seemed meticulously crafted to show how smart and self-aware they were. As well, the back-n-forth attitude of the one girl who was sexually abused - which is likely common - was not well enough realized in print. Which made it seem less than authentic.

I think she tied this one up with too neat of a bow, but it's likely she's wiping the slate clean in time for the final dance. It's probably safe to say that most of the mystery-reading population is vastly curious about how she will finish off this series. What ending will she give our quirky but lovable heroine?

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