R is for Ricochet Return to Book Review Page Return to Home Page

By Sue Grafton

Putnam 2004

The traditional American detective novel involves a tough private eye becoming enmeshed in an entanglement of weird characters and a villain who seems to hold every trump card. The protagonist unravels the imbroglio, miraculously grabs victory from the jaws of certain defeat and enjoys plenty of sex in the process. Except for the facts that this book is by a woman and about a woman, R is for Ricochet in every way meets this classical definition of a mystery novel, as does most of the offerings in Grafton’s A-B-C… series of Kinsey Millhone mysteries.

The book starts with an unexciting assignment for private investigator Millhone that explodes in complexity that creates events that frequently fall outside her considerable capabilities. Involved are old money (at least by California standards), an unusually nasty villain, a more traditional mobster, wealth-induced decadence and the more contemporary phenomenon of big-time international money laundering. Unlike so many current mysteries, this one saves the resolution until near the final page. And it is a finale that will leave very few readers unsurprised.