Kinsey Millhone Series

This series follows a resourceful private investigator navigating the mysteries of a California coastal town. Each case delves into complex human relationships and hidden motives, offering a compelling blend of suspense and character-driven narrative. Readers are drawn to the sharp wit and unwavering determination of the protagonist as she unravels intricate puzzles. It's a beloved collection for those who enjoy classic detective work with a distinct, independent female lead.

Recommended Reading Order

"A" is for Alibi
Sue Grafton
320 pages
12 hours of reading
READ THE SENSATIONAL BLOCKBUSTER THAT STARTED IT ALL! Take it from the top in #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton's knockout thriller that introduced detective Kinsey Millhone—and a hot new attitude—to crime fiction... A IS FOR AVENGER A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she's got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes. A IS FOR ACCUSED That's why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she's out on parole and needs Kinsey's help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki's bad name won't be easy. A IS FOR ALIBI If there's one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer—and sharper—than she imagined.
1
3.9
B is for burglar
Sue Grafton
384 pages
14 hours of reading
The second book in the critically acclaimed Kinsey Millhone series
2
3.9
C is for Corpse
Sue Grafton
243 pages
9 hours of reading
Kinsey met Bobby Callahan in the gym on Monday morning. His story was hard to credit: a murderous assault by a tailgating car on a lonely rural road, a roadside smash into a canyon 400 feet below, his porsche a ruin, his best friend dead, and his memory severly impaired. He was convinced someone was trying to kill him. By Thursday he was dead. But Kinsy wasnt going back on a deal. She has been hired to prevent a murder. Now she was looking for the murderer....
3
3.7
"D" is for Deadbeat
Sue Grafton
240 pages
9 hours of reading
Following the successes of her previous "Alphabet" mysteries, Grafton puts Kinsey Millhone back on the case. This time, the feisty female P.I. gets pulled into a former client's suspicious life--and death--and soon discovers an impressive list of potential murderers among the mourners.
4
3.7
E is for evidence
Sue Grafton
240 pages
9 hours of reading
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I cherish my unmarried state. I’m female, twice divorced, no kids and no close family ties. I’m perfectly content to do what I do . . . It was two days after Christmas when Kinsey Millhone received the bank slip showing a credit for five thousand dollars. The account number was correct but Kinsey hadn’t made the deposit. Then came the phone call and suddenly everything became clear. The frame-up was working and Kinsey was trapped . . .
5
3.9
F is for Fugitive
Sue Grafton
272 pages
10 hours of reading
"It was an old man's dying wish. To clear his son's name and reunite his family. But Bailey Fowler had been missing for 16 years and there was more than one person in Floral Beach who didn't want him found. Until the cops turn him up - by accident. And suddenly murder is the hottest game in town all over again. Kinsey Millhone was summoned for the fairy tale ending ... ." -- back cover.
6
3.8
"G" is for Gumshoe
Sue Grafton
The divorced ex-cop, Kinsey Millhone, turns 33, is hired to bring a mother back from the desert, and makes a top slot on Tyrone Patty's hit list, all on the same day.
7
3.8
"H" is for Homicide
Sue Grafton
2 cassettes / 3 hours Read by Judy Kaye Kinsey Millhone, the irreverent, wise-cracking P.I. with a style reminiscent of Philip Marlowe, is back in a high-stakes adventure. His name was Parnell Perkins and until shortly after midnight, he'd been a claims adjuster for California Fidelity. Then someone had come along and ended his career . . . permanently. To the cops, his death looked like a robber gone sour; to Kinsey Millhone, it looked strangely suspicious. Particularly when Bibianna Diaz's name surfaced in one of Perkins' files. It seems she had pulled an insurance scam, with California Fidelity as her mark. Now, Kinsey was after her. But so, too, was her spurned suitor, Raymond Maldonado. he had a rap sheet as long as his arm and an inability to take no for an answer. Could Kinsey get to Bibianna first and solve the mystery of Perkins' murder? Or would she find that once you crossed Raymond Maldonado, you didn't live to tell the tape?
8
3.8
I is for Innocent
Sue Grafton
286 pages
11 hours of reading
Fired by the insurance agency for whom she investigates, Kinsey is forced to take on a last-minute murder investigation in which the ex-husband of a murdered artist claims that David Barney, her current husband, is guilty as sin. Barney gets to Kinsey and insists he's innocent. But if he is, who's guilty? In trying to learn who's been getting away with murder, Kinsey may be courting her own.
9
4.0
J is for judgment
Sue Grafton
359 pages
13 hours of reading
While investigating the reappearance of the long-presumed-dead Wendell Jaffe, Kinsey Millhone uncovers some unpleasant truths about her own family in the process. By the author of "G is for Gumshoe."
10
3.6
K is for Killer
Sue Grafton
284 pages
10 hours of reading
When Kinsey Millhone answers her office door late one night, she lets in more darkness than she realizes. Janice Kepler is a grieving mother who can't let the death of her beautiful daughter Lorna alone. The police agree that Lorna was murdered, but a suspect was never apprehended and the trail is now ten months cold. Kinsey pieces together Lorna's young life: a dull day job a the local water treatment plant spiced by sidelines in prostitution and pornography. She tangles with Lorna's friends: a local late-night DJ; a sweet, funny teenaged hooker; Lorna's sloppy landlord and his exotic wife. But to find out which one, if any, turned killer, Kinsey will have to inhabit a netherworld from which she may never return. From the Paperback edition.
11
3.7
"L" is for Lawless
A Kinsey Millhone Novel
Sue Grafton
290 pages
11 hours of reading
PI Kinsey Millhone of California goes looking for the loot of a $500,000 robbery, an assignment filled with danger as one of the robbers is a psychopath. By the author of "K" Is for Killer
12
3.9
"M" is for Malice
Sue Grafton
Brace yourself for an "Electrifying and thoroughly satisfying" read (Publishers Weekly) from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton "M" is for money. Lots of it. "M" is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction, one of the few still in family hands. "M" is for the Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit a fortune--four men with very different outlooks, temperaments, and needs, linked only by blood and money. Eighteen years ago, one of them--angry, troubled, and in trouble--went missing. "M" is for Millhone, hired to trace that missing black sheep brother. "M" is for memories, none of them happy. The bitter memories of an embattled family. This prodigal son will find no welcome at his family's table. "M" is for malice. And in brutal consequence, "M" is for murder, the all-too-common outcome of familial hatreds. "M" is for malice . . . and malice kills. "A" Is for Alibi "B" Is for Burglar "C" Is for Corpse "D" Is for Deadbeat "E" Is for Evidence "F" Is for Fugitive "G" Is for Gumshoe "H" Is for Homicide "I" Is for Innocent "J" Is for Judgment "K" Is for Killer "L" is for Lawless "M" Is for Malice "N" Is for Noose "O" Is for Outlaw "P" Is for Peril "Q" Is for Quarry "R" Is for Ricochet "S" Is for Silence "T" Is for Trespass "U" Is for Undertow "V" Is for Vengeance "W" Is for Wasted "X"
13
4.1
Kinsey Millhone - 14: N Is For Noose
Sue Grafton
312 pages
11 hours of reading
Early Spring in the Sierra Nevada, bringing the usual driving sleet and snow. PI Kinsey Millhone is on her way west when she detours into Nota Lake (pop. 2356) to check out a new client. And encounters a chill she can scarcely believe. Only six weeks have passed since sheriff's detective Tom Newquist died of a heart attack. His widow is sure he was keeping secrets from her just before he died - and she hires Kinsey to find out exactly what. But all Kinsey can uncover is that Newquist led an exemplary life, so what could he possibly have to conceal? And why has the town, to the last threatening redneck, closed ranks on her? Kinsey's on the point of giving up, Until she discovers a chilling new clue: a childish drawing of a thick length of rope - fashioned into a hangman's noose...
14
4.0
O is for Outlaw
Sue Grafton
Carrying on in the tradition of previous novels including M is for Malice, and N is for Noose, this Kinsey Millhone mystery becomes very personal when she examines her past, an unsolved murder and the break-up of her first marriage.
15
4.0
P Is for Peril
Sue Grafton
370 pages
13 hours of reading
It is now nine weeks since Dr Dowan Purcell vanished without trace. The sixty-nine-year-old doctor had said goodnight to his colleagues at the Pacific Meadows nursing home, had climbed into his car and driven away never to be seen again. His embittered first wife Fiona is convinced he is still alive. His second wife, Crystal a former stripper forty years his junior is just as sure he is dead. Enter private investigator Kinsey Malone, hired by Fiona to find out just what has happened to the man they loved. Enter also Tommy Hevener, an attractive flame-haired twenty-something who has set his romantic sights on Kinsey. And Tommy is a man with a very interesting past
16
3.9
Q is for Quarry
Sue Grafton
400 pages
14 hours of reading
Based on an unsolved homicide that occured in 1969 Q is for Quarry, and Sue Grafton's interest in the case, has generated renewed police efforts. In the last year, the body has been exhumed, and a facial reconstruction made that appears in the last pages of the novel. It is hoped that the photograph will trigger memories that may lead to a positive identification.
17
3.9
R is for ricochet
Sue Grafton
300 pages
11 hours of reading
Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but he wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institution for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she is about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. Nord Lafferty wants to be sure she stays straight, stays at home and away from the drugs, the booze, the gamblers." "It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: babysit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the rules of her parole. Maybe all of a week's work. Nothing untoward - the woman seems remorseful and friendly. And the money is good." But life is never that simple, and Reba is out of prison less than twenty-four hours when one of her old crowd comes circling round.
18
4.0
S is for silence
Sue Grafton
562 pages
20 hours of reading
"Thirty-four years after Violet Sullivans unexplained disappearance, Daisy - the not-quite-seven-year-old daughter she left behind - seeks the solace of closure and enlists the assistance of private detective Kinsey Millhone to help her find the truth." -- back cover.
19
3.9
T is for Trespass
Sue Grafton
trespass \'trespes\ n: a transgression of law involving one's obligations to God or to one's neighbor; a violation of moral law; an offense; a sin-Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, Unabridged In what may be her most unsettling novel to date, Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass is also her most direct confrontation with the forces of evil. Beginning slowly with the day-to-day life of a private eye, Grafton suddenly shifts from the voice of Kinsey Millhone to that of Solana Rojas, introducing readers to a chilling sociopath. Rojas is not her birth name. It is an identity she cunningly stole, an identity that gives her access to private caregiving jobs. The true horror of the novel builds with excruciating tension as the reader foresees the awfulness that lies ahead. The suspense lies in whether Millhone will realize what is happening in time to intervene. Though set in the late eighties, T is for Trespass could not be more topical: identity theft; elder abuse; betrayal of trust; the breakdown in the institutions charged with caring for the weak and the dependent. It reveals a terrifying but all-too-real rip in the social fabric. Once again, Grafton opens up new territory with startling results.
20
4.0
U is for undertow
Sue Grafton
In 1960s Santa Teresa, California, a child is kidnapped and never returned . . . When the case is reopened after twenty years, a man - Michael Sutton - contacts private detective Kinsey Millhone for help. He claims to have recalled a strange and disturbing memory which just might provide the key to the mystery. He may have stumbled across the kidnappers burying Mary Claire Fitzhugh's body . . . But Michael's account is indistinct -he was only six years old at the time of the kidnapping; and even members of his family try to discredit his evidence. But Kinsey is certain there is something vital within Michael's recollections. And even when what is eventually unearthed isn't what anyone expected, she can't quite let go of the case. As Kinsey gradually brings to light the stories of the protagonists involved in the tragedy, from Country Club parents to their free-living, hippy children, the truth finally begins to emerge. And while stepping back into the past, Kinsey discovers more about her own history too . . .
21
4.0
Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Series - V: V Is for Vengeance
Sue Grafton
368 pages
13 hours of reading
Las Vegas, 1986. A young college graduate is murdered when he is unable to pay back a loan. Two years later private investigator Kinsey Millhone finds herself assisting to apprehend a shoplifter - Audrey Vance - in a shopping centre. Events take a much darker turn when her body is discovered beneath the Cold Spring Bridge, a local suicide spot.
22
4.0
W is for Wasted
Sue Grafton
"Two dead bodies changed the course of my life that fall" October 1988 Santa Teresa California narrates PI Kinsey Milhone 38. One is shady PI Pete Wolinsky, shot and robbed. Second is homeless alcoholic Terrence Dace from kidney and liver failure. He rejected children, bequeathed fortune to Kinsey. Pete's gun shows up in Kinsey's car, dropped by Felix, killed after he retrieved friend Dace's stolen stuff.
23
3.9
X
Sue Grafton
529 pages
19 hours of reading
“An inventive plot and incisive character studies elevate MWA Grand Master Grafton’s twenty-fourth Kinsey Millhone novel...This superior outing will remind readers why this much-loved series will be missed as the end of the alphabet approaches.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) X: The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss... Perhaps Sue Grafton’s darkest and most chilling novel, X features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this deadly sociopath. The test is whether private investigator Kinsey Millhone can prove her case against him—before she becomes his next victim.
24
4.0
Y is for Yesterday
Sue Grafton
The darkest and most disturbing case report from the files of Kinsey Millhone, Y is for Yesterday begins in 1979, when four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a fourteen-year-old classmate—and film the attack. Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns state’s evidence and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace. Now, it’s 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, has been released from prison. Moody, unrepentant, and angry, he is a virtual prisoner of his ever-watchful parents—until a copy of the missing tape arrives with a ransom demand. That’s when the McCabes call Kinsey Millhone for help. As she is drawn into their family drama, she keeps a watchful eye on Fritz. But he’s not the only one being haunted by the past. A vicious sociopath with a grudge against Millhone may be leaving traces of himself for her to find…
25
4.0

Related books

Třikrát Kinsey Millhoneová
Eva Klimentová
Kniha obsahuje tři případy : 1. A jako Alibi - přeložila Eva Klimentová. 2. B jako běs - přeložila Stanislava Pošustová. 3. C jako corpus delicti - přeložila Ivana Doležalová. Doslov „Ostrá žena s něžným srdcem“ napsala Eva Klimentová. Vydání první
4.5
Kinsey a já : Uzavřený kruh a jiné povídky
Sue Grafton
256 pages
9 hours of reading
Každá z devíti povídek v úvodu knihy je klenotem detektivní fikce. Hrdinka Kinsey, která se objevila v převratné vlně detektivního románu, přestala být pouze oddanou parťačkou drsných detektivů a začala vyslovovat vlastní názory a postřehy. Její výmluvnost a ostrovtip si čtenáři zamilovali již od první knihy. Druhá část souboru, obsahující třináct povídek, byla napsána během deseti let po matčině smrti a představuje Kit Blueovou, mladší alter ego autorky. Tyto temné příběhy nesou spodní proud zármutku a tiché bolesti, reflektující rodinné ztráty a cestu od vzteku k odpuštění a lásce. Autorka se v minulosti zmínila o alkoholismu svých rodičů, což ovlivnilo její dětství a pocit volnosti, ale i citovou rozháranost. Sue Graftonová si hlídá své soukromí a její nynější otevřenost naznačuje vyrovnání se s minulostí. Přesto cítí rozpaky ohledně sdílení svého života, touží po možnosti přepsat svou minulost a odstranit slabá místa. Uvědomuje si, že zakrývání nepříjemností může vést k ztrátě dobrých vzpomínek. Minulost je komplexní a zkušenosti, které získala, měly svou cenu, s níž se ztotožňuje každý, kdo se odvážil ohlédnout za svým životem.
3.7
Kinsey Millhone
Sue Grafton
4.0
A Is for Alibi & B Is for Burglar
Sue Grafton
640 pages
23 hours of reading
A Is for Alibi & B Is for Burglar collects the first two novels in the #1 New York Times bestselling Kinsey Millhone series by Sue Grafton... In A is for Alibi, tough-talking private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal attachments, she's got a soft spot for lost causes. That's why she draws clients like Nikki Fife. Nikki is out on parole after serving time for allegedly killing her husband, and needs Kinsey's help to find the real killer. But clearing Nikki's name won't be easy.... In B is for Burglar, Kinsey is reluctant to take on the case of locating Beverly Danziger's sister Elaine. It's a small matter that Beverly should be able to handle herself. So why is she enlisting Kinsey's services? And if there's something she's learned in her line of work, it's to always follow your instincts...
3.8
Kinsey and Me
Sue Grafton
In 1982, Sue Grafton introduced us to private investigator Kinsey Millhone and the Alphabet series. Now Kinsey is an established international icon and Sue, a number-one bestselling author. To mark this achievement, Sue has written short stories that reveal Kinsey's origins and Sue's past.
3.8
O is for Outlaw and P is for Peril
Sue Grafton
513 pages
18 hours of reading
A double dose of Sue Grafton and a realtreat. Two absolutely cracking books tokeep you reading until all hours. The onlydownside is you get to the end and wantmore. Fortunately there is more.
4.2