The Beginning of Something

Detective and former cop Kinsey Millhone is employed by Nikki Fife after serving her sentence for the murder of her husband eight years prior. She hires Kinsey to find out who really murdered the bastard, a very successful divorce lawyer and philanderer. Her investigation reveals another death eight years ago using the same murder weapon (ground oleander-spiked medication), and leaves a trail of bodies in its wake, natch. Millhone also works for California Fidelity, investigating small claims insurance fraud in exchange for her office space.

I liked this book for the same reasons I like Stephen King and Agatha Christie novels, easy to read, well paced, not too challenging. What suspense there was did not last long, and it really took about 50% of the book to really build up to the tense parts. The main character is not the most engaging or sympathetic, and a bit too self-righteous for my taste, so I wasn’t overly concerned for her safety. First published in 1982, I was a bit distracted by the antiquated technology and predicted the villain quite early, probably because this book was the origin of that particular trope. I do plan to continue the series so I’ll be interested to see how the author incorporates emerging technologies. The series is up to “W” so at the very least it has been successful enough to warrant 22 sequels, which doesn’t automatically mean good books as we all well know.

Once begun half done; I’m excited to go for a my first full Cannonball this year! See you next time.

McM

(*Feedback absolutely welcome, if this review sucked please tell me why so I can get better!)