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Summary
Summary
His name was Parnell Perkins, and until shortly after midnight, he'd been a claims adjustor for California Fidelity. Then someone came along and put paid to that line of work. And to any other. Parnell Perkins had been shot at close range and left for dead in the parking lot outside California Fidelity's offices.
To the cops, it looked like a robbery gone sour. To Kinsey Millhone, it looked like the cops were walking away from the case. She didn't like the idea that a colleague and sometime drinking companion had been murdered. Or the idea that his murderer was loose and on the prowl. It made her feel exposed. Vulnerable.
Bibianna Diaz was afraid for her life. If there was one thing she knew for sure, it was that you didn't cross Raymond Maldonado and live to tell the tale. And Bibianna had well and truly crossed him, running out on his crazy wedding plans and going into hiding in Santa Teresa--light years away from the Los Angeles barrio that was home turf to Raymond and his gang. Now she needed money to buy time, to make sure she'd put enough space between them. And the quickest way she knew to get money was to work an insurance scam--just like the ones Raymond was running down in L.A. The trouble was, Bibianna picked California Fidelity as her mark. And it wasn't long before her name surfaced in one of Parnell Perkins's open files and Kinsey was on her case. But so, too, was her spurned suitor, Raymond Maldonado.
He had a rap sheet as long as his arm, a hair-trigger temper that was best left untested, and an inability to take no for an answer. He also had Tourette's syndrome, which did nothing to smooth out the kinks in his erratic and often violent behavior. All in all, Raymond Maldonado was not someone to spend a lot of time hanging out with. Unfortunately for Kinsey, she didn't have a lot of choice in the mater. Not after the love-sick Raymond kidnapped Bibianna. Like it or not, Kinsey was stuck babysitting Bibianna along with Raymond and his macho crew. You might say she was a prisoner of love.
It may be Kinsey Millhone's most complicated and risk-filled case. It certainly is Sue Grafton's wittiest venture into low-life crime. It's "H" is for Homicide , and it confirms yet again that Kinsey Millhone is "a wonderful character, tough but not brutish, resourceful and sensitive, a fit knight to walk those mean streets with her male predecessors" (the Los Angeles Times ) and that Sue Grafton is "a heads-up delight" ( Detroit News ).
"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"
Author Notes
Sue Grafton was born in Louisville, Kentucky on April 24, 1940. She received a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Louisville in 1961. Her first novel Keziah Dane was published in 1967. Her second novel, The Lolly-Madonna War, was published in 1969 and she adapted it into a screenplay. After that movie was released in 1973, she worked intermittently writing for television. A series she created, Nurse, ran for two seasons on CBS in the early 1980s.
Her writing career took off when A Is for Alibi was published in 1982 and received the Mysterious Stranger Award. This was the beginning of the Kinsey Millhone Mystery series. B Is for Burglar won the Shamus and Anthony Awards and C Is for Corpse won the Anthony Award. She also received the Cartier Diamond Dagger, the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bouchercon, and the Ross Macdonald Literary Award. She died from cancer on December 28, 2017 at the age of 77.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Or ``H'' may be for ``Hispanic,'' as the murder of an insurance claims adjuster sends PI Kinsey Milhone undercover in a Los Angeles barrio. Following up a suspicious claim in the murder victim's files, Kinsey trails beautiful young Bibianna Diaz, recently moved up the coast to Santa Teresa from L.A. Under the alias Hannah Moore, Kinsey befriends the young woman and learns she is attempting the same scam pursued by Raymond Maldonado, her ex-boyfriend in L.A. When Raymond's brother, sent to bring Bibianna back, is shot by the young woman's new lover, an old friend of Kinsey's, both Bibianna and Hannah/Kinsey are taken to jail, where Kinsey secretly agrees to join a statewide fraud investigation. Raymond's henchmen grab Bibianna, and take Kinsey too. Kinsey's harrowing experiences include instigating car accidents as part of the scam and unearthing evidence to blow the operation. A pit bull, the surprising identity of an undercover LAPD cop and the unpredictable rages of Raymond, who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome, contribute atmosphere to the PI.'s eighth alphabet escapade. The usually upbeat Kinsey seems a little dispirited here. She admits to missing Robert Dietz, her love interest who left for Germany at the end of ``G'' Is for Gumshoe , but may also be reacting to the essentially humdrum plot. Kinsey remains a star supported by a lively cast, but the insurance business doesn't test her mettle, a fact which she determines for herself, assuring readers of one thing ``I'' won't be for. 150,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Mystery Guild selections; Doubleday Book Club alternate. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Kinsey Millhone, twice-divorced ex-cop, ever dauntless, ever vulnerable (""A"" is for Alibi, etc., etc.), now investigating claims for California Fidelity, is assigned a seemingly routine claim from the files of deceased co-worker Parnell Perkins--robbed and shot dead. The case leads Kinsey to elusive, beautiful Bibianna Diaz and to a late-night restaurant meal interrupted by an attempt to kidnap Bibianna that ends with the shooting death of Chago Maldonado--killed by Bibianna's escort Jimmy Tate--an ex-cop and old pal of Kinsey's. Tate lands in the hospital; Bibianna and Kinsey in jail--to be greeted on release by Chago's brother and Bibianna's ex-lover, Raymond--a tense hood racked by the involuntary spasms of Tourette's Syndrome and by his obsession to marry a frightened Bibianna, who thought she'd escaped him. His plan to take her back to his Los Angeles barrio apartment is reinforced by gun-toting henchman Luis. Bibianna clings to new-found friend Kinsey, who goes along, knowing she's onto a mega-insurance scam and, possibly, Parnell's killer. Days later it's all over--a densely textured adventure heavy with unflagging menace lightened by wisps of humor; a three-dimensional villain; a surprise twist, and a heroine to have in your comer. First-class work from an author whose range grows steadily deeper and richer. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.