"D" is for deadbeat : a Kinsey Millhone mystery

Format:

Book

Title:

"D" is for deadbeat : a Kinsey Millhone mystery

Author:

Grafton, Sue author

ISBN:

9780805002485

9780312939021

9780553271638

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York : Henry Holt & Co., [1987]

Physical Description:

229 pages ; 22 cm.

Series title(s):

Kinsey Millhone mysteries.

Contents:

Volume four of series : preceded by C is for corpse ; followed by E is for evidence.

Summary:

Sleuth Kinsey Millhone is pulled into the detritus of a dead man's life, a man who was wanted dead by everyone he knew. He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. Ex-con. Inveterate liar. Chronic drunk. And dead. The cops called it an accident--death by drowning. Kinsey wasn't so sure. Pulled into the detritus of a dead man's life, Kinsey soon realizes that Daggett had an awful lot of enemies. There's the daughter who grew up with a cheating drunk for a father, and the wife who's become a religious nut in response to an intolerable marriage. There's the lady who thought she was Mrs. Daggett--and has the bruises to prove it--only to discover the legal Mrs. D. And there are the drug dealers out $25,000. But most of all, there are the families of the five people John Daggett killed, victims of his wild, drunken driving. The D.A. called it vehicular manslaughter and put him away for two years. The families called it murder and had very good reason to want John Daggett dead. Deft, cunning, and clever, this latest Millhone mystery also confronts some messy truths, for, as Kinsey herself says, "Some debts of the human soul are so enormous only life itself is sufficient forfeit"--But as she'd be the first to admit, murder is not a socially acceptable solution.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader AR UG 5.2 11.0 85708.

Reading Counts RC High School 6.4 17 Quiz: 25968 Guided reading level: NR.

Personal Subject:

Millhone, Kinsey (Fictitious character), 1950--Fiction.

Millhone, Kinsey (Fictitious character), 1950-

Subject(s):

Women private investigators -- California -- Fiction.

California -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

California -- Fiction.

California

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction

Fiction

Mystery fiction.

Detective and mystery fiction.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Stayton Public Library	M GRAFTON	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Amity Public Library	MYS GRAFTON	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Library	FIC GRA	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Dallas Public Library	M Grafton, S. D	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Dayton Public Library	GRAFTON	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Lyons Public Library	M GRAFTON	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Newberg Public Library	MYSTERY GRAFTON	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Silver Falls Library	MYS GRAFTON	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Woodburn Public Library	GRAFTON	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Sue Grafton's #1 New York Times bestselling series, reissued for a whole new generation of readers!

D IS FOR DEADBEAT

He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. Ex-con. Inveterate liar. Chronic drunk. And dead. The cops called it an accident--death by drowning. Kinsey wasn't so sure.

Pulled into the detritus of a dead man's life, Kinsey soon realizes that Daggett had an awful lot of enemies. There's the daughter who grew up with a cheating drunk for a father, and the wife who's become a religious nut in response to an intolerable marriage. There's the lady who thought she was Mrs. Daggett--and has the bruises to prove it--only to discover the legal Mrs. D. And there are the drug dealers out $25,000. But most of all, there are the families of the five people John Daggettkilled, victims of his wild, drunken driving. The D.A. called it vehicular manslaughter and put him away for two years. The families called it murder and had very good reason to want John Daggett dead.

Deft, cunning, and clever, this latest Millhone mystery also confronts some messy truths, for, as Kinsey herself says, "Some debts of the human soul are so enormous only life itself is sufficient forfeit"--but as she'd be the first to admit, murder is not a socially acceptable solution.

"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 (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

``D'' is for Detective Kinsey Millhone, given $25,000 of stolen drug money by a drunkard named Daggett who then dies in a drowning. When she decides to deliver the money to Daggett's designee, a young man who was the sole survivor of an auto accident perpetrated by Daggett, Kinsey finds herself in a dilemma: too many ``D's'' are after the loot. There are two Mrs. Daggetts, a daughter, the drug dealers and a determined killer who soon claims a second life. At this point, Grafton's lively, well-written adventure develops a deadly flaw. Kinsey comes upon the second victim shortly after he's been shot. Though dying, he is conscious and coherent. Why, then, doesn't she ask who did it? When asked the same thing by the police, she says, ``I didn't want the last minutes of his life taken up with that stuff''a humane but unlikely rejoiner from any private eye. Even so, the pleasure of this story comes through. Let's give it a ``D'' for Dandy. (May 14) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

Kinsey Millhone, the author's gritty, appealing P.I., based in California's Santa Teresa (""C"" is for Corpse), is hired by shabby alcoholic ex-con John Daggett to deliver a cashier's check for $25,000 to one Tony Gahan, address unknown. A few days later, Daggett's body is washed ashore--accidental drowning according to police. Meanwhile, Kinsey has located Tony Gahan, the teen-aged lone survivor of a family killed by a drunken Daggett in a car crash years before. She's also talked to Daggett's ugly, Bible-spouting wife Essie; his unsavory, colorful friend Billy Polo; his bigamous second wife Lovella, and his sleek, brittle daughter Barbara. Kinsey's conviction that Daggett was killed becomes firmer as she burrows deeper into the hours before his death. A second murder points the way to a dramatic confrontation with the killer. Solid plot with a sometimes poignant undercurrent; a brisk pace; and people and places infused with vivid reality--Grafton gets better all the time. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Spunky private eye Kinsey Millhone is swept up in a tangle of hate, violence, and families torn asunder. Grafton has a fine eye for detail and an uncanny ability to evoke the distinctive California life-style through even the briefest turn of phrase. (Ap 1 87)