U is for Undertow, By Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton has been creating alphabet mysteries since 1982! starting with A is for Alibi she has continued through each letter using the same female private investigator and thoroughly entertaining me with her stories.

Kinsey Milhone is a divorced 30 something private investigator. She lives on her own in a converted garage apartment; eats pickle and peanut butter sandwiches for dinner and runs for exercise. She is an orphan and in the last few novels Grafton has gradually been revealing more of Kinsey’s background. In this book, the mystery she is solving and the issues that Kinsey is having with her newly found family are almost parallel. The story moves back and forth between the case she is working on and the personal discoveries she is making about her own life.

As I’ve said before I enjoy reading series but often, especially in a long one like this, the characters become tired and the stories seem to be repetitive. I’ve not found that with this series and each book reveals something new about the main character.

This mystery revolves around a cold case that involves a child kidnapping. Someone comes to Kinsey with new clues and she becomes personally invested in trying to figure out what happened almost 20 years ago.

This is not an action packed thriller kind of book. The mystery is solved through solid investigative work. At some point the reader is aware of what happened before the investigator is but that doesn’t seem to spoil the ending.

With only 5 letters of the alphabet left, it will be interesting to see what V, W, X, Y and Z will stand for. The Alphabet series is highly recommended.