Most Popular Books by Sue Grafton

Of #1 New York Times-bestselling author Sue Grafton, NPR''s Maureen Corrigan said, "Makes me wish there were more than 26 letters." With only two letters left, Grafton''s many devoted readers will share that sentiment. X: The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss. X: The shortest entry in Webster''s Unabridged. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. The most graphically dramatic letter. Notoriously tricky to pronounce: think xylophone. X: The twenty-fourth letter in the English alphabet. Sue Grafton''s X: Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it 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 sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim.

After serving 8 years for her husband''s murder, Nikki Fife is out to find out who really did it.

Kinsey Millhone gets in over her head when she becomes involved in an elusive mystery that literally entangles her in everyone''s dirty laundry.

Thirty-four years after Violet Sullivan''s unexplained disappearance, Daisy--the not-quite-seven-year-old daughter she left behind--enlists the assistance of private detective Kinsey Millhone to help her find the truth.

You haven''t read a thriller until you read #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton''s novels with her unforgettable P.I. Kinsey Millhone... "C" is for Corpse He was young-maybe twenty or so-and he must once have been a good-looking kid. Kinsey could see that. But now his body was covered in scars, his face half-collapsed. It saddened Kinsey and made her curious. She could see he was in a lot of pain. But for three weeks, as Kinsey''d watched him doggedly working out at the local gym, putting himself through a grueling exercise routine, he never spoke. Then one Monday morning when there was no one else in the gym, Bobby Callahan approached her. 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 bare ruin, his best friend dead. The doctors had managed to put his body back together again-sort of. His mother''s money had seen to that. What they couldn''t fix was his mind, couldn''t restore the huge chunks of memory wiped out by the crash. Bobby knew someone had tried to kill him, but he didn''t know why. He knew he had the key to something that made him dangerous to the killer, but he didn''t know what it was. And he sensed that someone was still out there, ready to pounce at the first sign his memory was coming back. He''d been to the cops, but they''d shrugged off his story. His family thought he had a screw loose. But he was scared-scared to death. He wanted to hire Kinsey. His case didn''t have a whole lot going for it, but he was hard to resist: young, brave, hurt. She took him on. And three days later, Bobby Callahan was dead. Kinsey Millhone never welshed a deal. She''d been hired to stop a killing. Now she''d find the killer. "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"

Kinsey Millhone trusts her life to her instincts as her investigation into the disappearance of a renowned physician takes her into a dark and dangerous world of duplicity, betrayal, and double-dealing, in the noir-influenced novel by the author of fifteen mysteries spanning the first two-thirds of the alphabet. 750,000 first printing.

Eighteen years after the body of an unidentified young woman is discovered in a quarry off California''s Highway 1, two police detectives nearing retirement enlist Kinsey Millhone''s aid to help identify the long-ago murder victim.

A collection of stories that reveal Kinsey''s origins-- and Grafton''s past. The nine stories that open the book show how fully formed Kinsey was from the beginning. The thirteen stories in the second part, written in the decade following her mother''s death, feature Kit Blue, a younger version of Grafton herself, and reflect her troubled family life and the author''s journey from anger to understanding and forgiveness.

Detective Kinsey Millhone investigates the pseudocide of a California businessman.

Sue Grafton ups the ante for private investigator Kinsey Millhone like never before in this “taut, terrifying, transfixing”* #1 New York Times bestselling mystery in the Alphabet series. Kinsey Millhone''s elderly neighbor, Gus Vronsky, may have been the original inspiration for the term “Grumpy Gus.” A miser and a hoarder, Gus is so crotchety that after he takes a bad fall, his only living relative is anxious to find someone to take care of him and get back home as soon as she can. To help, Kinsey runs a check on the applicant, Solana Rojas. Social security, driver''s license, nursing certification: It all checks out. And it sounds like she did a good job for her former employers. So Kinsey gives her the thumbs-up, figuring Gus will be the ideal assignment for this diligent, experienced caregiver. And the real Solana Rojas was indeed an excellent caregiver. But the woman who has stolen her identity is not, and for her, Gus will be the ideal victim... “The best and strongest book in the series...Solana is one of the most evil, calculating characters Grafton has created.”—*USA Today

A wealthy socialite hires Kinsey for what appears to be a missing persons case, but leads to an investigation involving murder, robbery, and arson.

Female detective Kinsey Millhone becomes involved in the case of a double murder in Carson City and a detective who dies trying to investigate it

Readers of Sue Grafton''s fiction know she never writes the same book twice, and "I" Is For Innocent is no exception. Her most intricately plotted novel to date, it is layered in enough complexity to baffle even the cleverest among us. Lonnie Kingman is in a bind. He''s smack in the middle of assembling a civil suit, and the private investigator who was doing his pretrial legwork has just dropped dead of a heart attack. In a matter of weeks the court''s statute of limitations will put paid to his case. Five years ago David Barney walked when a jury acquitted him of the murder of his rich wife, Isabelle. Now Kingman, acting as attorney for the dead woman''s ex-husband and their child (and sure that the jury made a serious mistake), is trying to divest David Barney of the profits of that murder. But time is running out, and David Barney still swears he''s innocent. Patterned along the lines of a legal case, "I" Is For Innocent is seamlessly divided into thirds: one-third of the novel is devoted to the prosecution, one-third to the defense, and a final third to cross-examination and rebuttal. The result is a trial novel without a trial and a crime novel that resists solution right to the end. When Kinsey Millhone agrees to take over Morley Shine''s investigation, she thinks it is a simple matter of tying up the loose ends. Morley might have been careless about his health, but he was an old pro at the business. So it comes as a real shock when she finds his files in disarray, his key informant less than credible, and his witnesses denying ever having spoken with him. It comes as a bigger shock when she finds that every claim David Barney has made checks out. But if Barney didn''t murder his wife, who did? It would seem the list of candidates is a long one. In life, Isabelle Barney had stepped on a lot of toes. In "I" Is For Innocent, Sue Grafton once again demonstrates her mastery of those telling details that reveal our most intimate and conflicted relationships. As Kinsey comments on the give-and-take by which we humans deal with each other, for better and sometimes for worse, the reader is struck yet again by how acute a social observer Ms. Grafton can be. Frequently funny and sometimes caustic, she is also surprisingly compassionate-- understanding how little in life is purely black and white. Except for murder. Somewhere out there, a killer waits to see just what Kinsey will find out. Somewhere out there, someone''s been getting away with murder, and this time it just might turn out to be Kinsey''s. "I" Is For Innocent is Sue Grafton in peak form. Fast-paced. Funny. And very, very devious. "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"

“Grafton keeps pulling out surprises- and pulling us in.” —Entertainment Weekly on "O" is for Outlaw Through fourteen books, fans have been fed short rations when it comes to Kinsey Millhone''s past: a morsel here, a dollop there. We know of the aunt who raised her, the second husband who left her, the long-lost family up the California coast. But husband number one remained a blip on the screen until now. The call comes on a Monday morning from a guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction. Last week he bought a stack. They had stuff in them--Kinsey stuff. For thirty bucks, he''ll sell her the lot. Kinsey''s never been one for personal possessions, but curiosity wins out and she hands over a twenty (she may be curious but she loves a bargain). What she finds amid childhood memorabilia is an old undelivered letter. It will force her to reexamine her beliefs about the breakup of that first marriage, about the honor of that first husband, about an old unsolved murder. It will put her life in the gravest peril."O" Is for Outlaw: Kinsey''s fifteenth adventure into the dark side of human nature. "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"

Kinsey Millhone is back on the trail of bouncing cheques and dead bodies.

A Kinsey Millhone mystery.

THE FINAL INSTALLMENT IN SUE GRAFTON''S ALPHABET SERIES WINNER OF THE ANTHONY/BILL CRIDER AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL IN A SERIES Private investigator Kinsey Millhone confronts her darkest and most disturbing case in this #1 New York Times bestseller from Sue Grafton. In 1979, 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...

Lorna Kepler was beautiful and willful, a loner who couldn''t resist flirting with danger. Maybe that''s what killed her. Her death had raised a host of tough questions. The cops suspected homicide, but they could find neither motive nor suspect. Even the means were mysterious: Lorna''s body was so badly decomposed when it was discovered that they couldn''t be certain she hadn''t died of natural causes. In the way of overworked cops everywhere, the case was gradually shifted to the back burner and became another unsolved file. Only Lorna''s mother kept it alive, consumed by the certainty that somebody out there had gotten away with murder. In the ten months since her daughter''s death, Janice Kepler had joined a support group, trying to come to terms with her loss and her anger. It wasn''t helping. And so, leaving a session one evening and noticing a light on in the offices of Millhone Investigations, she knocked on the door. In answering that knock, Kinsey Millhone is pulled into the netherworld of unavenged murder, where only a pact with the devil will satisfy the restless ghosts of the victims and give release to the living they have left behind. Eleven books into the series that has won her readers around the world, Sue Grafton takes a darkside turn, pitching us into a shadow land of pain and grief where killers still walk free, unaccused, unpunished, unrepentant. With "K" is for Killer she offers a tale that is dark, complex, and deeply disturbing. "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"

Kinsey Millhone, ex-cop and private investigator takes herself on as a client when she finds she has been framed.

Sue Grafton takes the mystery genre to new heights with this twisting, complex #1 New York Times bestseller that draws private investigator Kinsey Millhone into a case shrouded in the sins of the past. Looking solemn, Michael Sutton arrives in Kinsey Millhone''s office with a story to tell. When he was six, he says, he wandered into the woods and saw two men digging a hole. They claimed they were pirates, looking for buried treasure. Now, all these years later, the long-forgotten events have come back to him—and he has pieced them together with news reports from the time, becoming convinced that he witnesses the burial of a kidnapped child. Kinsey has nearly nothing to go on. Sutton doesn''t even know where he was that day—and, she soon discovers, he has a history of what might generously be called an active imagination. Despite her doubts, Kinsey sets out to track down the so-called burial site. And what''s found there pulls her into a hidden current of deceit stretching back more than twenty years...

In this #1 New York Times bestseller in Sue Grafton''s Alphabet series, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has her hands full when a job that should be easy money takes a turn for the worse. 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 wasn''t there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institution for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she''s about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. Her father wants to be sure Reba stays straight, stays home and away from the drugs, the booze, and the gamblers... It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: babysit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the niceties of her parole. Maybe 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...

For #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton''s PI Kinsey Millhone, danger comes with the job—but she never expects to find herself at the top of a hit man''s list... G IS FOR GAME... When Irene Gersh asks PI Kinsey Millhone to locate her elderly mother Agnes, whom she hasn''t heard from in six months, it''s not exactly the kind of case Kinsey jumps for. But a girl''s gotta pay her bills, and this should be easy money—or so she thinks. Kinsey finds Agnes in a hospital. Aside from her occasional memory lapses, the octogenarian seems fine. And frightened. G IS FOR GUN... Kinsey doesn''t know what to make of Agnes''s vague fears and bizarre ramblings, but she''s got her own worries. It seems Tyrone Patty, a criminal she helped put behind bars, is looking to make a hit. First, Kinsey''s car is run off the road, and then days later, she''s almost gunned down, setting in motion a harrowing cat and mouse game... G IS FOR GUMSHOE So Kinsey decides to hire a bodyguard. With PI Robert Dietz watching her 24/7, Kinsey is feeling on edge...especially with their growing sexual tension. Then, Agnes dies of an apparent homicide, Kinsey realizes the old lady wasn''t so senile after all—and maybe she was trying to tell her something? Now Kinsey''s determined to learn the truth...even if it kills her. "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"

Private investigator Kinsey Millhone finds shocking connections between two seemingly unrelated deaths in this #1 New York Times bestselling mystery in the Alphabet series. The first victim is a local PI of suspect reputation, gunned down near the beach at Santa Teresa. The second is a John Doe found on the beach six weeks later with a slip of paper with private detective Kinsey Millhone’s name and number in his pocket. Two seemingly unrelated deaths: one man murdered, the other apparently dead of natural causes. But as Kinsey digs deeper into the mystery of the John Doe, some very strange links begin to emerge. Not just between the two victims, but also to Kinsey’s past. And before long Kinsey, through no fault of her own, is thoroughly compromised...

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"

A spiderweb of dangerous relationships lies at the heart of this daring Kinsey Millhone mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton. Private detective Kinsey Millhone feels a bit out of place in any department store''s lingerie section, but she''s entirely in her element when she puts a stop to a brazen shoplifting spree. For her trouble she nearly gets run over in the parking lot by one of the fleeing thieves—and later learns that the one who didn''t get away has been found dead in an apparent suicide. But Audrey Vance''s grieving fiance suspects murder and hires Kinsey to investigate a case that will reveal a big story behind a small crime and lead her into a web that connects a shadowy “private banker,” an angry trophy wife, a spoiled kid with a spiraling addiction, and a brutal killer without a conscience...

The second book in the critically acclaimed Kinsey Millhone series

Another case for Kinsey Millhone, private investigator, as she travels to Mexico to investigate the reappearance of a man who had supposedly committed suicide.

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"

Nikki Fife, the wife of a hated divorce lawyer, out on parole after eight years in prison for killing her husband, hires ex-cop-turned-private detective Kinsey Millhone to find the real killer and clear her name. Reprint.

Get ready for one of Kinsey Millhone''s "wildest adventures yet" ( San Francisco Examiner ) from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton L is for LIES... When Kinsey Millhone''s landlord asks her to help deceased World War II vet Johnnie Lee''s family find out why the military has no record of his service, she thinks it''ll be a cinch. But she is about to meet her match in world-class prevaricators who take her for the ride of her life. L is for LARCENY... When Lee''s apartment in burgled and a man named Ray Rawson, who claims to be an old friend of Lee''s, is beaten up, Kinsey soon finds herself on the trail of a pregnant woman with a duffel bag. Soon the intrepid P.I. is following leads halfway across the country and encountering another man from Lee''s past--a vengeful psychopath. L is for LAWLESS Stalked by a new enemy and increasingly suspicious of Rawson--not to mention running out of time and money--now Kinsey must steer a collision course to solve a decades-old mystery that some would like better left unsolved....

Readers will want more of Sue Grafton''s spellbinding series once they''ve read M Is for Malice! Now repackaged!