U is for Undertow
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

With 20 previous Kinsey Millhone mysteries to her credit, Grafton might well be tiring of her character, even if readers aren't. But that doesn't seem to be case; Kinsey continues to grow more interesting and complex as years pass in real and in fictional time. Set in the 1980s, when old-fashioned footwork, telephones, and typewriters still ruled the lives of PIs, this entry picks up the character as she investigates a kidnapping and presumed death of a child, brought to her attention by a young man two decades after the fact. Although Michael Sutton is an unreliable narrator, and the only fact that's provable now is the child's disappearance, Kinsey's stubborn curiosity keeps her on the case. Then Michael turns up dead, and some weird coincidences begin to make sense. Grafton uses her characters' childhood memories (including Kinsey's own) to lead the reader smoothly across the years, at the same time exploring how long-held feelings of resentment, self-hatred, and fear add up to murder, both in the past and the present. Worth the wait for Grafton fans; Margaret Maron devotees will like this one, too.--Zvirin, Stephanie Copyright 2009 Booklist

False memory syndrome provides the core of bestseller Grafton's intriguing 21st crime novel featuring wry PI Kinsey Millhone (after T Is for Trespass). In 1988, Kinsey takes on client Michael Sutton, who claims to have recovered a childhood memory of men burying a suspicious bundle shortly after the unsolved disappearance of four-year-old Mary Claire Fitzhugh in 1972. But Sutton has a track record of unreliability, and Kinsey must untangle and reconfigure his disjointed recountings to learn if they are truth or fiction. Chapters told from the point of view of other characters in other time periods add texture, allowing the reader to assemble pieces of the case as Kinsey works on other aspects. A subplot involves Kinsey wrestling with conflicting information about her estranged family. Though whodunit purists may be a bit disappointed that the culprit is revealed well before book's end, both loyal Kinsey fans and those new to the canon will find much to like. Author tour. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

With each book, Grafton is only getting better. Her Kinsey Millhone series is now in its 21st installment but is nowhere near past its prime. A young man named Michael Sutton shows up at Kinsey's office one afternoon, claiming to have suddenly recalled details from his childhood concerning an unsolved kidnapping of a little girl 20 years ago. Kinsey is skeptical but agrees to work for one day on the cold case. And so it begins. Weaving the narrative and point of view between events and characters in the 1980s and the 1960s, it is not until the breathless final pages that everything connects. Verdict Readers will not abandon Kinsey Millhone as the series winds down (only five left, VWXYZ!). Her latest is fresh, complex, fast-paced, and immensely enjoyable. Kinsey's sharp 1980s research skills might even leave a few readers nostalgic for a pre-Google world. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/09.]-Andrea Y. Griffith, Loma Linda Univ. Libs., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

"With 20 previous Kinsey Millhone mysteries to her credit, Grafton might well be tiring of her character, even if readers aren't. But that doesn't seem to be case; Kinsey continues to grow more interesting and complex as years pass in real and in fictional time. Set in the 1980s, when old-fashioned footwork, telephones, and typewriters still ruled the lives of PIs, this entry picks up the character as she investigates a kidnapping and presumed death of a child, brought to her attention by a young man two decades after the fact. Although Michael Sutton is an unreliable narrator, and the only fact that's provable now is the child's disappearance, Kinsey's stubborn curiosity keeps her on the case. Then Michael turns up dead, and some weird coincidences begin to make sense. Grafton uses her characters' childhood memories (including Kinsey's own) to lead the reader smoothly across the years, at the same time exploring how long-held feelings of resentment, self-hatred, and fear add up to murder, both in the past and the present. Worth the wait for Grafton fans; Margaret Maron devotees will like this one, too." Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

With each book, Grafton is only getting better. Her Kinsey Millhone series is now in its 21st installment but is nowhere near past its prime. A young man named Michael Sutton shows up at Kinsey's office one afternoon, claiming to have suddenly recalled details from his childhood concerning an unsolved kidnapping of a little girl 20 years ago. Kinsey is skeptical but agrees to work for one day on the cold case. And so it begins. Weaving the narrative and point of view between events and characters in the 1980s and the 1960s, it is not until the breathless final pages that everything connects. VERDICT Readers will not abandon Kinsey Millhone as the series winds down (only five left, VWXYZ!). Her latest is fresh, complex, fast-paced, and immensely enjoyable. Kinsey's sharp 1980s research skills might even leave a few readers nostalgic for a pre-Google world. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/09.]—Andrea Y. Griffith, Loma Linda Univ. Libs., CA

Unctuous? Undulant? We've all been trying to guess what the U might stand for in the title of Grafton's 21st book, and she's done well. A smooth-looking twentysomething college dropout drops in to Kinsey Millhone's office, claiming that he now remembers seeing the burial of a little girl whose long-ago kidnapping has become news again. With a national tour. Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

False memory syndrome provides the core of bestseller Grafton's intriguing 21st crime novel featuring wry PI Kinsey Millhone (after T Is for Trespass). In 1988, Kinsey takes on client Michael Sutton, who claims to have recovered a childhood memory of men burying a suspicious bundle shortly after the unsolved disappearance of four-year-old Mary Claire Fitzhugh in 1972. But Sutton has a track record of unreliability, and Kinsey must untangle and reconfigure his disjointed recountings to learn if they are truth or fiction. Chapters told from the point of view of other characters in other time periods add texture, allowing the reader to assemble pieces of the case as Kinsey works on other aspects. A subplot involves Kinsey wrestling with conflicting information about her estranged family. Though whodunit purists may be a bit disappointed that the culprit is revealed well before book's end, both loyal Kinsey fans and those new to the canon will find much to like. Author tour. (Dec.)