Dear Sue Grafton, about “T is for Trespass”…

Dear Ms. Grafton,

I am having… let’s call them “issues”… with your most recent novel, T is for Trespass. For a while, I’ve been listening to your books in audio form. True, I have to suffer through hours upon hours of Judy Kaye’s near-butchering of your work, what with her penchant for breathless melodrama at even the most mundane moments, but I can still see the quality through her vocal rollercoaster. As I lift weights and trudge on the elliptical machine in the morning, I see Kinsey nosing her quirky, semi-antisocial, incorrigibly curious way toward the resolution of yet another mystery.

We all know you’re not Jane Austen or even Connie Willis, but you’re good at what you do. And that is to write solid, entertaining hard-boiled (despite Ms. Kaye’s antics to the contrary) mystery novels about a protagonist who is described by her actions instead of her narrator; whose psychology is revealed more by accident than by introspection. The mysteries are entertaining, and the character is compelling. The rest ranges between excellent and palatable. Overall, good books.

This brings me to my point, which is: WHAT. First of all, I admit that S is for Silence worked well enough, despite your disturbing experimentation with a parallel historical narrative that had nothing to do with Kinsey. And what didn’t work wasn’t terrible. No hard feelings, for Kinsey’s sake. But with this most recent book, what is going on? Alternating chapters probing the psychological depths of a psychopathic nemesis? If that weren’t enough, NO MYSTERY? I mean there is one, more or less, eventually, but it really didn’t show up until CHAPTER TWENTY. Yes, over a week of workouts listening to Kinsey go about her winsome life, chatting up her lovable landlord, serving warrants on deadbeats, witnessing her friends’ uncomfortable relationship disputes, eating inedible Hungarian food at the adorable local pub — basically doing nothing. In your other books, this sort of detail provides a wonderful context, character glimpses, contrast to the action, etc. and I understand that you’re building suspense, and probably some other stuff, but holy freaking cow. Twenty chapters before the mystery rears its deliciously ugly head is too much. And even then, we’re headed for an unintentional mystery, in which Kinsey doesn’t know there is one for quite a while. This is dull. Why? Because following Kinsey following her nose is the best part of every book. I’m going on faith here, because of your last books. Don’t let me down.

I’ll finish this one, but when U is for … hits the shelves, I’ll be reading the reviews carefully before I invest.

Maybe I’m really just cranky because a third of the chapters are stolen by someone who isn’t Kinsey and is nowhere near as interesting. But isn’t that enough? I submit that it is.