R is for Ricochet (Grafton)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
I took a break from old anthologies and freebie downloads to revisit something more familiar. I haven't read an Alphabet book in over a year, so I was due. That said, this was a free download from the library, but it was a loan of a book that would've cost money to download from somewhere else.
It's still the 80s, around 1987, because "I Want Your Sex" is a new song on the radio. (There were other references earlier on, but that was one of the last ones, and it stuck with me.) She didn't use her portable typewriter at all, but there was ample use of payphones. Not a cellphone in sight. There were some big clunky computers and floppy disks but the action is taking place nearly 20 years before publication, which was about 14 years ago.
I don't know what the "Ricochet" of the title is supposed to refer to, except that Kinsey is just bouncing around a lot in this one.
Not that this is a review, but this wasn't one of the better ones. I still enjoyed it, but it was a bit light with several subplots working. Plus there was a note in the acknowlegdements that there was another subplot that was dropped.
For one thing, there's no case. Kinsey is hired by a rich guy, Nord Lafferty, to escort his spoiled, wayward daughter Reba home from the womens prison she's spent the last couple of years at for stealing from her employer. She's also supposed to watch over her for a few days while she gets settled in. (For one thing, Reba's driver's license has expired while in jail.)
Within three chapters, we have our subplots. Vera, from California Fidelity, and whose wedding Kinsey attended after being swept up in events from another adventure, which wasn't exactly a case, calls Kinsey and invites her to a gathering she's having. It doesn't take much to figure out that Vera is trying to set her up. She goes, there's so little chemistry that we don't even get much of a description of the guy or even a line of dialogue, and she heads out. Two things happen: one, we don't really hear from Vera for the rest of the book; two, Kinsey runs into Lt. Cheney Philips. The two have previously et, and kinsey might've been romantically interested but Cheney had run off and married some woman he hardly knew. Kinsey has sworn off married men after things didn't work out with Jonah. (And they didn't work out for Jonah, either, apparently.) Also, Dietz is in the wind, and she's okay with that. They had an unusual relationship.
Cheney ends up looking for Kinsey (and this might be my memory already fading, but he might've been the reason Vera really invited Kinsey, because Cheney lives next door). He has two things on his mind: first, the feds are looking into Beck, the guy who Reba stole from and they want to get her involved; second, he split from his wife and he wants to get involved with Kinsey. Kinsey's all for the latter, not fond of the former.
She finds herself playing friend and mother hen to Reba, watching her and trying to gauge whether she'd turn on Beck who she's obviously in love with, even though he's married. Unfortunately, some new guy at the FBI trying to make a name for himself tips Reba off to the investigation be showing her pictures of Beck leaving a motel with her best friend Onni, who is *not* Beck's wife.
Reba starts spiraling and doing what's she's going to do. Kinsey follows along to try to keep her from violating parole or destroying the feds case. At this point, she's pretty much along for the ride. About the only detective work to happen after this was tracking down a stripper in Reno who did time with Reba.
Oddly, Grafton, through Milhone, makes a comment herself that sometimes you're just a bit player along for the ride. I almost feel like Henry's family had more to do than Kinsey did. Unlike the Cheney romance, Henry's love triangle could've been removed from the book entirely. Or replaced with another story. Henry is set in his ways, and his family is going to be his family.
Speaking of family, the other branch of Kinsey's family (on the mother's side, so I can't call them Milhones) doesn't make an appearance or even rate a mention. She didn't think about them at all, despite all the family issues going on in this book.
This was a quick read for me. Practically a speed read. My last entry was only 20 days ago. I don't think I decided that quickly to download this book. In fact, I think I downloaded a freebie that I read three chapters of and told the guy that it wasn't for me. I didn't leave any reviews because no reason to be mean. He'd asked, I told him. He was grateful that I tried it out, and quite pleasant. Another thing, I haven't gotten a notice that the loan was going to expire soon, so it was probably two weeks to read, with all this other stuff I have going on.
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