Kinsey Catches Killers: Alibi to Outlaw Quiz

Answer: A Santa Teresa lawyer on his second marriage

In the first book about Kinsey Millhone Investigations, a woman named Nikki Fife hires Kinsey to find out who poisoned her husband. Nikki herself had been found guilty years before, and, now that she's out of prison, she wants to know who really did it. The lawyer was not the greatest guy, so there are plenty of candidates.

Grafton indicated in interviews that at the time she was writing "A is for Alibi", she was in a nasty custody dispute with one of her ex-husbands and fantasized about killing him. She turned that instinct into writing about murder rather than committing it!

Answer: An affluent widow with a fur coat

In "B is for Burglar", Kinsey is hired by a woman named Beverly who's looking for her sister, Elaine. Elaine is a youngish widow who lives a nice life, not required to work and splitting her time between Santa Teresa--which is actually the beautiful Santa Barbara north of Los Angeles--and Florida. Beverly is on the outs with her sister and doesn't want to look for her herself.

The second novel in the series, "B" was awarded the 1986 Shamus Award for Best Novel from the Private Eye Writers of America.

Answer: A young former premed student

In "C is for Corpse", Kinsey is hired by Bobby Callahan, a young man trying to recover from a horrible car crash that caused major injuries as well as memory loss. He is certain of one thing: he or someone he cared about had been in some danger at the time, and he hires Kinsey to piece together what was happening in his life before the crash. Kinsey gets too close for someone's comfort, and that person finishes Bobby off for good this time.

For the first time in the series, Kinsey develops a personal connection to the victim, making this story more emotional than others in the series.

Answer: A parolee and bigamist

In "D is for Deadbeat", the deadbeat himself, a recent parolee and all-around bum, hires Kinsey to do a basic delivery job for him, but, when his check bounces, she's determined to find him. She finds him -- but someone has killed him by the time she does. Few people seem to mourn his death, but that is irrelevant to her: she's like a dog with a bone when it comes to solving mysteries.

Answer: A beautiful Montebello housewife

A reader can't help but feel for Kinsey in "E is for Evidence", as Daniel, her second ex-husband, shows up after disappearing after their painful breakup. He's in town visiting old friends, and Kinsey is caught up with the same family investigating a case of arson that gets very complicated when one of the sisters, the beautiful and generous Olive, is killed by a bomb.

Answer: A rambunctious teenage girl

In "F is for Fugitive", Kinsey has to travel both back in time and to another town to solve the murder of a teenage girl. She's actually hired to try to exonerate the person who was found guilty of killing the girl, and, in so doing, she stirs up a hornet's nest of hate and jealousy, leading to more murders.

Answer: An eccentric old lady

"G is for Gumshoe" has a slightly different tone than its predecessors; it feels almost dreamlike, as Kinsey learns there's a hitman with her name on his list, and suddenly the world looks different. Yet, she perseveres on a case, helping a woman locate her eccentric mother, an octogenarian who lives off the grid.

They all learn the danger the woman is in when she returns, against her will, to the grid.

Answer: A California Fidelity claims adjuster

When Parnell Roberts, a claims adjuster and a friend, is killed, Kinsey gets involved in the investigation and is swept up in an underworld of violent, unpredictable criminals. She has to spend several days in a strange apartment with dangerous people, far from her own cozy comfort zone.

Answer: A mini-house designer from Horton Ravine

When "I is for Innocent" opens, the victim, Isabelle, a wealthy house designer who specialized in tiny homes, has been dead for six years. Her second husband, David, was accused but not found guilty of her murder, though Ken, Isabelle's first husband, is certain David did it. Kinsey is hired by Ken's lawyer to build a case. David himself reaches out to her, insisting he's innocent.

Horton Ravine is a wealthy neighborhood in Santa Teresa that has old-growth trees, rolling hills, and criss-crossing horse trails.

Answer: A missing businessman

"J is for Judgment" doesn't have a murder victim until well into the story, at least not that we know of. A married man and father of two, Wendell Jaffe disappeared just as he was about to face some serious white collar crime charges. Many believe he was killed by any of a number of enemies, while others suspect he faked his own death. Five years later, a tip comes in that Wendell could be alive and well, and Kinsey is put on the case to chase him down.

The family dynamics in this one are complex and painful: disloyalty, abandonment, and desperation season the story liberally. It's one of the cases that makes Kinsey feel fortunate she has few family ties.

Answer: A young water treatment plant employee

In "K is for Killer", beautiful, 20-something Lorna is found dead in her private cabin, and while the cause of death is undetermined, Lorna's mother is sure it was foul play. The police don't agree, at least not yet, so she hires Kinsey to look into Lorna's life, which holds more secrets than most.

While she interviews Lorna's circle of friends, Kinsey gets to know people she doesn't usually spend much time with: night owls, including a prostitute, a midnight disk jockey, and a San Francisco dancer. All this work at night makes her days hazy, but her mind is as sharp as ever, which is a good thing, as the person who went after Lorna is on to Kinsey.

Answer: Old man neighbor of Kinsey's

In "L is for Lawless", Kinsey helps her beloved landlord, Henry, sort out the affairs of Johnny Lee, an old man from their neighborhood who passed away. Old Johnny Lee had some secrets involving the ill-gotten gains of a long-ago bank robbery, and all sorts of low-life types crawl out of the woodwork looking for the money. Kinsey does her best, but it's hard for her to distinguish the good from the bad from the ugly.

This story takes Kinsey to Louisville, Kentucky, where Grafton was born and where she lived part of the year.

Answer: A formerly missing heir

In "M is for Malice", when the patriarch of a wealth family dies, Kinsey is hired to find one of the sons, who disappeared under a black cloud of suspicion years before. None of the other siblings are particularly interested in his return, and, after Kinsey locates him, she is hesitant to send him back into what she sees as the lion's den. As they often are, her instincts are right on.

Answer: Alfie and Pinkie

In "N is for Noose", Kinsey has her work cut out for her. First, she has to work in a small mountain town where nothing and no one is familiar. Second, there is no crime to solve -- she's hired by a woman to find out what was bothering Tom, her husband, before he died of a heart attack. Third, Tom had been in enforcement, and getting his colleagues to talk to her is like pulling teeth. This is Kinsey, however, so you know she'll never give up, even when someone tries to intimidate her. She learns that Tom was investigating the deaths of two men with criminal records, Alfie and Pinkie, and she follows the clues Tom left to figure out how their cases are linked, and who is still trying to hide the truth about them.

Grafton uses a lot of imagery to make the town, Nota Lake, creepy and strange rather than sunny and friendly. The trees aren't really picturesque but instead block the sun, and everything seems cold and damp.

Answer: One of Kinsey's ex-husbands

Kinsey fans are in for a treat with "O for is Outlaw" because we finally get to learn about Kinsey's mysterious first husband, Mickey Macgruder. She hasn't talked to him in years and she learns in a round-a-about way that he's in trouble. She also learns that the grudge she's held against him for years was based on false information, so she decides to set things right by finding out how he got into trouble.

The road leads her to some unexpected places, including the former couple's past.