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Title:
C is for Corpse
Series: Kinsey Millhone
#3
Author: Sue Grafton
Rating: 3 of 5
Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages:
223
Words: 77K
Publish: 1986
Overall,
I enjoyed this a good bit more than the previous two books. Kinsey
didn’t do so many stupid things. It also helped that she kept her
panties on instead of jumping into bed with a murderer or nutcase or
thief or spy.
But.
Once
again, the author’s bias against guns shows itself and this is used
to create a life and death situation for Kinsey (again!!!) that she
barely escapes. I was so pissed off. If Kinsey had brought her pistol
with her, she wouldn’t have had to run away from the psycho killer
with a syringe of something nasty. The pistol wasn’t even mentioned
this time. It’s a non-starter. Guns exist for just such a situation
like this. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes.
Other
than that, I definitely had a better time. A good murder mystery
coupled with some of the worst of humanity. But it wasn’t presented
as good or right. Gives me hope for the future of this series.
Of
course, I’m alternating this series with the Mrs Pollifax series on
my Era. So I won’t be back to put up with Kinsey Millhone for at least
three months or more. I’m ok with that. She goes a long way,
sigh...
★★★☆☆
From
Wikipedia
The
novel begins with Kinsey at the gym, rehabilitating herself
from injuries sustained at the end of B is for Burglar. While
there, she meets Bobby Callahan, a twenty-three-year-old who was
nearly killed when his car went off the road nine months ago. Bobby
is convinced that the car crash, which killed his friend Rick, was an
attempt on his life. He suspects that he may still be in danger, so
he hires Kinsey to investigate. Having lost some of his memories and
cognitive faculties as a result of the crash, he can only vaguely
articulate why he thinks someone wants to kill him, referring to some
information in a red address book that he can no longer locate.
Kinsey
takes the case despite little information, having taken a liking to
Bobby. She meets his rich but dysfunctional family: Glen, his mother
is an heiress who is married to her third husband, Derek Wenner,
whose daughter Kitty is a 17-year-old drug user and is seriously ill
with anorexia. Glen has spared no expense in seeking treatment
and counseling for Bobby. He is depressed further due to Rick's
death, his own injuries, and the loss of his prospects at medical
school. A few days later, Bobby dies in another car crash, which is
attributed to a seizure while driving. Kinsey thinks this is the
delayed result of the first crash and thus a successful murder.
Kinsey investigates several people: Kitty stands to inherit 2 million
dollars from Bobby's will; Derek insured Bobby's life for a large sum
without Glen's knowledge; and Rick's parents blame Bobby for their
son's death.
However,
Kinsey looks elsewhere for the solution: a friend of Bobby's gives
her Bobby's address book, which shows Bobby was searching for someone
called Blackman. Bobby's former girlfriend thought Bobby ended their
relationship because he was having an affair with someone else, and
she thinks Bobby was helping a woman who was being blackmailed.
Kinsey eventually finds out that the woman with whom Bobby was
involved was his mother's friend, Nola Fraker. She confesses to
having accidentally shot her husband, a well-known architect named
Dwight Costigan, during a supposed struggle with an intruder at their
home years prior. She has a blackmailer, who is in possession of the
gun with Nola's fingerprints on it.
Trying
to investigate further, Kinsey realizes that 'Blackman' is code for
an unidentified corpse in the morgue. She finds the gun
concealed in the corpse. However, while she is at the hospital, she
finds the recently murdered body of the morgue assistant and realizes
the killer is at the hospital. It is Nola's current husband, Dr.
Fraker, a pathologist from the hospital, who is also the blackmailer.
Bobby found out what Fraker was up to; but Fraker rigged the first
car accident before he could do anything about it, leading Bobby to
eventually put Kinsey on the trail. Soon after, Fraker cut Bobby's
brake lines, leading to his fatal crash, and falsified the autopsy
results to point to a seizure. Fraker traps Kinsey and gives her a
disabling injection, but she manages to cosh him and escapes to a
phone to call the police. In the epilogue, she describes finally
discharging the debt she feels she owes to Bobby and concludes with a
wish that he is at peace.
In
a side plot, Kinsey's landlord and friend Henry begins a personal and
business relationship with Lila Sams, newly arrived in Santa Teresa.
Kinsey, rubbed the wrong way by Lila, discovers her to be a fraudster
with multiple identities and turns her over to the police just as
Lila is preparing to decamp with Henry's money.
