Putnam Adult
With “T is for Trespass,” Sue Grafton is on the homestretch for mastering the alphabet as she has mastered her craft. Kinsey Millhone made her debut in 1982’s “A is for Alibi” and while twenty-five years have passed for her creator, Kinsey has aged a mere five years to reach this twentieth novel.
Kinsey is closing the year 1987 as “T” begins (no cell phones, DNA, etc), but the themes Grafton sets for her are both timeless and contemporary. She confronts greed, jealousy and evil while dealing with pressing issues such as elderly abuse, insurance fraud, identity theft and our health care system. The end result is that her minor time warp avoids feeling dated and allows Kinsey to operate in an extended physical prime.
The 37-year-old Santa Teresa, Cal. private eye is tackling some fairly routine cases, when her cranky, octogenarian neighbor Gus Vronsky takes a fall that leaves him in need of live-in assistance, Kinsey finds herself employed to vet Solana Rojas, for Vronsky’s only living relative, a New York executive. Rojas, posing as an LVN, passes the cursory investigation Kinsey’s asked to provide.
But as time goes on, Gus gets worse. Rojas insinuates herself more and more into his life, isolating and controlling her charge. By the time Kinsey becomes suspicious and decides to re-investigate her, Rojas is prepared and Kinsey is locked in a fight for her reputation, her life and the life of Gus Vronsky.
Grafton milks humor and pathos from the little human dramas Kinsey encounters and then wrings great suspense from her escalating confrontations with Rojas. Grafton has written a capital “T.”