In this I'll be covering all the books in the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Series by Sue Grafton, from A is for Alibi to W is for Wasted. There will be spoilers.
Synopsis
Kinsey Millhone describes herself at the start of every book, so I'm just going to paraphrase what is said in every single book in the series. Kinsey is a private detective living in Santa Teresa, California, in a garage-turned-apartment which she rents from her landlord Henry. She is 32 in the first book, and the series will end when she hits 40 in 1990. Generally speaking, one book follows one case, plus some personal things like Kinsey discovering she has a family, or that other book where Kinsey discovers she has a family. Until S is for Silence all the books are first person narration, with Kinsey as the lead; from S-W there are parts which are in the third person.
Background
I first discovered the series when I was eleven or so, when I went into Waterstones and asked for a recommendation of a good series. I binged through the series up to P is for Peril in just a few years, only really pausing to save up for the next book. Considering I could go through one paperback a day (and be in school, and stay on top of my homework, and do extra research and reading) I took my time with it. I loved the series, even carrying a copy of O is for Outlaw in my bag for a term and a half in Year 8 just to do a book review on it.
After a few years break from it, I came across the Litsy A to Z challenge; basically, read one book for every letter of the alphabet, either title and/or author name. I thought of this series, and since I wanted to re-read it anyway, I started 2017 reading A is for Alibi.
The Rant.
The series was nowhere near as good as I remembered it being. After I binge-read a few books, I discovered the formula. The prologue introduces the "Little did I know..." trope, and gives a clinical description of Kinsey - her height, weight, marital status ("twice divorced, no kids" appears in almost all of the books), where she lives, and so on - while informing the reader of very little. Some time before the 5% mark, Kinsey has met her client. By 15% she has done her morning routine of showering, brushing her teeth, getting dressed (and yes, you get a clinical description of what she is wearing, usually "turtleneck and jeans"), and possibly going for a run. By 50% there is some sort of minor plot twist, which most of the time Kinsey overreacts to, or just blows out of proportion. At around 80% Kinsey has worked out all but one detail of the case, and at 95% everything is solved, the killer comes forward in a dramatic display, and Kinsey barely survives. 97% is the epilogue, which basically involves Kinsey going "This is what happened after" and everything is done. The final 3% is acknowledgements and the like.
I want to make it crystal clear that when I first read the series, I loved it. I wanted to be Kinsey, with her kick ass personality, sarcasm, and always getting the bad guy. Even if she does morally grey things, overall it all works out.
Reading this now...
I barely like it.
I know I gave some of the books five stars on Goodreads. I know that, and I stand by it; I treat Goodreads as a first impression, which is why I have these posts for the more in depth reviews. As an initial gut reaction, many of the books left me with a feeling of "Hell yea! Go Kinsey!"
Actually reading the books is tedious at times, and sometimes a chore. I posted on this on Litsy, but I very quickly got tired of the internalised misogyny. Let me explain.
Throughout the series, Kinsey is proud of how she cuts her own hair with nail scissors every six weeks (I did say the books describe her in a similar way each time, right?), yet she criticises how she looks constantly with her hair sticking out in all directions, and never wearing makeup. She is critical of women who look good, who must clearly spend hours every day applying makeup and fixing their hair. She is highly critical of these women, because they spend time on themselves; at the same time, she is critical of herself for looking like she does, while also being proud of not wearing makeup and not being like those other women.
Do you see the problem here? She is so critical of women, and no one calls her out on it. Because you only see Kinsey's perspective, you get reviews on Goodreads saying how it is refreshing to see female leads who are not like other women. Women already get a lot of criticism; we do not need to add to that by criticising each other.
Just by going on the Goodreads quotes, let's take a look at some other problems... and I'm only going to list two here, but there are many, many more examples of how problematic Kinsey is.
From D is for Deadbeat
“A woman should never, never, never be financially dependent to anyone, especially a man, because the minute you were dependent, you could be abused.”
From B is for Burglar
“He stared at me. His breathing made that wheezing sound that fat people sometimes make.”
In V is for Vengeance it gets worse. Kinsey is woken by the police when she was napping in her car on private property. Here's the quote in full:
"Here are some handy little tips for those of you who don't want to fall victim to deadly officer shootings: Do as you're told. Don't talk back. Don't be rude of belligerent. Don't try to escape. Don't get back in your car and try to run over the nice officer performing the traffic stop. If you should be so foolhardy as to attempt any of the above, don't complain later of your injuries and do not file suit."
This book was published just six years ago. How many times have there been people who have been killed by the police, who were polite, obedient? Was Tamir Rice killed by police because he tried to "get back into [his] car"? No, he was a twelve year old boy, shot by police. How about all those other innocent people killed by police, or in police custody, who did as they were told? This has been happening for decades, and it is so very wrong of Grafton to state so simply that "If you do what you are told, you will not get shot to death by police."
I wanted to read the series, but after it took me a fortnight to get through the tedium of W is for Wasted, I'm going to stop now. I'm done with the series. I'm done with characters who are "not like other women" or who do not speak up against homophobia, racism, misogyny, and all the other prejudice and discrimination that people face.
I need a nap now.
E