I Is for Innocent: A Kinsey Millhone Novel -- Sue Grafton, Hardcover

Readers of Sue Grafton's fiction know she never writes the same book twice, and I Is For Innocent is no exception. Her most intricately plotted novel to date, it is layered in enough complexity to baffle even the cleverest among us.

Lonnie Kingman is in a bind. He's smack in the middle of assembling a civil suit, and the private investigator who was doing his pretrial legwork has just dropped dead of a heart attack. In a matter of weeks the court's statute of limitations will put paid to his case. Five years ago David Barney walked when a jury acquitted him of the murder of his rich wife, Isabelle. Now Kingman, acting as attorney for the dead woman's ex-husband and their child (and sure that the jury made a serious mistake), is trying to divest David Barney of the profits of that murder. But time is running out, and David Barney still swears he's innocent.

Patterned along the lines of a legal case, I Is For Innocent is seamlessly divided into thirds: one-third of the novel is devoted to the prosecution, one-third to the defense, and a final third to cross-examination and rebuttal. The result is a trial novel without a trial and a crime novel that resists solution right to the end.

When Kinsey Millhone agrees to take over Morley Shine's investigation, she thinks it is a simple matter of tying up the loose ends. Morley might have been careless about his health, but he was an old pro at the business. So it comes as a real shock when she finds his files in disarray, his key informant less than credible, and his witnesses denying ever having spoken with him. It comes as a bigger shock when she finds that every claim David Barney has made checks out. But if Barney didn't murder his wife, who did? It would seem the list of candidates is a long one. In life, Isabelle Barney had stepped on a lot of toes.

In I Is For Innocent, Sue Grafton once again demonstrates her mastery of those telling details that reveal our most intimate and conflicted relationships. As Kinsey comments on the give-and-take by which we humans deal with each other, for better and sometimes for worse, the reader is struck yet again by how acute a social observer Ms. Grafton can be. Frequently funny and sometimes caustic, she is also surprisingly compassionate-- understanding how little in life is purely black and white. Except for murder.

Somewhere out there, a killer waits to see just what Kinsey will find out. Somewhere out there, someone's been getting away with murder, and this time it just might turn out to be Kinsey's.

I Is For Innocent is Sue Grafton in peak form. Fast-paced. Funny. And very, very devious.

A Is for Alibi
B Is for Burglar
C Is for Corpse
D Is for Deadbeat
E Is for Evidence
F Is for Fugitive
G Is for Gumshoe
H Is for Homicide
I Is for Innocent
J Is for Judgment
K Is for Killer
L is for Lawless
M Is for Malice
N Is for Noose
O Is for Outlaw
P Is for Peril
Q Is for Quarry
R Is for Ricochet
S Is for Silence
T Is for Trespass
U Is for Undertow
V Is for Vengeance
W Is for Wasted
X

Author: Sue Grafton
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Published: 05/15/1992
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.57h x 5.98w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780805010855

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 03/15/1992 pg. 1315
Publishers Weekly 03/02/1992

About the Author
#1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton (1940-2017) entered the mystery field in 1982 with the publication of 'A' Is for Alibi, which introduced female hard-boiled private investigator, Kinsey Millhone, operating out of the fictional town of Santa Teresa, (aka Santa Barbara) California, and launched the bestselling Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries. In addition to her books, she'd published several Kinsey Millhone short stories, and with her husband, Steven Humphrey, wrote numerous movies for television, including "A Killer in the Family" (starring Robert Mitchum), "Love on the Run" (starring Alec Baldwin and Stephanie Zimbalist) and two Agatha Christie adaptations, "Sparkling Cyanide" and "Caribbean Mystery," which starred Helen Hayes. Grafton is published in 28 countries and in 26 languages.