Book #58 was O Is for Outlaw, the 15th book in Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series. The back of the book reads:

Once Mickey Magruder was a cop with a wild streak. And Kinsey Millhone was a younger cop who adored and married him. Then Mickey was implicated in a fatal beating, and Kinsey walked out. Now, fourteen years later, she comes face-to-face with those tragic years and Mickey’s harrowing downward spiral after he lost the job he loved–and the marriage he loved a little less.

Mickey lies dying in an L.A. hospital. Trying to find out how Mickey got there, Kinsey uncovers evidence that he was innocent of the beating charge. But as she searches through the lives that swirled around Mickey’s–lives gone wrong and lives gone well–Kinsey must also search the blind spots of her own life, including one that hides a killer.

I think this has been my favorite in this series so far. This is also one of the few series I’ve read entirely in order. I think I liked this as much as I did because it was personal for Kinsey. You get a glimpse into her past, which is usually very shadowed and un-mentioned. I also did not have it remotely figured out, which is a mark of a good mystery to me.

Page count: 354 | Word count: 102,820

2006 – Fatal (Michael Palmer)
2005 – Ten Big Ones (Janet Evanovich)

Book #84 was N is for Noose, the 14th book in Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series. The back of the book reads:

Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff’s office–a tough, honest cop respected by everyone. When he died suddenly, the townsfolk were saddened but not surprised: Just shy of sixty-five, Newquist worked too hard, smoked too much, and exercised too little. That plus an appetite for junk food made him a poster boy for an American Heart Association campaign.

Newquist’s widow didn’t doubt the coroner’s report. But what Selma couldn’t accept was not knowing what had so bothered Tom in the last six weeks of his life. What was it that had made him prowl restlessly at night, that had him brooding constantly? Selma Newquist wanted closure, and the only way she’d get it was if she found out what it was that had so bedeviled her husband.

Kinsey should have dumped the case. It was vague and hopeless, like looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, she set up shop in Nota Lake, where she found that looking for a needle in a haystack can draw blood. Very likely, her own.

Not a bad installment in the series. I somewhat had it figured out at the end, though.

Book count: 84
Pages in book: 289
Page count: 36,257
Words in book: 92,902
Word count: 10,840,439

1,000,000 words surpassed — 2/2/06
2,000,000 words surpassed — 2/14/06
10,000 pages surpassed — 3/10/06
3,000,000 words surpassed — 3/16/06
4,000,000 words surpassed — 4/3/06
5,000,000 words surpassed — 5/30/06
50 books surpassed – 6/12/06
20,000 pages surpassed — 6/29/06
6,000,000 words surpassed — 6/29/06
7,000,000 words surpassed — 7/21/06
8,000,000 words surpassed — 8/18/06
30,000 pages surpassed — 9/3/06
9,000,000 words surpassed — 9/6/06

10,000,000 words surpassed — 9/27/06

Book #62 was M is for Malice, the 13th book in Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series. The back of the book reads:

“M” is for money. Lots of it. “M” is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction, one of the few still in family hands. “M” is for the Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit a fortune – four men with very different outlooks, temperaments, and needs, linked only by blood and money. Eighteen years ago, one of them – angry, troubled, and in trouble – went missing. “M” is for Millhone, hired to trace that missing black sheep brother. “M” is for memories, none of them happy. The bitter memories of an embattled family. This prodigal son will find no welcome at his family’s table. “M” is for malice. And in brutal consequence, “M” is for murder, the all-too-common outcome of familial hatreds.

This was a pretty good installment. I like it when Kinsey gets a little companionship. I hope we see more of Dietz, or at least of *someone* as a romantic interest (cuz I’m not especially crazy about Dietz himself), later in the series.

Book count: 62
Pages in book: 337
Page count: 24,951
Words in book: 98,370
Word count: 7,163,707

1,000,000 words surpassed — 2/2/06
2,000,000 words surpassed — 2/14/06
10,000 pages surpassed — 3/10/06
3,000,000 words surpassed — 3/16/06
4,000,000 words surpassed — 4/3/06
5,000,000 words surpassed — 5/30/06
50 books surpassed – 6/12/06
20,000 pages surpassed — 6/29/06
6,000,000 words surpassed — 6/29/06
7,000,000 words surpassed — 7/21/06