J is for Judgement (A Kinsey Millhone Mystery - Book 10)

As an avid fan of Sue Grafton Alphabet mysteries series, I looked forward to reading "J is for Judgment", certain the story-line would be as good a read as the books that came before it. I was disappointed. Reading this particular tale was about as tedious as watching grass grow. Frequently felt as though I was reading term papers on subjects in which I have no interest. In other words, I skipped many pages. By the time the story picked up speed and my interest, I was ready for it to put me out of its misery. However, I'm looking forward to "K" and everything beyond that Grafton writes.

I love all the Kinsey Millhone myteries. She has become a real person for me, someone you can identify with. I have enjoyed every single Kinsey adventure so far and I hope she will live on to entertain the readers in new stories.

California Fidelity Insurance, Kinsey's prior employer, has just paid out $500,000 on a death claim when the "dead" man (Wendell Jaffe) is spotted in Mexico. Kinsey is hired to find him, but in the process she comes across some unexpected information about her past as well. "J Is for Judgement" is a typical entry in the Alphabet series. As usual, Kinsey is able to ingratiate herself into the lives of the people she's investigating, which includes Wendell's ex-wife, sons, former business partner, and girlfriend. I love the series, but I do sometimes find it hard to believe how often Kinsey is taken in as a confidante, even when it might not be in the person's best interest. She must be extremely empathetic and convincing.

The mystery here is below average for the series. There's a lack of a solid resolution, and Kinsey often does some rather stupid things (there were a dozen times when I thought that she should call the police). What makes this book interesting are the developments in Kinsey's life. These issues are contrasted by Grafton to the relationship between Kinsey's neighbor (Henry) and his annoying brother. I love how Grafton is able to so subtly and naturally move the narrative of Kinsey's life slowly forward without ever interfering with the mystery in each book. So despite the somewhat weak, slow-moving case, "J Is for Judgement" ended up being a fun read for me.

Note: This review is for the Kindle version. The transfer to Kindle is good, with no noticeable errors or formatting problems. A table of contents with links to chapters is included.

"Everyone must follow the rules except me," should be the subtitle of this installment. In the decades-long course of writing a novel for each letter of the alphabet, Grafton changes. This is the book where she begins her descent from the youthful and rebellious rule-breaking author we fell in love with (A is For Alibi), and starts to evolve into the moralizing, self-righteous social hypercritic (U is For Undertow). This is the first of her books that will make you question whether it's worth it to stick with Kinsey Millhone as she goes after the bad guy, and whether she really ought to just take a deep breath and try to put it all in perspective. California Fidelity, an insurance company, paid a claim on a life insurance policy to a single mother when her husband disappeared and was for all intents and purposes dead. We the readers are expected to sympathize with the insurance company and side against the single mother, as Kinsey does. For starters, it's just hard to work up sympathy for an insurance company, and harder still to imagine how the mother is going to scrape together a half a million bucks.
In the course of her investigation, Kinsey illegally breaks into motel rooms, private yachts, and automobiles and STILL can't gather enough evidence to solve the case, much less grasp the irony of what she is doing as she insists that others follow every rule to the letter. Resolution of the story depends not upon real detective work, but confessions, as suspect after suspect breaks down and spills the beans. In two cases, people actually cry as they pour their hearts out to Kinsey. We wonder why they would do this, as there seems to be no payoff, and Kinsey is not a terribly warm person (to say the least).
This is also the book in which pages and pages devoted to Kinsey's personal life start to become a burden rather than a delight, as they have been in previous books.