Sue Grafton: A Tribute
The
mystery genre has its own canon, a set of built-in expectations for the
audience. Classic “whodunits,” as
established by 1930s and 1940s novels -- and their Hollywood
adaptations -- are exciting adventure stories.
While these aren’t hard-and-fast rules, mystery writers typically
include the following elements in their novels:
- A sense of dramatic tension, from page one, telling us that something unforeseen is about to transpire.
- After introducing the characters and the setting, the author shakes things up with a jarring crime; for example, a murder.
- The plot revolves around identifying the murderer. The tricky part is that the killer could be any one of several possible suspects – or even a team of collaborators.
- The unraveling of the mystery is presented through the eyes of the detective called in to solve the crime. Often the protagonist is a police officer or a psychiatrist who is familiar with the workings of the criminal mind.
- The detective collects and analyzes clues and pieces of evidence, many of which are red herrings designed to throw the reader off track. However, an important snippet of information on page 12 of the novel may come in handy on page 200, so the reader has to stay sharp.
- The detective identifies the character who had the motive, the scheme, the method, and the opportunity to commit the murder.
- Realizing that the hero is close on his trail, the criminal attempts to make the detective his next victim.
- The detective summons all the suspects together and points an accusing finger at the murderer.
What
makes a successful mystery novelist stand out from the pack? It’s the ability to transform the basic
structure of the “whodunit” into something unique that fulfills and exceeds the
expectations of the audience. And that is what Sue Grafton accomplished in her
long and amazing career.
Sue
Grafton was born in 1940 in Louisville,
KY. She was destined from an early age to become an
author, and her career was an exciting journey toward that goal. Encouraged by her crime novelist father, C.W.
Grafton, she began writing when she was 18.
As many authors discover, the art of writing is best learned from the
practice of creating one story after another.
And so she wrote several novels, publishing her first at the age of
27.
Then
she diverted her energy into building a screenwriting career. Among her notable projects, she collaborated
with her husband, Steven Humphrey, on script adaptations of Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery and Sparkling Cyanide.
Sue
Grafton achieved phenomenal success when she resumed writing mystery
novels. She hit upon the idea of naming
her stories after the letters of the alphabet.
(The first book in the series was A
is for Alibi.) The heroine of her
alphabet mystery novels is a private investigator and former cop, Kinsey
Millhone. Kinsey is a brilliantly complicated
character; she survives being orphaned at an early age, grows up and navigates
several career changes and troubled relationships, and finally blazes a trail
through life on her own terms.
The
action in the Kinsey Millhone novels is set in Santa Teresa, California. I have heard that Santa Teresa, a fictitious
place, was based on Santa Barbara.
This is indeed possible, for this beautiful West Coast town, located about a
90-minute drive north of Los Angeles,
was also Sue Grafton’s home for many years.
In
addition to winning numerous awards for her writing, Sue Grafton became one of
the most beloved authors of our time. She
has many loyal readers around the world; her novels have been published in 28
countries and translated into 26 languages.
Sue
Grafton published the 25th book in the Kinsey Millhone series, Y is for Yesterday, in 2017. It is unfortunate that she did not live long
enough to complete the final book in the series, the Z volume, before passing
at the age of 77.
We
have one of Sue Grafton’s bestselling novels in stock at Steve’s Book Décor. It’s M is
for Malice. The story is about a wealthy man who dies and leaves his
multi-million-dollar estate to be divided among his four sons. Kinsey Millhone is hired to track down one of
the heirs, the black sheep of the family.
M is for Malice, like all of
Sue Grafton’s mysteries, is a well-crafted, suspenseful page-turner filled with
memorable characters.
I will wrap up this tribute to Sue Grafton
with my favorite quote from this amazing author:
“I’ve learned to trust my own instincts, and
I’ve also learned to take risks.”
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