P is for Peril (Kinsey Millhone Mystery)

When Dowan Purcell, a respected physician who operates a nursing home, disappears, his ex-wife hires Santa Teresa PI Kinsey Millhone to look into it. Fiona Purcell is still seething over Dows affair and subsequent marriage to Crystal, a former stripper, yet theyre still friends, and she seems worried. But when his body is discovered, shes among the suspects. Both of Dows wives, at least one of his business partners, and perhaps even Crystals teenage daughter had motives to kill.

While in her most recent adventures (N Is for Noose, O Is for Outlaw) Kinsey has acquired new digs, an extended family, and a few more gray hairs, in this one (which takes place some time in the mid-80s), shes 36, still living in the remodeled garage that was blown up in an earlier novel. Easier than a facelift, and while Sue Grafton is a solid enough writer to pull it off, dedicated Kinsey fans will miss the more complex and multidimensional character who aged so ruefully and interestingly in the 90s.

This isnt Graftons strongest case; its hard to care about any of Purcells women or his associates. More exciting is the secondary plot, which involves a handsome landlord who offers Kinsey the new office space shes been seeking and turns out to be a lot more trouble than she bargained for. Despite its somewhat plodding pace and the echo of a more evolved heroine that rings through its pages, Graftons many fans will probably shoot P Is for Peril right to the top of the bestseller list. –Jane Adams