R is for Ricochet

A Kinsey Millhone Mystery

By: Sue Grafton

Narrated by: Judy Kaye

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but he wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institute for Women. Now, at 32, she is about to be paroled, having served 22 months of a four-year sentence. Nord Lafferty wants to be sure she stays straight, stays at home and away from the drugs, the booze, the gamblers.

It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: baby-sit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the rules of her parole. Maybe all of a week's work. Nothing untoward, the woman seems remorseful and friendly. And the money is good. But life is never that simple, and Reba is out of prison less than 24 hours when one of her old crowd comes circling around.

Readers have come to expect the unexpected from Sue Grafton, and R is for Ricochet is no exception. In it, a complex and clever money-laundering scheme is just a cover for a novel that is all about love: love gone wrong, love betrayed, love denied. And love avenged. For Reba Lafferty, its moral is clear: Sometimes what you hand out in life comes back to bite you in the ass. Sometimes the good guys win, even when they lose.

Don't miss the other titles in the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mystery Series.

©2004 Sue Grafton (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sexy adventure....Grafton as usual creates believable and enduring characters and a strong sense of place in her town of Santa Teresa circa 1987." (Publishers Weekly)

Laughed out loud

I've read all of Grafton's series, and I think I enjoyed this one the most so far. Her wry humor is really just clicking in this book, and I found I was giggling to myself in my car on the way to work.
It was also nice that Kinsey finally got to go shopping, and get out of those jeans and black turtlenecks! I liked the love story part of this, and I say it's about time she got to do some fun stuff.

Love the narrator, she's excellent!

Love the narrator, she brought the book to life. I plan to look for more books with this narrator.

Typical Grafton!

Once you start listening you won't be able to stop. I love the way she wrote & will miss her.

Don't hesitate to buy!

I've been a dedicated reader of the alphabet series by Grafton, and I wasn't disappointed this time around. Kinsey finally finds someone she tells the truth to, and manages to squeeze some romance in her life while chasing down criminals and being her generally nosey self. As usual, each book in the series stands on its own but loyal fans will recognize references to previous works in the series. The plot was convoluted in the best sort of entertaining way. So many twists, so many turns, and double-crosses among crooks prove that while there may be honor among thieves there is also monumental greediness. Reba wears her flaws proudly, and while you may not like her choices, you have to admire her tenacity.

Good, not great.

This was my first Grafton novel. While it wasn’t a page turner, it was an ok commute listen. Narration style made it difficult to discern differing character dialogue.

*****

Engaging plot! Great narrator! And as always, Kinsey is a charm! I’m looking forward to listening to the next book in the series.

R is for Really?

I have loved the Kinsey Millhone character from the beginning. I look forward to the next book in the series until R. I found myself disliking the protagonist. I'm happy for Kinsey to get laid but come on! Good sex can scramble the brain which might explain away all the bad decisions she made in this book. This book resembled one of those cheesy romance mystery novels. I like a mystery with a side of Kinsey's emotional and personal life. This was an overfilled plate of the reverse. Kinsey was portrayed as the dutiful sidekick of Reba and lovesick for Cheney. AND In the beginning I didn't like Judy Kaye as the voice for Kinsey but she's grown on me but even she is off in this book. Half the time she narrates in the same voice during a dialogue among several people. I feel like Goldilocks, the abridged version is to short but the unabridged version is unnecessarily long. I hope this is just a one-off.

Over it

I’m so over Ms. Millhone and her snarky and self-centric agendas. She’s bratty, arrogant, and yet…will bend over and cave for anyone if she thinks it will benefit her personally. I listened to all of these audibles years ago as some were released and I actually enjoyed Ms. Kaye’s narration. I wish I had left them there in my memory and not repurchased the digital versions and restarted them. I don’t know what I was thinking. Kinsey is a whiny brat who feels that all she has had to handle in life prioritizes her in the “main”. Not true. She sells her information to the highest bidder and whomever is willing to give her the most preening and justifies her belief that she’s been continuously given a raw deal from all of the men in her life, the horrible but wealthy family who begs for her attention, and anyone willing to overlook the laws in government and those of a high moral compass to accept her as is. I don’t accept. Not anymore.

Don't bother

This title badly needs editing, it's 3-4 hours stretched to 11+ hours of filling (describing walking to the door, lighting cigarttes etc. and the 'love' tangles of three 85-year-old brothers - who cares!). There is no crime comitted in the first 4 hours! Is this a thriller at all? I read the first 4 or so books ages ago when they came out and they were OK. What's happened? If you like the crispness of Robert B Parker's Spenser novels you'll cringe at this effort.

silly

Not sure if its the sex, but Kinsey makes some pretty dumb decisions in this book.