W Is for Wasted

A Kinsey Millhone Mystery

By: Sue Grafton

Narrated by: Judy Kaye

Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Of the #1 New York Times best-selling Kinsey Millhone series, NPR said, "Makes me wish there were more than 26 letters."

Two dead bodies changed the course of my life that fall. One of them I knew and the other I'd never laid eyes on until I saw him in the morgue.

The first was a local PI of suspect reputation. He'd been gunned down near the beach at Santa Teresa. It looked like a robbery gone bad. The other was on the beach six weeks later. He'd been sleeping rough. Probably homeless. No identification. A slip of paper with Millhone's name and number was in his pants pocket. The coroner asked her to come to the morgue to see if she could ID him.

Two seemingly unrelated deaths, one a murder, the other apparently of natural causes.

But as Kinsey digs deeper into the mystery of the John Doe, some very strange linkages begin to emerge. And before long at least one aspect is solved as Kinsey literally finds the key to his identity. "And just like that," she says, "the lid to Pandora's box flew open. It would take me another day before I understood how many imps had been freed, but for the moment, I was inordinately pleased with myself."

In this multilayered tale, the surfaces seem clear, but the underpinnings are full of betrayals, misunderstandings, and outright murderous fraud. And Kinsey, through no fault of her own, is thoroughly compromised.

W is for…wanderer…worthless…wronged….

W is for wasted.

©2013 Sue Grafton (P)2013 Random House Audio

only 4 star for me

I hate to go down on my ratings but this one was just not as good. I am a huge Judy Kaye fan, but towards the end, I couldn't tell when she was reading Kinsey's lines.

aWesome

W is another one of Sue Grafton great stories that keep you wanting to hear more. I am a long time Sue Grafton fan and love how she weaves her stories.
This is a good one that should not be missed.

Easy listening

Story was great. Characters were very believable. You could see them the way they were Described,

Disappointing

It seems that the author decided, that the book needed length to include too many details and add some clichés.

Sue's too famous for an editor.

I went back read some of Grafton's earlier work. The stories were nicely plotted, pleasingly intricate and punchy. Those "Kinsey moments" we all love were pithy and somewhat surprising.

However, W and, frankly, maybe the last 10 or so mysteries are just bloated with more "Kinsey moments" than I ever needed or cared about.

The stories are about the same in terms of plot and intricacy, so what fills up the extra 100 pages? Instead of a hard bitten, hard nosed Kinsey, we get an introverted, self absorbed, self doubting detective who lets events control her instead of the other way around. We get long, completely unrealistic sequences of conversation and events.

It's been pretty obvious, ever since the Millhone series started to break the 200 page limit, that Sue is tired of Kinsey. It's time for Grafton to re-hire her editors so that they can re-invigorate and harden up the series for the final episodes.

Not my favorite Sue Grafton

Would you try another book from Sue Grafton and/or Judy Kaye?

Yes

Has W Is for Wasted turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Which character – as performed by Judy Kaye – was your favorite?

Kinsey Milhone always

Did W Is for Wasted inspire you to do anything?

No

Any additional comments?

This book takes a long time to catch your interest in the story and once it does I'm not sure that the story comes to an unexpected ending. It was boring.

"W" is for Whiny

What did you like best about W Is for Wasted? What did you like least?

I don't remember Kinsey being so whiny in the past. The character was so bad this time I almost didn't finish it.

Would you recommend W Is for Wasted to your friends? Why or why not?

No, I wouldn't recommend the book. Overall, it was pretty boring.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator is too old for Kinsey's voice.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Depends on who played Kinsey.

Any additional comments?

I've always enjoyed these books in the past but this one was really hard to get through.

Awesome read

This one as always kept me wanting to get to the next chapter. It's always good to hear of Kinsey and her very detailed adventures...

She gets there in the end.

Got a little impatient with some meandering, but Grafton has put out another good mystery - not a great one, but definitely a good one.

Another fine Kinsey Mystery

I just love Sue Grafton's series. Living in "Santa Theresa" myself, I am well aware of the homeless situation. It was nice to hear a story from inside the homeless life, there are many sides to ones life. As always the story was captivating, interesting and certain made me smile. And I love to read descriptions of my hometown. Well done!