V Is for Vengeance

A Kinsey Millhone Mystery

By: Sue Grafton

Narrated by: Judy Kaye

Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

A woman with a murky past who kills herself - or was it murder? A spoiled kid awash in gambling debt who thinks he can beat the system. A lovely woman whose life is about to splinter into a thousand fragments. A professional shoplifting ring working for the Mob, racking up millions from stolen goods. A wandering husband, rich and ruthless. A dirty cop so entrenched on the force he is immune to exposure. A sinister gangster, conscienceless and brutal. A lonely widower mourning the death of his lover, desperate for answers, which may be worse than the pain of his loss. A private detective, Kinsey Millhone, whose 38th-birthday gift is a punch in the face that leaves her with two black eyes and a busted nose. And an elegant and powerful businessman whose dealings are definitely outside the law: The magus at the center of the web. V: Victim. Violence. Vengeance.

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

©2011 Sue Grafton (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Sure to satisfy." (USA Today)

“The author has hit a high mark with her latest offering, a complex tale of love, betrayal, ambition, and, of course, murder…The only bad thing: There are just four letters left in the alphabet.” (The Associated Press)

“One of Kinsey Millhone’s best outings...must reading for Grafton fans.” (The Globe and Mail (Canada)) 

Double Delivery

Sue Grafton's wit and talent plus Judy Kaye's delivery and sas makes for a perfect Kinsey! Love-love-love em!

Fantastic !

I really enjoyed this book. Must be the best in the last 10 letters. Judy Kaye is easily the best narrater of this series. I hope Sue Grafton finds a way to keep giving us Kinsey Millhone mysteries after the alphabet comes to an end. Only four more letters to go. But no matter what the furture brings, I've had a great time reading these books.

A credit well spent...

I listen to audio books to be entertained while I go about doing mundane chores like ironing and vacuuming. I get transported by fiction and the time goes by quickly. The better the book the easier my chores. I have the whole alphabet in this series and I have enjoyed all of them. This was just as entertaining as the first one and all the ones in between. I especially liked the ending.

I know I'm in the minority, more like a 2.5

Well this book was okay. And of course Kinsey is her usual goofy, gawky busybody self, and that is what this series is all about. So actually this book does what one expects. You get an easy read, a silly story line meant to entertain and this book does that job just a-okay. Kinda like eating a grilled cheese sandwich with the yellow cheese while drinking a Shirley Temple.

Too many story lines.

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

This is a toss up. I read all the ABC books and since N they have gone downhill. Now I at the point where I want to be able to say I read all of them but, now that in question.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Dresden Files or a Death book by Dodd.

Have you listened to any of Judy Kaye???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I like her but it would be hard to listen to her as somebody other than Kinsey. I also have this problem with Scott Brick who I just love as a reader.

Was V Is for Vengeance worth the listening time?

It took over 4 hours to get a client. Too many story lines going on and how dumb does Kinsey look after reading this book. It one thing to make a mistake but to make one after another? Would you hire such a person.

Any additional comments?

The reviews posted to date on this site have been right on the mark. I don't know what happen with this one may-be I got a different version.

Best Grafton Ever!

I am only about one-third into this book and I can already tell it's the best of the best of the Kinsey Millhone thrillers. Characters are more fleshed out than in the previous, "alphabet" series, and the longer length makes that possible, as well as providing the time and space to create more developed story arcs. Truth be told, I was starting to get a bit tired of the usual Grafton fare, because of the fast pacing and the plethora of sidebars, incidental characters, and backstories. This book has none of that and all elements are fully conceived and articulated.

Love Judy Kaye - her delivery of the Kinsey Millhone persona has me laughing out loud.

I won't know where to turn for this kind of entertainment when this series comes to its alphabetical end. Perhaps Grafton could start a "numbers" series, featuring an older Kinsey, with modern technology available at her fingertips.

Worth The Wait!

I believe Sue Grafton just gets better with time. Kinsey Millhone is an interesting character that never fails to hold my attention. A well conceived protagonist can feel like a long time friend and that's what Kinsey is to me. Judy Kaye also does a great job presenting the story. A very enjoyable and interest-holding read!

Totally amazing...

Every other major novelist with a single protagonist seems to sort of peter out after 10 or 12 books, apparently losing their edge, running out of plot lines, or having said everything they had to say. But not Sue Grafton. Every book is great -- some I like a little bit better than others, for personal reasons, but every book is compelling and hard to put down. I'm crushed to recall there are only four to go -- but the good news is, I've aged even if Kinsey hasn't. I've already reread several of them, and they're just like new. (Pretty soon I'll need only one book.)

One thing about this particular tale made me giggle: Friends in the Santa Barbara/Montecito area note that Sue Grafton herself is quite a fixture in local high society. Very active and well respected. So as she was describing some of the wealthy female denizens of the "Santa Theresa" xray women, the ladies-who-lunch bunch, she was most probably describing a good many of the women in her own social circle. Made me laugh, wondering if they'd recognize themselves....

Whatever. It's a great book, wonderful fun and now probably a long wait until "W" appears.

Boring

I have loved all of the past Kinsey Milhone mysteries, but I don't know what the deal is with this one. I've listened to it for well over an hour and I feel like the actual plot hasn't even started yet, but I'm on the fifth storyline already. And the storylines are dragged out and filled with boring, unnecessary details, and are seemingly unrelated. I suppose the whole point of the book is eventually she will bring them all together, but I don't have the time to listen to this any longer and be bored and hope it starts getting good so I'm giving up on it. This is one I wish I could get my money back on.

First rate! The latest is with the greatest.

Years ago I read the first seven novels of the Kinsey Millhone series. Each of those were in my own personal "classics" hall of fame. There were always page turners. When the audio version was released for V is for Vengeance, I was wondering if newest release would be on par with the earlier ones, as several of my recent reads proved to not be quite as good as some of those same author's earlier works.