"Wise-cracking, staunchly independent, and chronically curious, Grafton's gritty gumshoe Kinsey Millhone is back. This time, the alphabet series star will take on the toughest case to date: her past. What begins as a random phone call from a "storage space scavenger" (someone who buys the contents of defaulted storage units) leads Kinsey to a box of old papers and personal effects that her ex-husband, Mickey Magruder, left behind. Inside, she finds a 15-year-old unsent letter from a bartender that, among other things, reveals her former hubby was having an affair. The letter also contains details about the murder of a transient--a crime for which Mickey was blamed. Although never convicted, Mickey was ruined--losing his job, wife, and friends. But 15 years later, Kinsey realizes that foul play may have been involved in the murder, a deadly temptation for her.
Die-hard fans will especially enjoy Kinsey's self-disclosure--something she's infamous for not doing--about her childhood, the fate of her parents, and the randy details of her first marriage. A very vulnerable and interesting side to Kinsey's character is also revealed when her obsessive-compulsive fact-finding bent is mixed up with matters of the heart.

A fast, fun read, O Is for Outlaw is packed with Grafton's clear, colorful imagery and signature metaphors: "Our recollection of the past is not simply distorted by our faulty perception of events remembered, but skewed by those forgotten. The memory is like orbiting twin stars, one visible, one dark, the trajectory of what's evident forever affected by the gravity of what's concealed."

Finally sent this one off on the Sue Grafton bookray. Sent to TanTan on March 7th.

Received in the mail today thanks to fushmush. I've got quite a few in front of this, but I think we all have so much to read that hopefully nobody will find if I have it for awhile. :-)

I finished this today, and must say it was great to learn a lot more about Kinsey's past in this one. As usual I had no idea how things were going to end up, but I'm enjoying all of these books (except P) as I receive them. This will be off to the next person as soon as I check who that is and get an address.

Handed to me at Australian Bookcrossing Convention - Brisbane, June 2005

I enjoyed this book! It was good to find out some more about Kinsey's past and to see another dimension of her.

RELEASE NOTES:

Off to the next person in the bookring :)

got in mail today in BIG parcel!

Picked up at meetup today. May take me a little while to get through as it is going to be a Sue Grafton fest with 6 books arriving at once :)

Another great Grafton. She knows how to tell a story and thankfully she had been consistently good all the way to P :)

Thanks to those before me on this ring and enjoy to those who come after.

Sending on to charmedwitch23.

Arrived in a bulk lot ages ago, sorry for not journaling till now. My gosh, there are so many books its going to take me ages to read them all. I shall forward each as I finish it.

Cheers,
Charmedwitch

Turned up in the mail today from charmedwitch23. Thanks!

This has got to be one of my favourite Kinsey mysteries: the emotional involvement of her ex-husband, and the background it gave us on her earlier pre-private investigator life was quite fascinating, and explained an awful lot about her.

But, yet, it wasn't like the later Dr Kay Scarpetta novels (by Patricia Cornwell) where the focus went from the mysteries and onto Dr Kay Scarpetta and her failure of a love life. It was still about the mystery (and I've read enough of the later Millhone novels to know it continues to be about the mysteries).

I didn't guess whodunnit or whydunnit at all, but the Kinsey Millhone series aren't really about trying to second-guess the author, they're about the fun of the chase. And this was a fun chase, with Kinsey one step ahead of the law who are suspicious that she may have been involved in the shooting of her ex-husband, the seriously paranoid Mickey Magruder.

There's only a couple of people still waiting on this book, and I'm not sure how active they are any more! I'll pass it along if they are, otherwise this'll probably get a wild release at a bookcrossing meetup (bookdrinks!). Thanks for organising this bookring fushmush, sorry it took so long to be read!

UPDATE 17 November: No reply from ravenbear, so have asked crystalclear if she's still interested.

Just letting you all know that I haven't heard from ravenbear or crystalclear about wanting this book next, and they were the last on the list. I shall keep it moving in other ways now (via the Oz VBB or release at meetup [bookdrinks!]).

Thanks everyone for getting this book to me in the first place!

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Leaving at lunchtime.

Happy hunting/reading!