A Is for Alibi Book Review- By Abraham LaBelle

The summer reading book that I chose was A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. The page gave a brief summary and described it as a mystery novel, and I just so happened to have been interested in the mystery genre over the summer.



The title of the book refers to the alphabet, with the mystery-related word starting with the letter of the alphabet. As you may have guessed, the next book in the series is B Is for Burglar. Sue Grafton continued this unique pattern for the whole series, and the last current book in the series is the letter "X". But, the book is simply titled X, and I would assume there is no word that starts with "X" and relates to mystery. (I personally think "X Is for Xylophone-wielding Murderer" would be cool)

Summary and Review

The main character is a private investigator named Kinsey Millhone. The story begins when Nikki Fife goes to Kinsey and asks her to find who really murdered her husband. This is interesting as Nikki was convicted of murdering her husband 8 years ago. All of this is explained in the beginning, and it is just now that Nikki is released from prison. Nikki claimed she was framed and was not the real murderer, and so Kinsey must find out who the true killer was. (I'm not going to say who)

Kinsey herself is very independent and trusts no one, as one should be as a private investigator. A majority of the book is Kinsey questioning family members, and acquaintances of the other previous murder victims. This in turn adds a lot of characters to the book, and I often found it difficult to remember who was who, and what part they played.

I also think the beginning of the book is a bit slow, and there isn't much action. But, about three quarters of the way in, a certain "event" happens which sparks action and began to engage me to the book.

A very fun part of this book, or any mystery book for that matter, is trying to figure out who the murderer is. In A Is for Alibi, I had a hard time making guesses as Sue Grafton does a very good job of tricking your mind. If you enjoy mystery books or if you want to find out who the killer is in A Is for Alibi, I would recommend you read this book.