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O Is for Outlaw
  
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O Is for Outlaw (Hardcover)

by Sue Grafton (Author) "THE LATIN TERM pro bono, as most attorneys will attest, roughly translated means for boneheads and applies to work done without charge ..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (152 customer reviews)

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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." --Rebekah Warren --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Grafton's fans will be thrilled with this knockout 15th Kinsey Millhone mystery, which deals with Kinsey's first marriage. In a complex story that zigzags between past and present, the California PI gets involved again with her first ex-husband, former cop Michael "Mickey" Magruder, who initially reappears in her life by chance when she comes across memorabilia he kept after their separation 14 years earlier. The mementos include an undelivered letter addressed to Kinsey, providing Mickey with an alibi for the beating death of Vietnam vet Benny Quintero, the unproven charge against Mickey that prompted Kinsey to leave him. Conscience-stricken, Kinsey looks up acquaintances from her early marriage, questioning her judgment and values at the time. Then two Los Angeles police detectives inform her that Mickey has been shot and is in a coma, and Kinsey decides to investigate. As usual in Grafton's novels, the PI encounters a string of offbeat characters who lead or mislead her in a gyre of confusion; here, many of them had motive and opportunity to shoot Mickey. In time, Kinsey stumbles on a clueAat first bewilderingAthat leads back to the Vietnam War and, eventually, points the way to Benny's killer and Mickey's assailant. In addition to her distinctive humor, sharp sense of place and crisp dialogue defining character, Grafton adds depth to this outing through unexpected details of Kinsey's past. Meanwhile, Kinsey's examination of her youthful self-righteousness and na?vet? initiates a provocative contemplation of guilt, morals and loyalty that graces one of the very best entries in a long-lived and much-loved series. Agent, Molly Friedrich at Aaron Priest. $500,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection; author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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THE LATIN TERM pro bono, as most attorneys will attest, roughly translated means for boneheads and applies to work done without charge. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

152 Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars (152 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars V is for Very Good!, April 13 2004
This review is from: O Is for Outlaw (Mass Market Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. I've read other/most of the alphabet series by Sue Grafton and this is one of the best. Kinsey is such a realitic character and the humor wrapped in and around the mystery is a treat.

One criticism I have is that many of the characters are so similar, plus we have a lot of fathers and sons with the same last name, so it can be confusing to keep it all straight.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Kinsey Never Gives Up, Mar 10 2004
By Beth Saboori (Santa Monica, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: O Is for Outlaw (Mass Market Paperback)
Private Detective Kinsey Milhone gets a phone call from Teddy Rich, a scavenger who buys the contents of defaulted storage units and then resells them. He's found documents containing her name and she buys them.

The storage locker belonged to her first husband, a cop named Mickey Magruder. She'd left him fourteen years earlier, when he asked her to lie and alibi him. She did, even though it was a murder case and Mickey looked good for the crime. She always believed him guilty, but a letter she finds in the stuff she got from Rich proves he was with another woman at the time of the victim's death.

Now she wonders if she'd been a little more supportive, believed in Mickey, maybe things might have worked out differently. She also wonders why he couldn't pay for his storage locker and she sets out to find out.

By the time she finds him, he's been shot, is unconscious and under police protection in a Los Angeles hospital. She is initially eager to cooperate with the LAPD, but changes her mind when she finds out they're acting like she is the prime suspect.

So while Mickey remains unconscious, she eludes the LAPD and investigates her ex's life, uncovering evidence of multiple false identities and a strange alliance with the son of an old police buddy in Santa Teresa. She also makes some disturbing discoveries about her ex-husband's women, current and long past and she even learns a little something about herself.

As usual when Kinsey gets her teeth into a problem, she refuses to let go. Her bulldog-like pursuit takes her into ever increasing danger. The pacing increases exponentially, like a runaway train, and you find yourself reading well into the night. It's hard to believe how Sue Grafton can keep up the suspense after so many books, but somehow she does, somehow the stories just keep getting better.

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5.0 out of 5 stars I am still not tired of Kinsey, Nov 2 2003
By Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: O Is for Outlaw (Mass Market Paperback)
It's pretty hard to keep a series going this long without readers saying yeah, yeah, yeah, enough already. Not so with Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone. She's got enough quirks, character flaws, secrets, and depth of character to probably keep me interested right up to Z is for Whatever Grafton comes up with.
In O Is for Outlaw, Kinsey gets re-involved with ex-spouse Mickey Magruder and exposes some details of her past marriage, which will delight regular readers who pant for the newest addition to the series. This one gets tricky, switching back and forth between past and present, as Kinsey stumbles on some memorabilia that provides him with an alibi for an incident that let to Kinsey leaving him in the first place. Then, bingo, Mickey gets shot and is lying in a coma, and Kinsey investigates the shooting, which leads to all sorts of complications.
I do believe this is my favorite so far.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars This time it's personal.
Grafton's writing just gets better and better! In O IS FOR OUTLAW, Kinsey Millhone has to deal with a violent assault on her ex-husband at the same time that she's a suspect in... Read more
Published on May 31 2003 by MLPlayfair

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo!
Grafton is now back in form after being in the dumps with "'M' is for Malice" and "'N' is for Noose". This one will endure as one of her better novels. Read more
Published on Mar 5 2003

1.0 out of 5 stars C is for [Crud]
The author was recommended to me by a voracious reader of mystery, a good friend whose opinion I respected. Unfortunately, the book was banal. Read more
Published on Nov 22 2002 by Anibal Lopes

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the recent entries
If you aren't a Kinsey fan and you're looking at getting into the series - you should probably start at the beginning. Not that you couldn't enjoy this book by itself. Read more
Published on Aug 7 2002 by David C. Anderson

5.0 out of 5 stars The masterpiece
Any Sue Grafton is 5 stars, but I think this is the best of the series. L is for Lawless was the funniest. B is for Burglar the most ingeniously plotted. Read more
Published on July 17 2002 by D. P. Birkett

4.0 out of 5 stars Kinsey's first husband appears from her past
This is the 15th novel in the author's alphabet series. The year is 1986. Kinsey's first husband was never that far away, but they had not been in contact for 14 years. Read more
Published on Jun 10 2002 by Fred Camfield

3.0 out of 5 stars O is For Outlaw
Sometimes we jump to a decision before we investigate but when we finally realize our wrong decision it is almost or too late. Read more
Published on Jun 7 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh-Oh-Oh!
Sue Grafton just keeps spelling out winner after winner and "O is for Outlaw" proves that to her avid fans. Read more
Published on May 26 2002 by Beverly J. Scott

5.0 out of 5 stars She Asks the Right Questions
Sue Grafton proves again that she is a superb stylist as well as a spinner of fine yarns. This one involves kinsey's ex-husband, former cop Mickey MacGruder, whom she walked out... Read more
Published on Mar 21 2002 by Preston L. Allen

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Heart
Grafton put a lot of heart into this one. The beginning is a great hook. I like my PI's to break the law a little bit. Read more
Published on Mar 11 2002 by Vicurquiza

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