Sue Grafton Books in Order [All 25 Kinsey Millhone Books]

Sue Grafton’s fans number in the millions, and whether you’re a new reader looking for a list of all the Sue Grafton books in order, or whether you’re looking to reread the series, we are here for you.

The books have been published in 26 languages in 28 countries. Sue Grafton’s critical and commercial success has been widely recognized by many rewards and honors:

A Lifetime Achievement Award awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America
The Ross Macdonald Literary Award
The Cartier Diamond Dagger Award awarded by Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association
The Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice Domestic
The Anthony Award awarded by ‘Bouchercon’, the world mystery convention
Three Shamus Awards.

Many readers have also pointed out that it is fascinating to see how investigative work was done pre-Google and cell phones!

Who is Sue Grafton?

Sue Grafton was born on April 24, 1940 in Louisville, Kentucky. She had one older sister, Ann, and her parents were C.W. Grafton and Vivian Harnsberger. Both became alcoholics, so Grafton said that from the age of five she essentially had to raise herself as their family life disintegrated.

Revealingly, her most notable creation, Kinsey Millhone, becomes an orphan at five. Her father, who also wrote mystery novels, was a municipal bond lawyer and her mother had been a high school chemistry teacher. Millhone’s father left to fight in World War II when she was three and came back when she was five.

Grafton’s mother committed suicide in 1960 when she had esophageal cancer, and her father died in 1982, just a few months before the Kinsey Millhone series began when A Is for Alibi was published.

Whereas most writers prefer to distance themselves from their characters, Grafton has emphasized the similarities between herself and Kinsey. She even referred to Millhone as her alter ego.

In her must-read autobiographical Kinsey and Me (1991, amended and republished 1992 and 2013), she notes that her and Kinsey’s sensibilities are the same, and that she regards them as having one soul in two bodies. She often feels Kinsey is peering over her shoulder and making remarks. Kinsey’s existence allows her to lead two lives: Kinsey’s and her own.

In a very real sense, therefore, Kinsey Millhone is simply Grafton by another name and living a parallel life. Their characters are both shaped by stressful childhoods that encouraged independence, prickliness, and rebelliousness.

Grafton died in 2017, leaving the Kelsey Millhone series unfinished with 25 books written.

We’re almost to the list of Sue Grafton books in order. Promise. But let’s learn a little bit more about the main character, Kinsey Millhone, first.

Who is Kinsey Millhone?

Kinsey Millhone is the self-sufficient and oddly captivating main protagonist of Sue Grafton’s phenomenally successful Alphabet series. She was born in the fictional town of Santa Teresa, California, to Randall and Rita Millhone. Kinsey’s mother came from a prominent and well-to-do family, but she became estranged from when she married Randall Millhone, a postal worker whom they considered beneath her.

When Kinsey was five, both her parents were killed in a car crash. Kinsey survived and went to live with her eccentric Aunt Gin, her mother’s sister, who was also estranged from the family. No-nonsense Aunt Gin would not have been everybody’s choice for a mother, but she did her best to raise Kinsey.

She inculcated a strong sense of self-sufficiency and independence in Kinsey. Other traits encouraged by Aunt Gin were disinterest in fashion, a love of books and reading, and an aversion to cooking. Aunt Gin died when Kinsey was in her early 20s.

Prickly, rebellious Kinsey didn’t do well at school. She hung out with the smokers and had occasional problems with discipline. Despite this, after graduation, she became a police officer with the Santa Teresa Police Department.

However, her independent nature ill-equipped her for dealing with the bureaucracy and the antiquated attitudes towards women in the police force of the time, so she resigned after two years. She then qualified as a private investigator, got her P.I. license, and got her first job with a highly-regarded detective agency.

In her late 20s, Kinsey started her own PI agency in a shared office space with California Fidelity Insurance, that she had previously done part-time work for. When Kinsey was about 30, she moved into a studio apartment. She lives there throughout the series and is very friendly with her landlord, somewhere-in-his-80s, Henry Pitts.

Sue Grafton Books In Order

Now that we know more about the author, and her trusty fictional sidekick, let’s dive headfirst into the list of Sue Grafton books in order.

Where is Book Z?

And that — somewhat sadly — is it, folks, fans, and dedicated Alphabeteers! Though Sue Grafton was planning the final book in the series, Z Is for Zero, for publication in the fall 2019, she did not get to finish it. She died on December 28, 2017.

She’d often been asked what would happen when she reached the end of her and Kinsey’s Alphabet. One of the options she offered was that she “would retire with grace”. Ms. Grafton, you did so — and so did Kinsey Millhone. It was a pleasure and a privilege to know you both.

Do you need to read the Sue Grafton books in order?

You do not need to read the Sue Grafton books in order. Strictly speaking, they are standalones, however they are strongly sequential. There are many recurring incidents, themes, and developments in the books. These materially impact the reader’s understanding and appreciation of the continuing storyline, so reading them in order is very much advocated.

It is also strongly recommended that A Is for Alibi is always read first as it is the essential and classic introduction to Kinsey Millhone as a character and the series as a whole.

Now let’s take a closer look at the Sue Grafton books in order.

Will the Sue Grafton books in order be adapted for the screen?

The rights for an adaptation were acquired in October 2021. This was the first time the rights were available and it prompted multiple bidders. A+E Studios had the successful offer for the television rights.

Sue Grafton’s husband, Steve Humphrey, will be an executive producer on the adaptations.

The announcement marks a departure from Grafton’s stance during her lifetime. Grafton had said that she would never adapt the Kinsey series and allegedly made her children swear they would never do so after her death.

Her daughter echoed this sentiment in announcing Grafton’s death, reiterating her mother’s wishes to never use a ghost writer or adapt the books. Grafton herself worked in Hollywood from 1973 to 1989 and this may have been part of her disinclination to adapt her most beloved series.

However, the family said the changing climate of book-to-screen adaptations led them to believe it was time for Kinsey Millhone to be introduced to a new audience.

There has been no casting or production announcements yet.

Summary of the Sue Grafton Books In Order

This section will provide you with more insight into each book. If all you want is the list of the Sue Grafton books in order, well that is above and your time with us is at its conclusion.

But if you’d like to read about each book individually, either because you don’t actually plan to read the Sue Grafton books in order, or you just need a refresher on what happened, read on.

A Is for Alibi Sue Grafton Books in Order

1. A is for Alibi

But A can also stand for avenger and the wrongly accused. Tough and resourceful former cop, now private investigator, Kinsey Millhone has established her one-woman detective agency in Santa Teresa, California. Twice-divorced, Kinsey is a loner with few personal commitments or attachments, but she has a stubborn thing for underdogs and seeming lost causes.

So when desperate Nikki Fife turns to her, Kinsey takes the case. Nikki was wrongly convicted of killing her womanizing husband, high-profile divorce lawyer Laurence Fife, eight years before. She’s now out on parole and wants Kinsey’s help to find the real killer.

When Kinsey’s investigation uncovers a second death, and then another woman dies as more suspects and motives for murder become apparent, Kinsey herself is placed in great danger.

2. B is for Burglar

At first, P.I. Kinsey Millhone is reluctant to accept Beverly Danziger’s case to find her sister, Elaine Boldt. It seems so straightforward that she thinks Beverly can handle it herself. But Beverly is insistent as she needs Elaine’s signature on documents relating to an inheritance.

Elaine has supposedly flown to Boca Raton but seems to have disappeared en route as Kinsey can find no trace of her in Florida. Pat Usher says Elaine sublet her apartment to her and is traveling, though no-one else can confirm this.

As Kinsey investigates, nothing seems to add up. Apartments are ransacked and burgled (including her own), a house is destroyed by arson, and a woman is violently killed. As Beverly becomes a suspect in Elaine’s disappearance, Kinsey’s simple investigation morphs into a potentially deadly one…

3. C is for Corpse

But also for Callahan, crash, calculated crime, and confusing complexity. If the victim of an attempted murder has lost a big chunk of his memory, how on earth do you go about solving the crime?

Kinsey faces one of her most challenging cases yet when she is approached by 23-year-old Bobby Callahan who has had his Porsche forced off a bridge. The crash has left Bobby with partial amnesia, but he believes that he’s still in danger. A little red address book and the name Blackman are the only leads Bobby can give Kinsey, though he can’t even remember whom he entrusted the address book to for safekeeping.

And then there’s no chance of Bobby regaining his memory when he dies in another car accident a mere three days after hiring Kinsey. When Kinsey discovers that Bobby did indeed have a secret worth killing for, uncovering it is potentially deadly for her.

4. D is for Deadbeat

Alvin Limardo does not inspire confidence. He wants to hire Kinsey to deliver a cashier’s check for $25,000 to 15-year-old Tony Gahan. But why doesn’t he just do it himself?

However, Kinsey’s rent is due, so she accepts Limardo’s retainer check against her better judgment. Sure enough, the check bounces and Kinsey makes further unwelcome discoveries. Alvin Limardo is really John Daggett, an alcoholic ex-con convicted of vehicular manslaughter. Several people would like to see him dead. And he seems to have two wives — religious fanatic Essie and faithless Lovella.

So when Daggett’s corpse show up floating in on the Santa Teresa surf the cops rule it an accident, but Kinsey’s pretty sure it’s murder. Many things aren’t quite what they seem, however, and when Billy Polo is killed with Kinsey’s own gun, the case really seems to be getting away from her.

E Is for Evidence Sue Grafton Books in Order

5. E is for Evidence

Two days after Christmas, Kinsey’s bank account suddenly shows an unexplained credit of $5,000. Kinsey has just finished investigating a fire for California Fidelity at a factory in Colgate owned by the Wood family, which she judged to be an industrial accident.

However, when she submits her report, she discovers that important documentation has been removed from the file and other papers have been substituted. It now looks as if Lance Wood, that she’s known from her school days, has bribed Kinsey to rule that the fire wasn’t arson and California Fidelity suspends Kinsey.

As Kinsey battles to prove her innocence, she almost dies from a bomb wrapped left on her doorstep. Then, just as Kinsey manages to unravel the tortuous web of deceit and double-dealing, a second bomb is left in her apartment…

6. F is for Fugitive

After it was destroyed in the previous book, Kinsey’s beloved apartment is being rebuilt by her landlord, Henry Pitts. Meanwhile, she is hired by terminally ill Royce Fowler to prove his son, Bailey Fowler, is innocent of the murder of Jean Timberlake, his girlfriend from 17 years before.

Bailey pleaded guilty and was sent to prison. While he escaped shortly afterwards, he has now been recaptured. He also now claims that he did not, in fact, kill Jean.

In Floral Beach, Kinsey stays with the Fowler family in their hotel and quickly discovers that suspects abound as Bailey’s lawyer, Jack Clemson, provides more details about the case. Jean, then 17, was a problem child who did badly at school. She’d also had sexual encounters with the numerous local boys and men, and was pregnant at the time she died.

Then Tap Granger is killed helping Bailey escape yet again. As Kinsey proceeds with her investigation, she not only discovers many things about the dysfunctional Fowler family, but also about herself.

7. G is for Gumshoe

As is often said, things seem to come in threes. On Kinsey Millhone’s 33rd birthday, she moves back into her newly rebuilt and renovated apartment. She is hired by Irene Gersh to locate her elderly mother living alone in the Slabs in the Mojave Desert. And she finds out that ex-con Tyrone Patty, whom she helped the Carson police to apprehend, has hired a hitman to kill her.

The reality of the threat comes home to her when she is deliberately run off the road by a man in a pick-up truck. She is injured and her beloved old VW is trashed. So Kinsey gets Porsche-driving PI, Robert Dietz, to be her bodyguard. With Dietz watching her, Kinsey starts investigating. Before it’s over, she’ll uncover the chilling truth about an old betrayal and have to face her own mortality…

8. H is for Homicide

Kinsey’s friend and colleague, Parnell Perkins, is found dead in the lot behind California Fidelity Insurance. Is his death connected to Bibianna Diaz, apparently an accomplished insurance hustler?

But when Kinsey goes undercover to cozy up to Bibianna and attempt to con her in turn, they both end up in jail. When they’re released, Bibianna’s jealous, ill-tempered, and thuggish ex-fiancé, Raymond Maldonado, awaits them.

Kinsey soon comes to the conclusion that Maldonado is behind Bibianna’s numerous other fraudulent insurance claims. Was Maldonado also behind Perkins’s death? Can Kinsey bring one of the most dangerous and duplicitous criminals she’s ever had to confront to justice — and survive?

I Is for Innocent Sue Grafton Books in Order

9. I is for Innocent

David Barney was acquitted five years before of the murder of his wealthy wife, Isabelle. Lawyer Lonnie Kingman believes the jury released a guilty man. He is putting together a civil suit on behalf of the dead woman’s ex-husband and child to strip David Barney of the ill-gotten gains of that murder. But time is of the essence as the statute of limitations on the crime is about to run out.

Then Morley Shine, the experienced PI who does Lonnie’s legwork, has a fatal heart attack. When P.I. Kinsey Millhone agrees to take over, she thinks it’ll just be a matter of wrapping up a few loose ends. But, no — everything is in disarray, the key informant untrustworthy, and the witnesses deny ever speaking with Morley. Even worse, every claim David Barney made can be verified.

So if Barney didn’t kill his wife, who did? Someone has obviously been getting away with murder and might be tempted to repeat the exercise.

10. J is for Judgment

Wendell Jaffe has been dead for five years. His empty 35-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja coast. He’d obviously gone overboard. The note he left revealed his business was bankrupt, he was flat broke, and his real estate business nothing but a Ponzi scheme.

But then Jaffe’s was seen in a bar in a one-horse town between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas. And California Fidelity just paid out Dana Jaffe’s $500,000 death claim in full. Now they want the truth and they get Kinsey to investigate.

Her investigation takes her into dark realms where fraudulent dealings and murder are often at play. And it may also reveal secrets about Kinsey’s own past…

11. K is for Killer

Late one night, Kinsey Millhone opens her office door to Janice Kepler. Janice mourns the death of her beautiful daughter Lorna who was murdered 10 months before. No suspect was ever found, and though the trail is now stone cold, Kinsey reluctantly agrees to investigate.

And startling facts emerge. Far from just having a dull day job at a water treatment plant, Lorna had an extremely lucrative sideline in prostitution and pornography.

So did a client kill her? Was she really supposed to marry a high-powered racketeer in Las Vegas when she disappeared? And surely, she could not also have been involved with elderly Clark Esselmann, upright pillar of the community? So how come Lorna’s sister Berlyn suddenly has money and is wearing Lorna’s diamond earrings? And did Leda have a tape recorder under Lorna’s floor?

12. L is for Lawless

Kinsey’s landlord, Henry Pitts, asks Kinsey for help. Their neighbor, impoverished Johnny Lee, died recently and his grandson Bucky is trying to ensure he gets a military funeral. But then Gilbert Hays and Ray Rawson, both old acquaintances of Johnny, turn up. They seem inordinately interested in Johnny’s meager possessions.

In truth, they are hoping to find the proceeds of a bank robbery they all committed 40 years before. As a search ensues for the secret location where Johnny allegedly buried the money, violence, kidnapping, coercion, and double-crossing all rear their dangerous heads.

And Kinsey’s cousin Tasha urges her to come to a Thanksgiving reunion of the family Kinsey never even knew she had.

M Is for Malice Sue Grafton Books in Order

13. M is for Malice

In order for the three Malek sons to inherit the fortune tied up in Malek Construction, they must find their fourth brother. He is inconveniently missing and has been so since he disappeared 18 years before. So Kinsey Millhone must try to find a man who has vanished without a trace.

Did he run away? Was it an abduction? What motives were at play here?

With greed running rampant and loyalties under strain, Kinsey’s skills are tested to the limit as a race against time ensues. And nobody’s safety, least of all Kinsey’s, is a guarantee…

14. N is for Noose

Tom Newquist was a tough, honest, and highly respected detective in the Sheriff’s Office of Nota Lake. His wife, Selma, accepts the coroner’s report of why he died, but she wants to know what had bothered him so much in the last six weeks of his life. Why was he so restless and what made him brood so incessantly?

Kinsey is reluctant to accept the vague, rather hopeless case, but she launches an investigation in Nota Lake. And things do not go smoothly. Tom’s partner, Rafer LaMott, and his brother, Macon, seem to have closed ranks around Tom’s memory, and the whole town is uncooperative.

Then Kinsey is threatened by a masked driver, and even attacked in the dreary Nota Lake Cabins where she’s staying. As the whole town becomes openly hostile, Kinsey battles to crack the code of Tom’s notes.

15. O is for Outlaw

Kinsey gets a call from a man who buys the auctioned contents of defaulted storage units. He’s just bought some of Kinsey’s possessions that she left with her ex-husband, Mickey Magruder, whom she married when she was only 21. She left Mickey when she thought he was trying to obtain from her a false alibi in an assault case that then escalated into manslaughter.

Kinsey buys the box for $20. Amongst the stuff in the box is an old letter that proves Michael could not have been guilty of the assault. Realizing that she had done Mickey an injustice, Kinsey sets out to find him.

She is shocked to discover he is in a coma, after being shot with a gun registered to her! The gun was a present from Mickey and she left it with him along with the other stuff she abandoned. So Kinsey is on the suspect list for the shooting. When she finds weapons and false IDs in Mickey’s apartment, she finds herself in ever greater danger.

16. P is for Peril

Nine weeks ago 69-year-old Dr. Dow Purcell said goodnight to his colleagues at the Pacific Meadows nursing home. Then he climbed into his car, drove away, and vanished without a trace. His embittered first wife, Fiona, is absolutely sure he is still alive. His second wife and former stripper, Crystal, 40 years younger than him, is equally sure he’s dead.

Enter right is P.I. Kinsey Malone, who has been hired by Fiona to investigate. Enter left is Tommy Hevener, a good-looking 20-something. He is one of the landlords of the new dream office space Kinsey has just rented. He also has Kinsey in his romantic sights, but he and his brother Richard are men with interesting pasts…

Kinsey’s investigation quickly uncovers fraudulent medical aid activity at Pacific Meadows. Was Dr. Purcell involved or just negligent? And then Dr. Purcell’s car is discovered in a lake close to Fiona’s house…

Q Is for Quarry Sue Grafton Books in Order

17. Q is for Quarry

After months of police investigation, the identity of Jane Doe is still unknown. She’s a young white woman, stabbed, hands bound with wire, throat slashed, discovered off California’s Highway 1 near a quarry. And 18 years later, her case remains open.

The two men who found the body want one last attempt at solving it. Con Dolan, Kinsey’s grouchy cop buddy, is on medical leave, and Stacey Oliphant, his partner, is enjoying retirement. So they need someone to do their legwork, and Kinsey is the logical one to turn to. Intrigued, Kinsey agrees to the job.

But digging into the past can be an extremely hazardous occupation. What started as a search for Jane Doe’s identity soon turns into a deadly search for her killer.

This Kinsey Millhone book is based on an actual unsolved 1969 homicide. Jane Doe’s body was exhumed in 2001 and a well-known forensic artist did the facial reconstruction featured at the end of Q Is for Quarry. The hope is that the photograph may trigger somebody’s memory somewhere to get a positive identification of the nameless Jane Doe. So far it hasn’t happened.

18. R is for Ricochet

Reba Lafferty is the only child of besotted father, Nord Lafferty. In his 50s when Reba was born, Nord fixed all the problems she got herself into growing up. Until there was one he couldn’t fix and she was convicted for embezzlement and incarcerated in the California Institution for Women.

Now, at 32, she is coming out of parole, and Nord engages P.I. Kinsey Millhone to supervise Reba for a week or so until she settles in, and make sure she sticks to the rules of her parole. Reba seems friendly, remorseful, and cooperative.

But less than 24 hours after Reba’s release, the wheels are already wobbling. The police want Reba to provide proof that her boss, Alan Beckwith, does money laundering. And Reba, though she is in love with two-timing Alan, is also very angry with him.

Soon Reba is smoking and drinking again, and then she goes to Reno to meet up with Misty Raine, a friend from prison. No wonder Kinsey gets knocked unconscious…

19. S is for Silence

In July 1953, Violet Sullivan, local good-time girl from Serena Station, California, drives off in her brand-new Chevy Bel Air bought mere days before — and vanishes. Her young daughter, Daisy, and her volatile husband, Foley, are left behind. But now, 34 years on, Daisy wants closure, and she wants P.I. Kinsey Millhone to get it for her.

Reluctantly Kinsey Millhone agrees to five days of investigation. Initially believing that Violet simply moved on, Kinsey soon discovers that it may not be that simple. Many people shared a past with Violet that some are desperate to keep hidden. And why had Tom Padgett given Violet a dog all those years ago?

When Kinsey notices a car-sized oblong depression in the soil close to Tannie’s property some shocking discoveries are made.

20. T is for Trespass

In Sue Grafton’s most direct confrontation with evil, Grafton introduces Solana Rojas, a sociopath with no scruples. A stolen identity gives Rojas access to private caregiving jobs.

So when Gus, Kinsey’s grumpy neighbor, is injured in a serious fall, he employs Solana Rojas to care for him. But when Gus becomes withdrawn and isolated, Kinsey becomes suspicious. She suspects Solana is not what she seems.

The novel builds with sizzling tension. Will Kinsey realize the full implications of what is happening in time to intervene? Solana is a dangerous sociopath who works with an accomplice. She has a history of clients who died whilst in her care. Will Kinsey be able to engineer a rescue while she is also working on a case of insurance fraud?

Though set in the late 1980s, T Is for Trespass is a remarkably relevant novel to present times. It highlights identity theft, the betrayal of trust by people in authority, elder abuse, and the breakdown of institutions caring for the weak and dependent.

U Is for Undertow Sue Grafton Books in Order

21. U is for Undertow

Shortly before Kinsey Millhone’s 38th birthday, Michael Sutton arrives at her office and tells her a story.

More than two decades before, a four-year-old girl disappeared. A recent newspaper story about the kidnapping has triggered his memory. He believes he saw her killers as they were getting ready to bury her and could still identify them. He wants Kinsey to help him find the grave and the men. Despite it being unlikely, Kinsey agrees to investigate for one day.

And they do indeed find a grave, but it is the grave of a wolfdog named Ulf. Was Ulf buried there to hide something? And why is bystander Walker McNally, who’s been watching the police digging up the dog grave, so upset?

He drinks so much over the weekend that he kills a young woman on Sunday whilst driving drunk. And what is the link with the kidnapping of Rain, another little girl, though she was returned unharmed after the ransom was paid?

22. V is for Vengeance

A tangled cat’s cradle of dangerous relationships underpins this novel.

A woman with a questionable past jumps off a bridge — or was she pushed? A spoiled rich kid, drowning in gambling debts, believes he can beat the system, but it will cost him more than his Porsche. A beautiful woman’s marriage is at risk. A dirty cop believes himself to be above the law.

P.I. Kinsey Millhone witnesses a woman shoplifting in Nordstrom’s. The woman, named Audrey, is arrested. After being released from jail, Audrey apparently commits suicide. Her boyfriend then hires Kinsey to investigate the theory that a professional shoplifting syndicate is racking up millions from shoplifting.

And Kinsey is not particularly happy with her 38th birthday present — a punch in the face from Dante leaving her with a broken nose and two black eyes…

23. W is for Wasted

Two dead men impacted the course of Kinsey’s life that fall. One was a local P.I. of doubtful reputation, Pete Wolinsky, who was gunned down near the beach. The other is a homeless man, RT Dace, found dead on the beach some six weeks later — with Kinsey’s name and phone number in his pocket.

On further investigation, Kinsey realized she opened the lid to a veritable Pandora’s box. One of the surprising facts that flew out is that RT Dace has about $600,000 to his credit. The other is that he is related to Kinsey.

Last but not least, Kinsey is not just as his executor, but she in fact inherits everything. Although Dace’s children wanted nothing to do with him when he was a pathetic, homeless drunk, their attitude changes somewhat now with the discovery of his money.

And Kinsey, through no fault of her own, is drawn into a compromising position and a tale rife with betrayals, misunderstandings, and downright murderous fraud.

24. X

When a woman asks P.I. Kinsey Millhone to find the son she put up for adoption 32 years before, it seems like an easy way to earn $200 bucks. However, when a cop tells her she was paid with marked bills, and her client can’t be found, there’s clearly something questionable in the undergrowth.

And Ruth, widow of recently murdered P.I. Pete Wolinsky, needs Kinsey’s help with her IRS audit. This straightforward task takes on a perilous turn when Kinsey comes across a coded list amongst Pete’s papers. The list leads her to a man with a slew of ruined lives in his wake. Yet he still walks free.

Can Kinsey risk becoming his next target? Could she possibly prove a case against him without becoming his next victim?

Y Is for Yesterday Sue Grafton Books in Order

25. Y is for Yesterday

Again based on two real cases, the origins of resourceful P.I. Kinsey Millhone’s last case goes back to 1979. Four teenaged boys from a prestigious private school sexually assaulted a 14-year-old classmate and recorded it on film. When the tape is stolen, another classmate, who is thought to be the thief, turns up dead. In the investigation and prosecution that follow, two boys are convicted as one boy turns state’s evidence. However, the instigator of the whole appalling episode gets off scot-free and disappears.

Now, it is 10 years later. One of the rapists, Fritz McCabe, is now out of prison. He is morose, angry, and unapologetic as his ever-vigilant parents turn him into a virtual prisoner at home.

But then a copy of the assault tape arrives along with a demand for ransom. The McCabes call on experienced P.I. Kinsey Millhone to investigate and keep an eye on Fritz.

As Kinsey is inevitably drawn into the whole distressing affair, the past threatens to claim more victims. Kinsey continuously lives in fear and feels a continuous sense of threat.

Looking for more like Sue Grafton books in order?

And that’s it! We hope you enjoyed our brief overview of all the Sue Grafton Books in Order. Check out our list of Sandra Brown books in order if you need something else to read.

All 25 Sue Grafton Books in Order | Kinsey Millhone Series