body work

It’s not easy being a private investigator. It’s a lot of paperwork, a lot of legwork, spending time in libraries staring at old newspapers on microfilm. And sometimes you get shot. Kinsey Millhone is recovering from the gunshot that ended her last case, spending time at the gym as physical therapy for her arm. It’s there that she met a young man working very hard as well. His name is Bobby Callahan. He’s 23 and he has a story to tell. When he finds out that Kinsey is a detective, he wants to tell his story to her.

There’s only one problem. He doesn’t remember it.

He had been in a car accident, and that’s why he’s in the gym so often. He had been driving, and his car left the road. They thought maybe he’d been drinking, or just driving too fast, as was his habit. But there is something scratching at the back of his mind, a feeling, a knowing. Someone had run him off that road. Deep inside, he is certain. But he can’t remember who was trying to kill him, or why. He wants to hire Kinsey to find out. And she needs a new case.

Kinsey starts where she always starts, by asking questions of everyone around Bobby and trying to piece together who Bobby was right before his accident and what he might have been doing to put himself in danger. What she finds is family drama in those closest to him, respect from those he worked with, a missing black book, and a mysterious love affair.

And while Kinsey is working her case, she’s finding trouble close to home too. Her beloved landlord Henry has become enamored with a woman who has just moved into the neighborhood. This woman gets under Kinsey’s skin and sets off all her Spidey senses. But can Kinsey figure out what she’s up to without breaking Henry’s heart?

Kinsey’s investigation takes her in circles, a spiral that gets increasingly tighter, like a spider closing in on its prey. But is she on the outside of the web, or on the inside?

C Is for Corpse is the third in Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone mysteries. Set deep in the ‘80s in Southern California, these novels are a snapshot in time, meticulously plotted, filled with characters both from the time and timeless. I have loved these books for decades, and as I’m rereading them now, I am reminded of the singular genius of Grafton. While now there are moments from these books that are dated, Kinsey herself just gets stronger and smarter with time.

I listened to C Is for Corpse on audio, narrated by Mary Peiffer. When I decided to reread these books, I wanted to go with audio books. I will admit when I first started, I wasn’t sure about Peiffer as the narrator. But I gave it some time, and now, she is the voice of Kinsey I hear in my head. She gets Kinsey just the way I want her to, with the sarcasm and snark and intelligence and compassion. Now, I don’t want my Kinsey Millhone to be voiced by anyone else.

I love C Is for Corpse. I remember first reading this one back when I was a mere child of 20something. I was so impressed with that ending, when Kinsey finally figures out the key that opens the crazy killer lock, that I have never forgotten it. This wasn’t Grafton’s best book in the series, but it may have the best surprise in it.