This is the fourth book in author Sue Grafton’s mystery series about California private investigator Kinsey Millhone. Unfortunately, Grafton passed away before she completed the series, targeted at the letter “Z.” In the previous book, C is for Corpse, Kinsey mentions a returned check from a client that annoys her. D is for Deadbeat picks up that story.

A man who identifies himself as Alvin Limardo walks into Kinsey’s office one day, asking for her help to deliver a cashier’s check for $25,000 to a fifteen-year-old boy. Something feels off with Limardo’s story, but Kinsey accepts his retainer check and takes the case. When that check bounces, it seems like Limardo also disappeared into thin air.

Kinsey manages to track him down, learning his real name is John Daggett. He did time for a DWI, which resulted in the death of nearly an entire family. The boy he wants Kinsey to hunt down is the only survivor of that family. Then, Daggett’s body washes up on the beach in Santa Therese. Kinsey knows she’s not getting her money back, and when the police write Daggett’s death off as an accident, she should just walk away. She doesn’t, though. Instead, she feels the need to seek justice for this man who has done some pretty heinous things in his life, including being married to two different women at the time of his death.

I guessed the ending of the story early on, although I wasn’t sure, so it was a fun listen getting there. There are so many missteps and quirky people Kinsey encounters that it was a lot of fun. The series seems to be going for that noir detective vibe, only with a female lead instead of a male one. Kinsey is good for that. We get more of her independent streak in D is for Deadbeat, which was truly a joy to read when this was first published in 1988. Women were rarely portrayed as capable of handling life on their own at the time.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t a bit of a romantic streak in Kinsey. She reconnects again with a police officer she’s been keeping at arm’s length because he’s married. It’s not exactly a relationship, but the two have been dancing around each other for four books now. His marriage is not a good one, but Kinsey is still hesitant to take their relationship to the next level. Still, there are only so many nights she wants to spend alone in her converted garage apartment.

The other characters are well-developed, although I thought Daggett’s first wife was a bit over the top. She’s a religious nut who leans on religion when life throws her a curveball. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but she starts yelling Bible verses at the drop of a hat when she starts to lose it, which seems to happen frequently. I don’t understand why she would have a funeral for a man she hadn’t seen in quite a long time, even though it’s her husband. He obviously abandoned her and was cultivating a different life, yet she mourns him like he was a loving husband.

I liked how the consequences of the DWI were hard on everyone. People talk about lives being shattered, but Grafton here shows us how that impacted so many people. Daggett might have had a guilty conscience, but money wasn’t going to change anything for the people dealing with the fallout, particularly that young boy.

The narrator is Mary Peiffer, the same as in the earlier books, and she still has Kinsey with a slightly mannish voice, although I think it was tempered a bit here. I don’t know if she thinks that using a voice like that projects strength, but I found it hard to imagine that voice for the character. Would just a straight read be better? I think so. She does a great job otherwise, as her diction is clear, and I was compelled to keep listening.

There are a number of dated references, since this was a time before everybody had cell phones and the ability to have information at our fingertips wherever we went. Things that would only take a minute or two now were more difficult for Kinsey to accomplish back in 1988.

I did enjoy D is for Deadbeat quite a bit. It was a good summertime mystery that isn’t a difficult read or hard to follow. Kinsey is a great character as an independent woman who is smart and capable. The book didn’t feel like it was bogged down in too many details, either, like some of the others were. I think this is the best book in the series so far.

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