This is the sixth of twenty-five books in the Kinsey Milhone mystery series by Sue Grafton. Kinsey is a private detective in Santa Teresa, California. She lives in a converted garage apartment and lives the life of a loner for the most part.

Kinsey’s newest case is part of a cold case dating back twenty years. A jail escapee named Bailey Flower, missing for all those years, ends up in police custody after living an exemplary life under an assumed name for twenty years. His father, Royce, who is dying, hires Kinsey to find out the truth about the murder of Jean Timberlake for which Bailey pled guilty and went to jail. He seems convinced Bailey was innocent and wants Kinsey to look into the case. In addition to her fee, Kinsey stays at the family’s motel on the ocean in the town of Floral Beach. This immerses Kinsey in the family’s everyday life, where she gets to witness a family that’s broken.

Royce wants to control Kinsey’s investigation, but she won’t allow it. He’s paying for her to investigate a murder from almost twenty years before, and it’s tough going as it is. Royce is dying and wants to leave his son’s innocence as part of his legacy since he feels guilty for not helping his son at the time he was arrested.

Kinsey is a tough person to like. At times, she is cold and heartless to the family while they are falling apart, thanks to the revelation of secrets kept for more than twenty years. Is it more important for her to find the answers, even if it means destroying the family? To Kinsey, it seems the answer is “yes.” At the same time, she gets roped into meals with the family and helping care for its bedridden matriarch. Those are the times I wish she would stand up for herself a little bit more. Instead, we get her catty conscience making observations that aren’t very kind at times. I think I like her better, though, with her not being “perfect” and demonstrating character flaws that would make it hard for me to like her in real life. It explains a lot about why Kinsey is such a loner.

Unraveling what took place all those years ago is not easy, but Kinsey is intent on finding out what happened. She’s digging into a past that many people would like to forget in the town. No one seemed to care about Jean’s death, really, as she was considered to be from the wrong side of the tracks. In reality, the mystery of just who Jean’s father was could disrupt lives even more. Her mother has kept quiet all these years, and though she doesn’t seem to wallow in grief over the loss of her daughter, she also finds it impossible to move on and get away from the only life she’s known. While some of the characters have a very authentic feel, others seem to be there for one sole purpose and have no real dimension outside of that. This is especially noticeable with Kinsey in a new town that is made up entirely of people I hadn’t read about before in Grafton’s books.

I have to say that Grafton kept me guessing. There are a number of red herrings in the story that seem to be promising, only to fall apart under greater scrutiny. At one point, I was sure I knew what was going on, especially based on the way Royce was behaving about what Kinsey was uncovering. I was totally off the mark, though. Grafton is skilled at writing a story that makes sense when all is said and done, even if that’s not the way I was thinking while I was reading it.

Will I keep going with the series? Most likely. It’s dated in some ways, but that brings me back to a time when we weren’t all supposed to be reachable 24/7. The idea of going somewhere and not having a cell phone on you is somewhat refreshing. It also means Kinsey has to work a bit harder to get information, as it’s not all available at the stroke of a keyboard. Kinsey was a rare, strong single woman at a time when there was still a push to define women by who they married. It also shows you don’t have to behave in a way that everyone will like you to get by in this world, something that women have also suffered with over the years. Kinsey is a bit af a revolutionary character in her time, and I like that.

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