Sue Grafton

Alphabet series

Grafton had been fascinated by mystery series whose titles were related, such as John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series, each of which included a color in the title, and Harry Kemelman's Rabbi Small series, each of which included a day of the week in the title. While reading Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies, a picture book with an alphabetized list of ways for children to die, Grafton decided to write a series of novels whose titles would follow the alphabet. She immediately sat down and made a list of all of the crime-related words that she knew.

These became the series now known as the "alphabet novels", featuring sleuth and private investigator, Kinsey Millhone. The name rhymes and alliterates with that of Sharon McCone, the heroine of crime novels by Marcia Muller, of whom Grafton wrote, "Marcia Muller is the founding 'mother' of the contemporary female hard-boiled private eye." The series is set in Santa Teresa, a fictionalized version of Santa Barbara. Grafton followed the lead of Ross Macdonald, who created the fictional version of the city. Grafton described Kinsey Millhone as her alter ego, "the person I might have been had I not married young and had children."

The series begins with "A" Is for Alibi, published and set in 1982. "B" Is for Burglar followed in 1985; after that, Grafton usually put out a further book in the series every year or two. In May 2009, Grafton told Media Bistro that she was "just trying to figure out how to get from "U" is for Undertow to "Z" Is for Zero" and that "just because she knows the endgame title for Z [...] doesn't mean she knows what V, W, X, and Y will be". Grafton said that the series would end with "Z" Is for Zero, but she died before she could begin writing it. Her daughter said Grafton would never allow a ghostwriter to write in her name and "as far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends at Y." Grafton told her children her ghost would haunt them if they sold the film rights after her death. The books in the series were on The New York Times Best Seller list for an aggregate of about 400 weeks. F is for Fugitive was the first, entering at number 10 on the paperback list; by 1995 "L" is for Lawless entered the best seller list at number one followed by ten more in the series.

Writing style Grafton's style is characteristic of hardboiled detective fiction, according to the authors of 'G' is for Grafton, who describe it as "laconic, breezy, wise-cracking". The novels are framed as reports Kinsey writes in the course of her investigations, which are signed off in the epilogue of each novel. The first-person narrative allows the reader to see through the eyes of Kinsey, who chronicles various descriptions of "eccentric buildings and places", giving depth to the narrative.

Awards

Personal life Grafton first married in 1959, aged 18, to James L. Flood, with whom she had a son and a daughter. The two divorced by the time Grafton graduated from college in 1961. Her second marriage was with Al Schmidt in 1962, but it ended with protracted divorce and custody proceedings over their daughter.

She married her third husband, Steven F. Humphrey, in 1978.

Grafton died at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara on December 28, 2017, after a two-year battle with cancer of the appendix.

In 2019, an award in Grafton's memory was established by G.P. Putnam's Sons and is under the aegis of the Mystery Writers of America.

Works Keziah Dane (1967) The Lolly-Madonna War (1969) – filmed as Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)

Alphabet Mystery series

Essays and short stories "Teaching a Child" (2013) – essay in the anthology Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting, published by W. W. Norton & Company. Kinsey and Me (2013) – a collection of nine Kinsey Millhone short stories along with 12 other short stories about Grafton's own mother. The Kinsey Millhone stories, with one exception, appeared in magazines and mystery anthologies between 1986 and 1991. The dozen other stories, none previously published, feature Kit Blue, who, Grafton said, "is simply a younger version of myself." The book also includes a preface, introductions to the two separate story collections, and a previously published essay on hard-boiled private investigators. The Lying Game (2003) – a Kinsey Millhone short story which appeared in the September 2003 special 40th anniversary Lands' End catalogue. It also appeared as a separate pamphlet given to attendees at Malice Domestic 2011 conference, where Grafton was recognized for Lifetime Achievement. It is included in Kinsey and Me. If You Want Something Done Right . . . (Published 2020) An unpublished story found among Sue Grafton's papers by her husband after her death and originally published in Deadly Anniversaries, edited by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini. Reprinted in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021, edited by Lee Child.

As editor Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America (with Jan Burke)

In popular culture Grafton's introduction of a young, no-nonsense female private detective in the Alphabet Mystery series was ground-breaking at the time when A is for Alibi was first released in 1982. Until the creation of Kinsey Milhone, private detectives in fiction were almost always male.

In the "Mayham" episode of The Sopranos, Carmela sits by Tony's bedside in the hospital, reading a Sue Grafton's novel. In the "Local Ad" episode of The Office, Phyllis goes to a Sue Grafton book signing at the mall to try to get her to be in the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch commercial. She is told by Michael Scott not to take no for an answer. After waiting in line, Phyllis meets Grafton, only to be rebuffed by her. In the Superego podcast Season 3 Episode 14, guest star, actor and comedian, Rob Delaney impersonates Sue Grafton. Kinsey Millhone is featured in cameo appearances in crime novels by other authors. Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller have their fictional detective spot Millhone at a convention in Chicago. Sara Paretsky has her sleuth V. I. Warshawski envy Millhone's organization.