When I was 20 I became love sick. I was dumped by my boyfriend and I pined my life away. I caught tonsillitis then chicken pox and finally I was knocked on my derriere by glandular fever (mono — if you’re over the pond) all in the space of 6 months. If you’ve ever had glandular fever you’ll know just how terrible you feel and how long it takes you to recover.
During this time books became my best friend. I slept a lot and my attention span was very limited when I was actually awake! Prior to glandular fever I’d read a lot of romance books but I was in no mood to read happy ever after stories when I was so miserable. So I ventured out of my normal genre and that changed my reading patterns forever.
It was during my recovery I found a book, A is for Alibi, by Sue Grafton which featured her protaganist Kinsey Millhone.
It’s many years since I picked up that first book and I’ve followed Kinsey through a series of adventures. The first book is set in 1983 and, even though I’ve aged, Kinsey is still stuck in the ‘80s. I can relate to that.
Kinsey is a P.I. in Santa Teresa, a fictional suburb of Los Angeles. She was orphaned by a car crash and grew up with her spinster aunt. She has no fondness of family apart from her late aunt and her love life is uneventful although she does have 2 divorces under her belt. There are no thrills in Kinsey’s life — she works hard, lives modestly, has few friends and never irons her clothes (another thing I can relate to!). A very sober heroine indeed but she untangles the webs of other people’s lives with flair. She’ old school. And I like that.
Kinsey has progressed along in a further 20 books. I haven’t read the latest book but I’m looking forward to catching up with her again soon.