"J" Is for Judgment
Cover of the book '"J" Is for Judgment by Sue Grafton.
|
|
| Author | Sue Grafton |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Alphabet Mysteries |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Published | 1993 (Henry Holt and Company) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 288 pp(first edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 26854030 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3557.R13 J2 1993 |
| Preceded by | "I" Is for Innocent |
| Followed by | "K" Is for Killer |
"J" Is for Judgment is the tenth novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The novel features a significant development in Kinsey's personal back-story, as she discovers that she has extensive family living in the Lompoc area.
July 1984 contains two surprises for Kinsey Millhone in the tenth of the 'Alphabet' murder series, both connected to her past. First, California Fidelity Insurance reappears in her life in the form of Mac Voorhies, who wants her help with a case some seven months after his boss Gordon Titus terminated Kinsey's loose employment relationship with CFI. Secondly, in the course of the investigation, Kinsey makes a shocking discovery about her own past when she discovers she has a family she knew nothing about.
The case Mac hires Kinsey to investigate is that of Wendell Jaffe, assumed to have died five years previously when his boat, the Captain Stanley Lord, was found drifting off the Baja coast. He left behind a suicide note, a whole bunch of creditors who had invested in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, and a family: wife Dana, and sons Michael and Brian. It seemed certain Jaffe had killed himself to avoid the disgrace and jail sentence which fell instead to his business partner, Carl Eckert, but with no body to prove death, CFI made Dana wait the full statutory five years to presume death before paying out on Jaffe's half million insurance claim, and she has been making ends meet by working as a wedding planner. Michael, now 22, has coped reasonably well with suddenly being the man of the house, and is a new husband and father himself. Eighteen-year-old Brian on the other hand is in a mess, currently residing in juvenile hall.
Two months after the insurance money was finally paid, a former colleague of Mac's has spotted a man he is convinced is Jaffe in Viento Negro, Mexico. Mac hires Kinsey to go there and check it out. After a little hotel room breaking and entering, she finds Wendell is now known as Dean DeWitt Huff, travelling with a woman called Renata Huff, who has a residence on the quays in Perdido, near Santa Teresa, as well as a boat of her own. Before Kinsey can prove his identity, they skip out; on the same day, Brian is arrested in the middle of a botched escape attempt in which a female motorist, as well as his three conspirators, are killed. Kinsey is convinced Wendell will be heading back to California to reconnect with his son.
Doing a door-to-door back in California, Kinsey is astonished to be asked if she is related to the Burton Kinsey family of Lompoc, as she looks so like them. Kinsey denies the connection, but undertakes a little detective work on her behalf and is amazed to find her mother's father was indeed Burton Kinsey. Far from being family-less, Kinsey has cousins, aunts and a grandmother living less than an hour away. Her cousin Liza shows up to tell her the family scandal: Kinsey's mother was cut off from her family for marrying Kinsey's father. Kinsey is aghast that no one has tried to track her down in the 29 years since her parents were killed and is resentful of any intrusion into her solitude at this late date.
...
Wikipedia