Book
S is for silence / Sue Grafton.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780425212691
- ISBN: 0425212696
- Physical Description: 352 p ; 17 cm.
- Publisher: New York : Berkley, Penguin, c2005.
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Millhone, Kinsey (Fictitious character) > Fiction. Women private investigators > California > Fiction. Missing persons > Fiction. California > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Mystery fiction. |
Available copies
- 0 of 1 copy available at Russell and District Regional Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Other Formats and Editions
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell Library | AFPB GRA (Text) | 36730000123067 | Adult Fiction Paperback | Volume hold | Storage | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2005 September #2
Grafton's determined march through the criminal alphabet puts readers within striking distance of the end, a destination no Grafton fan wants to reach. The latest in the lexicon should really be C Is for Cold Case, since it involves a disappearance that took place nearly 35 years in the past. (Although the alphabet keeps progressing, Grafton's heroine, Kinsey Millhone, is still in her late 30s and, given her high-fat eating habits, probably wouldn't have survived to be a sleuth in her 60s.) The daughter of a really neglectful mother (who could have starred in I Is for Issues) has been haunted by her mother's disappearance from a Fourth of July celebration when the daughter was only three years old. Part of the intrigue from this case comes from Grafton's sensitive portrayal of the psychological consequences of neglect. Boldly departing from the conventions of victim fiction, Grafton portrays the daughter as sniveling and annoying as well as desperate. Millhone doesn't have much hope for the case but starts digging (it's fascinating in itself to see how Millhone flounders and flounders until she finds a crack in the case). Grafton juxtaposes flashbacks to 1953, when the mother disappeared, with the current investigation, giving different points of view on the woman. Although she gives us a bit too much of Millhone's eating and living habits (probably in response to fan enthusiasm), this novel also presents strong character portrayals, a mosaic of motives, and a stunning climax. ((Reviewed September 15, 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews. - BookPage Reviews : BookPage Reviews 2005 December
Silence is goldenWelcome to Santa Teresa, California, where private investigator Kinsey Millhone plies her trade. The time is the mid-1980s, and Millhone drives a perpetually rundown Volkswagen. The somewhat vintage seting means Millhone is without the conveniences we take for granted nowadays: Internet, cell phones, GPS systems and the like. Beginning with 1983's A is For Alibi, Millhone has solved 19 mysteries thus far. The latest, S Is for Silence, is a bit of a departure, both for the protagonist and for the author. Millhone is retained to solve the disappearance of a woman some 35 years back, a cold case if ever there was one. Author Sue Grafton steps out of her usual first-person narrative to juxtapose third-person flashbacks to the 1950s, a risky technique, but one she pulls off nicely. Tensions escalate exponentially as Millhone unearths long-buried clues, clues that may threaten some wealthy and powerful Santa Teresa businessmen. S Is for Silence will be a huge hit with Grafton fans; indeed, it is a huge hit by any measure. The first printing is a staggering one million copies, and the book is a Literary Guild, Book-of-the-Month Club and Mystery Guild main selection.
A lifelong mystery reader who was weaned on the Hardy Boys, globetrotter Bruce Tierney writes (mostly) from Prince Edward Island. Copyright 2005 BookPage Reviews.
- Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2005 September #2
Kinsey Millhone (R Is for Ricochet, 2004, etc.) is pulled into the ancient case of the bad-girl wife and mother who ran off without her man and without a trace.On the evening of July 4, 1953, Violet Sullivan celebrated her independence by blowing a kiss to her daughter Daisy, 7, and her babysitter, Liza Mellincamp, and driving off in the new Chevrolet Bel Air that her alcoholic, frequently abusive husband Foley had just bought her. Ever since that day, Daisy has never been able to trust anyone or to put her life back together. Now, 34 years later, she and her friend Tannie Ottweiler ask Kinsey to track down Violet and her car. Wanting to ensure that she won't drag out what seems like a hopeless case, Kinsey agrees to limit her investigation to five days. But it takes her only four days of chatting up Violet's friends and enemies in Serena Station-her ex-landlord Tom Padgett, Liza and her childhood buddy Kathy Cramer, Kathy's car-dealer father Chet and his salesman Winston Smith, Tannie's father Jake-to find out what happened to Violet. Given the passions Daisy's mother stirred among everyone who crossed her path, it's quite a tribute to Kinsey that she needs only that fifth day to wrap the case up tight.Score another triumph for Kinsey. Grafton brings every corner of Serena Station, past and present, more deeply alive than your own hometown.First printing of 1,000,000; Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild main selection Copyright Kirkus 2005 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2005 October #2
On July 4, 1953, small-town wife and mother Violet Sullivan disappears without a trace. Did she leave her abusive husband and young daughter behind, never to contact them again, or did a secret (or not-so-secret) lover do her in? Fast-forward to the 1980s: Daisy, the missing woman's now grown daughter, enlists Kinsey Milhone (R Is for Ricochet ) to resolve her mother's disappearance. Although this is the 19th entry of her popular alphabet series, Grafton has struck on another fresh tack, alternating between Kinsey's current investigation and the days leading up to Violet's disappearance as told by the people who knew her. The climax that results when the two narratives converge will leave readers breathlessly awaiting the next installment. Essential for all collections. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 8/05.]-- Andrea Young Griffth, Loma Linda Univ. Lib., CA
[Page 52]. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2005 October #2
Kinsey Millhone has kept her appeal by being distinctive and sympathetic without craving center stage. While some mysteries that provide the PI's shoe size or most despised food create a forced and intrusive intimacy, a master like Grafton makes the relationship relaxed and reassuring. Millhone's life is modest and familiar, though her love life, now featuring police detective Cheney Phillips, tends to be oddly remote. This 19th entry (after 2004's R Is for Ricochet) adopts a new convention: Millhone's customary intelligent and occasionally self-deprecating first-person reportage is interrupted by vignettes from the days surrounding the Fourth of July, 34 years earlier, when a hot-blooded young woman named Violet Sullivan disappeared. Violet's daughter, Daisy, who was seven at the time, hires Millhone to discover her mother's true fate. Violet had toyed with every man in town at one time or another, so there's no shortage of scandalous secrets and possible suspects. Constant revelations concerning several absorbing characters allow a terrific tension to build. However, the utterly illogical and oddly abrupt ending undermines what is otherwise one of the stronger offerings in this iconic series. One million first printing; Literary Guild, BOMC and Mystery Guild main selection. (Dec.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
