‘T’ Is For Trespass’ by Sue Grafton
Published by Isis Audio Book. ISBN 978-0-7531-3107-7
Read by Liza Ross

I must confess that I had decided not to read any more of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone, but after listening to T is for Trespass I shall read on. This is her most disturbing novel so far. It is also her most direct confrontation with true malevolence. The narrative shifts from the voice of Kinsey Millhone to that of Solana Rojas, introducing readers to a chilling sociopath. The book begins at a leisurely pace with the daily life of a private eye, building the horror of the novel with agonizing tension as the reader sees the awfulness that lies ahead. Well read by Liza Ross, the tone of the two voices is subtle yet convincing.

Henry, Kinsey’s landlord, who bakes and lookes out for Kinsey, Has a new beau; Charlotte Snyder, who is annoyingly obsessed with real estate. Grumpy neighbour Gus Vronsky is not a likeable old man but when he falls and dislocates his shoulder, Henry and Kinsey do what they can. Kinsey bullies his only relative, a niece living in New York, into organising a nurse for him. Kinsey does a background check on Solana Rojas but doesn't turn up anything suspicious. In fact, Rojas is not her birth name. It is an identity she has stolen, an identity that gives her access to private care giving jobs. When Gus seems to be getting worse, not better. Kinsey turns to her usual unorthodox methods of investigation. But Solana is more than able to play Kinsey at her own game and she underestimates the woman's shrewdness and determination, soon the tables have turned and it's Kinsey who's on the wrong side of the law. Fortunately, Kinsey has a few tricks up her sleeve, and she will do whatever she can to rescue Gus from his predator's clutches.

Though set in the late eighties, T is for Trespass could not be more topical: identity theft; abuse of the elderly; betrayal of trust; the breakdown in the institutions charged with caring for the weak and the dependent.

------

Sue lord

N.B. Sue Grafton’s father also wrote detective fiction? CW. Grafton embarked on a detective fiction series, beginning with the lines of the old nursery rhyme; The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope, he could have completed a ten-volume series about lawyer Gilmore Henry of Calhoun County, Kentucky. He stopped at two. The Water Began to Quench the Fire and The Stick Began to Beat the Dog were never published. Gilmore Henry was one of the most promising new sleuths of the 1940's.