When it comes to paying assignments, some private detectives aren't very particular. Kinsey Millhone, as it happens, is one such PI, especially when the rent is due and the "company car" needs new tires. So when an exceedingly rich man called with an odd but lucrative proposition, Kinsey found herself taking her first baby-sitting job in a couple of decades. The "baby" in the case proved to be more of a "babe," however. Kinsey'd been hired to escort Reba Lafferty home from prison and get her settled after almost two years working off an embezzlement charge. Seemed like it would be an easy couple of days' work.

It wasn't.

Reba proved to be quite a handful. Within days, she was back to her old tricks: smoking, drinking, and gambling, not to mention boinking her former lover (and old boss) within twenty-four hours of getting out of stir. That old lover, however, had a pretty interesting hobby: he laundered money for the local Colombian drug cartel.

Hunky Santa Teresa cop Cheney Phillips wanted Kinsey to enlist Reba's help in putting away her old boss for his little sideline business - among other things. Kinsey was more than happy to participate in the "other" things, less so in the sting - but she got sucked in anyway. The one thing she hadn't counted on was Reba's devious little mind.

After a slowdown lasting for several letters, Sue Grafton picks up the pace in her alphabet soup series with R is for Ricochet. Breaking out of the increasingly deepening rut-like pattern of ...Outlaw, ...Peril, and ...Quarry, Grafton has penned the freshest Kinsey Millhone novel in years. Sure, Kinsey's still mired in her time warp - the year is 1987 - but Grafton has shown that some things can change. After the obligatory references to her "one black dress, suitable for anything from a cocktail party to a funeral" and cutting her own hair with fingernail scissors, Kinsey actually goes on a shopping spree with Reba, And Cheney, showing that he's not just another pretty face (and dynamite bed partner) gives her her first real haircut in years. Could it be that Grafton's become addicted to makeover shows on TV?

Her protagonist isn't the only thing getting a makeover: Grafton also eschews a tried-and-true formula that had been getting a bit long in the tooth. This time, there's no pair of seemingly unrelated cases that turn out to be entangled, there's no dead body in the first chapter, there's no startling coincidences, no neck-snapping plot twist. The narrative is straightforward and linear, a refreshing change from the kluged-together aspect of the last few installments.

Still, there's a problem or two. That Kinsey can't recognize a desktop computer four years after the release of "War Games" tends to stretch one's disbelief, and a subplot about Kinsey's octogenarian landlord Henry and his faltering love life gets, frankly, overdrawn and boring.

Still, after three substandard releases in a row (at least) it's good to see Kinsey back on track. Perhaps the makeover will stick - let's hope so!

Respectfully submitted, scmrak.


Moved 7/11 to undo the database mess

Recommended: Yes