"S IS FOR SILENCE" by Sue Grafton (A-)

Author Sue Grafton has a solid winner in this, the nineteenth in her series of alphabetized mystery novels. The rather trite nature of her titles aside, this recent outing with female gumshoe Kinsey Millhone is a wonderfully constructed and organized tale. Grafton's bright and breezy writing style tends to mask the complexity of her plots with their multiple story lines involving numerous suspects.

Several people very close to me have told me that they had read some of Grafton's earlier books and have found them to be rather mediocre. If you have also found this to be the case, then I would like to recommend "S is For Silence" to you as being the perfect book to read if you would like to give Grafton another chance.

The great strength is this book is how masterfully Grafton interweaves the events occurring in the present with those that have occurred many years before. I have read numerous books where there has been a sizable time lapse between the commission of a crime and the attempts at its solution, but rarely have the stories been as well knit together as they are here.

We get to meet the characters both in the present as well as in the past, and for some a strong motive will be established that will make them a possible suspect. Then Kinsey meets the same players today when they are usually far less than forthcoming. The great passage of time has conveniently allowed memory, and convenience, to fudge with the facts.

The beauty of this is that we know far more than Millhone does about the case, but this could be a bad thing as well as a good thing. Strong motives are witnessed, but Grafton makes it far too easy to jump to an incorrect conclusion. Sometimes it is better to accept the evidence without prejudging anyone.

The critical flaw in this book is with the way Grafton ties up the story at the end. Without giving away any of the pertinent details, I found the ending to be a severe disappointment because we are never given a decent explanation as to why this person committed the crime and not one of the others who might have had a greater motive or inclination. It appears that Grafton spent more time setting out false clues to lead us astray than she did in developing the true facts in the case.

Every story needs a denouement where the means and the motive are clearly established and where the perpetrator 'fesses up. That doesn't happen here, and this is a shame. It is like experiencing a wonderful literary meal and then having the desert dropped on the floor just as it is being delivered to the table.

Kinsey refers to herself as a "small town shamus." And those three words provide a very accurate description, for Millhone seems to end up with cases that summon her exclusively to dingy, one stoplight towns throughout the state of California. In this case, it is the fictional Serena Station deep in the scrub brush hinterlands.

In 1953 the voluptuous 24 year old Violet Sullivan was the standout beauty of Serena Station. Although married and by then a young mother, Violet was very unpopular because she was thought by many to be a flirtatious tramp. She didn't garner much sympathy from the fact that Foley, her husband, was a drunk and known to be abusive. Not that he didn't have a reason, for she had a reputation for going after anyone in pants over at the Blue Moon saloon, the only watering hole in the area. She was an eyeful, and all of the wives resented their husbands for casting an appreciative glance in her direction.

Violet suddenly disappeared on the night of July 4, 1953, right in the middle of the Fourth of July festivities. After that night she was never seen or heard from again, nor was her brand new car ever found. Her husband, Foley, has since been ostracized by the townsfolk on the suspicion of his having had a hand in her disappearance. Also feeding the rumor mills is the possibility that Violet had stashed away a sizable sum of money from an insurance settlement.

34 years have passed, and in 1987 Daisy Sullivan hires Kinsey to solve the case of her mother's disappearance. Feelings of guilt and abandonment have lingered over the years, and Daisy feels that she needs resolution so that she can achieve peace of mind. She is in a tough spot, for neither possible outcome is pleasant for her: Either her mother is long dead or she had so little feeling for her only daughter that she deserted her on the spur of the moment without a glance back.

Kinsey reluctantly takes the case, since few clues must exist after the passage of 34 years. She will soon find a small town where no one willingly shares their darkest secrets. Her nosing around asking questions and stirring up old controversies will quickly make her presence very disagreeable for some. 2005, G. Putnam's Sons, 374 pages.