Kinsey and Me is a collection of short stories by
Sue Grafton. If you have any doubt that Sue is an amazing writer, these Kinsey stories would blow those doubts away. Packing a mystery with twists and turns into just a few pages is delivered flawlessly. We also learn a little about Ms. Grafton through her writing. She states that Kinsey Millhone is the woman she might have been had she not married (a stripped down version of herself.) And there are many similarities between author and protagonist. While Kinsey's parents died when she was very young and was raised by an aunt with no maternal instincts, Sue Grafton's parents were both alcoholics. The second part of the book "Me" was written after her mother's death. The introduction gives us a glimpse into Sue Grafton's early life. Her father was absent most of the time and her mother spent her days on the sofa using the phone to call in supplies of alcohol and food for delivery. Sue's sister stayed in her bedroom while Sue was more adventurous and as young as five was riding the bus and roaming the city. She says, beginning in her teenage years, writing was her salvation. There are many surprises about the author in this book, one of these is that Ms. Grafton wrote for television before turning to mystery novel writing.
