O is for Outlaw

A Kinsey Millhone Mystery

By: Sue Grafton

Narrated by: Judy Kaye

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The call comes on a Monday morning from a guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction. The weekend before, he'd bought a stack of cardboard boxes. In one, there was a collection of childhood memorabilia with Kinsey's name all over it.

Though she's never been one for personal possessions, curiosity is a powerful force. What she finds among the items is an old undelivered letter to her that will force her to reexamine her beliefs about the breakup of her first marriage...about the honor of her first husband...and about an old unsolved murder. It will put her life in the gravest peril.

Through 14 books, listeners have been fed short rations when it comes to Kinsey Millhone's past: a morsel here, a dollop there. You know about the aunt who raised her, the second husband who left her, the long-lost family up the California coast. But husband number one has remained a blip on the screen. Until now. "O" Is for Outlaw is a revealing excursion into Kinsey's past.

©199 9 (P)1999 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Romantic Times Award Winner - Best PI Novel, 1999

"Grafton works with a cinematic eye, possessing a keen visual sense of detail, color, and style. The pace is fast, the crime difficult to solve." (People)

My favorite Kinsey adventure yet.

I was riveted to the end. Love this new narrator! She gave the tale great life.

Good story, meh narration

Be forewarned: there’s a new narrator. For those of us who read with affection about Kinsey’s neighbor Henry, who is a spry octogenarian with good looks and wise advice, this narration was painful. In this book, Henry speaks with frailty, feebleness, and an inexplicable Irish brogue (in the series, much is made of his Michigan hometown). I agree with those who say Kinsey suffers with this new narration. The vulnerability that makes the character unique has disappeared and the voice is as hard as granite. I understand if a series must switch narrators, but the voices should remain in keeping with the author’s descriptions. Otherwise, it’s as if the narrators ignore the descriptions (do they even check…?) and decide to make the characterization their own. That’s not right for the reader, and that’s not the narrator’s job.

**edited review to add: She uses a slur. I really don’t care about why it might be “necessary” for the characterization. Someone said they despised this book. I get it.

More about Kinsey

So many of the stories leave threads of ambiguity as they go along. Little teasers. ‘Ping’ and move on. Kinsey’s relationships and past experiences are touched on and sometimes not expanded. Sort of fun to read a story that fleshed out the thread of her marriage experience. Also, how it went awry. A bit of a tearjerker at the end and that was a splash of nice.

Disappointed by the change in narrator.

Working my way through the series from A to Z, the sudden change in narrator at "O" is nearly unbearable. It completely changed the feel of all the characters, making the entire cast seem totally foreign and unrelatable. I'm debating abandoning the Kinzie Millhone series and moving to something else. It's just too aggravating.

A Time Warp into crime on a different era

The title was only marginally related to the story in my view, but the characters and plot carried the story along quite well. Not sure how someone who didn't grow up in the Vietnam era would relate. Some characters just had brief walk-on parts. A good mystery in the end.

Great story

As always Sue Grafton's books are fantastic. It keeps you guessing until the last chapter when she starts bringing everything together. I love a good mystery and she really brings it out and all her books. I've been reading her books since the early 90s and I will continue reading them. All I can say is thank you Sue keep writing.

Sound quality

The quality of the sound was quite poor as compared to other titles in the series and made it difficult to follow the story.

Always a favorite

What made the experience of listening to O is for Outlaw the most enjoyable?

I just like the relaxed way Grafton spins a tale. I have read all of her books. I can remember reading her books during my children's sporting practices as children and they are in their 30's now. There is just something calming about her manner of telling a tale.

Of a Different FLavor

I choose this rating because reading had a sad quality to it the whole time. If this darkness had been there in the earlier books I would not have read this far into the sequence. I will try on more and see if it was because of the story material.

great

my first time having a audio book with a woman reading and I really enjoyed it. Definitly came back on tonight to get another book by this author and hopefully the same reader...