"T" is for Trespass

Judy Kaye simply is Kinsey Millhone. When Kinsey is on her daily run, Judy is short of breath. When Kinsey is being strangled by a 300-pound sociopath, Judy can barely force air through her throat. Kaye, who has narrated all of Grafton's Alphabet series, has the task nicely down pat. In addition to Kinsey, she creates many believable female characters, and her men are distinct (if a bit light-voiced). In this, the twentieth novel in the series, Kinsey is living in 1988. Yet the topics are thoroughly up-to-date: identity theft and abuse of the elderly. Fans of the series will be comforted to find that not much has changed in Santa Teresa. R.E.K. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from September 17, 2007
The 20th Kinsey Millhone crime novel (after 2005's S Is for Silence
), a gripping, if depressing, tale of identify theft and elder abuse, displays bestseller Grafton's storytelling gifts. By default, Millhone, “a private investigator in the small Southern California town of Santa Teresa,” assumes responsibility for the well-being of an old neighbor, Gus Vronsky, injured in a fall. After Vronsky's great-niece arranges to hire a home aide, Solana Rojas, Millhone begins to suspect that Rojas is not all that she seems. Since the reader knows from the start that an unscrupulous master manipulator has stolen the Rojas persona, the plot focuses not on whodunit but on the battle of wits Millhone wages with an unconventional and formidable adversary. Grafton's mastery of dialogue and her portrayal of the limits of good intentions make this one of the series' high points, even if two violent scenes near the end tidy up the pieces a little too neatly. Author tour.

April 15, 2008
In her 20th outing, another "New York Times "best seller for Grafton, private detective Kinsey Millhone finds her elderly neighbor Gus sprawled on his living room floor after a fall. His injuries make it impossible for Gus to care for himself, so his only relative, a niece who lives in New York, hires a home-care provider and hopes for the best. In a cursory background check, Kinsey finds Solana Rojas to be a competent and caring companion for Gus. However, the narrator reveals that Solana is a sociopath who steals the identities of others and uses their good names to abuse, rob, and eventually kill helpless elderly people. When Kinsey begins to suspect that something is wrong, Solana is well on her way to transferring all of Gus's property to her own name. Kinsey's struggle to liberate Gus from Solana and bring Solana to justice is hampered by a system meant to protect and defend the defenseless. Grafton's story confronts the dark side of society today; elder abuse, child abuse, bureaucratic roadblocks, social services incompetence, and absence of family values all play a part in this all-too-realistic tale. Judy Kaye's interplay of first and third person narration adds interest and suspense. Recommended.Joanna M. Burkhardt, Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Univ. of Rhode Island, Providence

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.