Y is for Yesterday by Sue GraftonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
For the past 25 years or so, Kinsey Millhouse has been visiting many of us as she works her way through the alphabet. It is sad news to hear this will be Kinsey's last adventure to take us all on, as the author Sue Grafton has passed away with her two year battle with cancer. Ms. Grafton stated upon her death, she didn't want a ghost writer to finish the last book, which she had named many years ago, Z is for Zero. I can understand her decision not to have someone else finish the series up. As many of us have read on going series from author's who have passed away, and a ghost writer continues on with their legacy, many times they miss the connection in which an author and the characters both main and supporting, have developed. This was Ms. Grafton's character from start to finish, as sad as most of us are, we can understand how this is Kinsey's last appearance. However she is not far from gone. There's always a new generation that can be introduced to Kinsey, and the series is still out there for all to read.
The story starts out Kinsey gets a new client, her son was just released from prison, and suddenly a tape from his past is sent to him telling him to come up with 25,000 or a copy will be sent to the DA. Kinsey learns Fritz, was involved in the murder of a classmate back in 1979, he served ten years, and it appears someone wants him to return.
As Kinsey starts the investigation she learns it all starts with private school where one girl steals a test so that two of her friends will be able to pass it, then another girl is blamed for the anonymous letter the principle receives. When the school rich kid, whose very self-centered, manipulating, spoiled, and all around bully, gets mad at Sloane, who apparently has something Austin wants, doesn't fear him like the other kids do, decides that he he's going to scare her into getting what he wants goes all terrible wrong. He has Fritz use his father's gun and he shoots Sloane.
From this point on in the book it bounces from 1979 then back to 1989, as each former classmate tells their version of what happened and what's on the tape. The characters' live seem to be stuck in the past and still mourning Sloan's death and it's affected their day to day lives.
Also there is a on going story picking up where X ended and Ned Lowe is still on the loose and Kinsey is dealing with that and still looking over her shoulder. In the mean time, a couple of the homeless friends of Kinsey have taken up residency in Henry's backyard. The other character's who are friends and family of Kinsey are back to stir up the mix as well.
The one thing I didn't enjoy about this book was the telling over and over and over what was on the tape. It seemed like this was the filler in between how to get to who the extortionist was and what really happened the night Sloan was killed. The story starts off slow and it seems to stay at that pace. In my rating, I really only wanted to give it a three stars but then I thought about how Ms. Grafton was dealing with her cancer, and her love for Kinsey, and wanting to try and finish the series, and for her determination, I did bump it up to four stars and I realize everything she was dealing with in her everyday life. Since the series is now over, I am sad Kinsey won't be having any more stories to tell. Over the years, it was nice to see how well Kinsey and the other character's that were introduced have develop to where you think of them more as real people and not just characters.
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