T Is For Trespass Hardcover – December 4, 2007

I have just re-read this book while waiting for "Y". I thought it was good in that so many topics were covered. Identity theft, elder abuse and insurance fraud. It is easier to assume someone's identity than I imagined. The woman who does it is very clever. The treatment of an elderly man with no close relatives is scary and probably more common than we know. I like how it is neatly tied up at the end as these books usually are.

It might be that I read this book after reading 3 - 4 Jane Whitefield books by Thomas Perry. I like Grafton's writing style better - she has a more natural narrative voice and a better sense of humor but Perry has her all beat to hell when it comes to thrills and chills.I thought "T is for Trespass" was slow to get off the ground. My iPad keeps track of these things for me so I noticed that I was 25% - 30% into the book and it felt like the stage was still being set. At some point I got hooked though, and by the end I was ready to download another book in the series. Of course you always know that the heroine is going to win in the end so it takes a lot of skill to convince the reader that she is in real jeopardy. I think Grafton pulled it off. My one complaint, and this goes for lots of writers, is that it annoys me when the heroine gets all angsty about killing someone in self defense. Grafton did a good job of showing that a person isn't necessary sorry about doing what had to be done, but that even "righteous" violent behavior has a profound impact on a person's psyche.

Kinsey had her hands full this time. She was working more than two cases at the same time when another dropped on lap. She was responsible for serving court orders she took statements and located witness. A elderly neighbor had fallen when she and her landlord assisted him by calling the ambulance. Later they straightened his unkempt place so when he was released from the hospital he could come home to a reasonably clean house. She contacted his only living relative, she arrives earlier than stated she was stuck with a house guest overnight. Later asked to do very basic background check on the hired private nurse by the relative. She was so busy with the other cases she didn't do a full check. This story had so many different twists and turns. I loved this book you know immediately who the criminals were normally Kinsey would have ferreted them. The characters in this story were in cases extremely cunning and ruthless. I enjoyed this book all the way until the very end.

My only issue with Sue Grafton's books is her interminable descriptions. If she reduced the descriptions by half, and provide good content in place of, I would enjoy them much more.She as a rule doesn't have any sexual content, but a good deal of wondering by her protagonist. Its generally in passing, and does add to the story.

I've been a fan of Sue Grafton since A is for Alibi, but I hadn't read any of her books LATELY until this past week, when I gulped down two (see my review of S is for Silence). Ordinarily, I like to spread out mystery reads, but sometimes you gotta just live dangerously.T is for Trespass is a different kind of mystery. We actually know throughout the story who the bad guy is and what they're doing. The question is how Kinsey Millhone will stop the bad stuff going on. In fact, there's more than one bad guy and more than one kind of trespass.Sue Grafteon has always had a lot of minutiae in her books; it's not only a facet of her writing, it's how Kinsey's mind works, but sometimes it can begin to feel like a lot of filler. It sometimes did, here.However, the issues in the story - about neglect & abuse of the elderly, child molestation, and identity theft - are current, real, and pretty frightening, so I was very intrigued with the story line and the themes throughout. I'm not all that much into mysteries, but I enjoy them more when real values issues are part of the mix. The only downside - and this is true of several of the books in the series - is that Ms. Grafton doesn't really allow Kinsey to grow much. I don't want her to change drastically, but I haven't seen her grow or change in a while. Even with the slow dating of the series, I find myself wishing she'd change somewhat as a result of the cases she goes through.

As usual this author doesn't disappoint. I had recently waded through some very unsatisfactory free offerings on the Kindle and needed something that wouldn't bring me to the brink of despair and I knew Kinsey Millhone was the girl for the job !!In this story she's trying to get to the bottom of a dodgy insurance scam along with keeping an eye on an elderly neighbour's new live-in carer who she thinks is up to no good.As usual dear old Henry, her landlord, features. We'd all love a neighbour like him. I liked the appearance of a lady called Peggy and it would be nice if she was in a future story in this series as I liked her relationship with Kinsey in this one.In this one I did come across a couple of apostrophe errors which is odd and the odd hyphen thrown in where it wasn't meant to be which was very unusual but I really enjoyed this story.

This book covers everyones nightmare when they have an elderly relative to take care of. The story flows along very quickly and like all the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series, it is a stand alone story.The frustrations felt by the people involved when they cannot get anyone in authority to listen to them, makes you want to shout out loud, How silly is that. You feel the frustrations of where do I turn next.I enjoyed the book, while having an uneasy feeling that some of it is too close to the truth.

Gave up at the end of chapter 8. This is 18% in, according to my kindle. My problem was that nothing was happening. A story needs a main story arch, some reason why I want to keep turning pages and find out what happens. By the end of chapter 8, nothing of any interest had happened. We get lots of pointless detail of what Kinsey has in her sandwich and what she sees when she goes for a run, but nothing actually happens. The villain is introduced in chapter 1, then you don't hear about her again for ages. I guess she shows up some time after chapter 8. I just wasn't interested enough to find out. Poorly structured. Needs some conflict up front to keep the reader engaged. As it is, the early chapters read like a tedious diary. I kept thinking why do I care about this?

The story was not the usual murder but a couple of crimes that evolved as the story progressed. A nasty carer taking over an old man and a car accident where a false claim was being made. The story ended as usual with a life threating fight for the PI which of course she survived.

I came late to Sue Grafton and was so hooked on these marvellous books, I read all of them up to S is for Silence over a period of about a year. It was a long wait until T is for Trespass but the book was well worth the wait. The author gives us economical writing, good plots, a cast of characters to love, what more could a reader want. Roll on U is for ....? but what will we read when she finishes Z, I shall feel as if I've lost a friend in Kinsey Millhone.