A is for Alibi

Despite Sue Grafton's use of a female protagonist (the private investigator Kinsey Millhone), her crime novels are in fact deeply conservative, with plot structures and characters written in the traditional style of Mickey Spillane or Raymond Chandler. But her books are nonetheless solid entertainments. 'A' is for Alibi is the first book in her famous "Alphabet" series, and traces Millhone's investigation into the death of a prominent divorce attorney eight years earlier.