M is for Malice

A Kinsey Millhone Mystery

By: Sue Grafton

Narrated by: Mary Peiffer

Kinsey Millhone's latest client is Malek Construction, a $40 million company still in family hands. It doesn't take an accountant to see that the four Malek brothers stand to inherit a fortune. But one of the brothers has been missing for 18 years, and Kinsey's assignment is to find him.

The stock of family memories is filled with nothing but bitterness, and the prodigal son will find no comfort at the Malek table. If there's one thing that goes hand-in-hand with bad blood, it's murder; and that's just around the corner.

Don't miss the other titles in the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mystery Series.©1996 Sue Grafton (P)1997 Random House, Inc.

loved it

This one just keeps you guessing until the end! it has an unexpected twist you don't see coming

love her books.

her books are always to short !
Don't like having to wait on each new one.

Another winner by Sue Grafton

She always gets me hooked. The story starts out a teeny bit slow but picks up quickly. It has a lot of twists and I really enjoyed this one!

Sad but good

Kinsey sets out on a missing person case with an 18 year history and some ghostly overtones.

Mystery (M is for Malice)

I really like these books by Sue Grafton. The reader sounds just right for the part. I would tell people to enjoy this book and the others in the series.

M is for Malice is one of the best of the series

This book has a more fleshed out storyline than most of the previous ones in the series. I really enjoyed it.

Grafton Gets Better and Better

Yes, as other reviewers have noted, the plot in this novel is a bit drawn out. But this is not a failing. Here, we see one of the first times that Grafton explores more subtle character development, and that process requires a few more pages (or minutes) than a straight-out plot driven tale. And for me, the extra time is worth it, both to listen to the author exercise this skill, and to enjoy the story that develops along the way.

Both Kinsey and her sometime paramour Dietz are rounded out a bit as characters, and Kinsey confronts some of her more notable biases and makes peace with a little personal growth.

The plot itself is nuanced, so if, as one reviewer criticizes, you are troubled that the murder takes place well into the tale, this may not be the book for you. But that speaks more about you than it does about the writer. Don't be so impatient. This is not a race. Recognize the early investment necessary to make you care about later developments. And enjoy the ride ~ Grafton rewards patience with characters you will love and hate, and a plot that twists a bit more than usual.

Admittedly, we are not dealing with great literature here, or in the rest of the Kinsey Millhone series. But this is a diverting escape ~ high praise, I would think, for a novel of this type.

Sit back, take a breath and enjoy the escape.

Worth the read, enjoyed the mystery and suspense

Loved it this is her best book yet. The tri-angle was an interesting twist along with many others.

Great as usual.

I've listened to all of Grafton's stories. I really like listening to them. It is like visiting old friends. As you follow the mystery you can see how everyone is getting along.

Enjoyable stories.

I will only buy the Kinsey novels that are read by Mary Peiffer as her performance is much easier to listen to and the characters are easily recognizable. The male voices sound like men not adolescents. And the female characters are easily differentiated. When Ms. Peiffer is speaking as Kinsey she sounds about the right age and social-level as Kinsey is meant to be.

I much prefer this narrator to Judy Kaye. I find Judy Kaye sounds far too old to be in her thirties and the male voices are painful to listen to, like some good ole boy that's over 80 years and squeeky with it.