Englischsprachige Literatur

Grafton Sue

Y is for Yesterday

Penguin Random House, London 2017

Galbraith3

Sue Grafton wrote this mystery at the age of 77 and it is the last but one in her alphabet series with Kinsey Malone.

As I have only now come across Grafton/Millhone, it takes some adjusting. The plot is set in 1979, when four teenage boys rape a fourteen year old classmate and film the whole affair. This film is stolen soon after, the thief, another girl, is murdered by one of the boys, Fritz, another one goes missing.

Twenty years later Fritz is released and his parents are sent the missing film and faced with a ransom demand. Here Kinsey Millhone turns up and is engaged to find the film and the extortionist.

Grafton takes her time telling the story, with a strong emphasis on dialogue and lengthy descriptions of her protagonists`feelings. She shows great understanding and worldly wisdom, but could have done with half the pages.