U is for Undertow

With the latest installment in her alphabet mystery series, author Sue Grafton continues her depiction of the coastal California, 1980s-based world of private investigator Kinsey Milhone. This time around, Kinsey is approached by a young man wanting to hire her to investigate a child abduction that occurred twenty years ago. The prospective client, who was six years old at the time, thinks he remembers seeing two men burying the child in a backwoods area. Against, her better judgment, Kinsey takes on the case. And like most of her cases, this one is completely different from all of the others, yet she again is able to unearth the solution, enabling justice to prevail. In a background story, Kinsey also moves closer to reconciliation with her deceased mother’s family. Skilled plotting and deftly drawn characters make this one of Grafton’s better entries in the series.