B Is for Burglar

This series is turning out to be like a light, cold beer on a hot day, or a cup of diner coffee. Profound? no. Creative, original, genius? No. Formulaic? Yes. But Kinsey is a likable character, the plot was tight and well constructed, and I was kind of surprised at the ending. Grafton is a master craftswoman. So even if she ploddingly describes the physical features of every character we encounter, all of whom are mostly one dimensional and expedient to the plot.

This follows the standard Grafton formula, and I quite like the standard formula so that's all right. This one was published in 1985, and it's fun to see what's changed, and what hasn't. The teenager with the pink mohawk could fit in now -- amazing how the mohawk has endured. The modest house for $115,000 in Santa Barbara, California -- not so much. One nice change is that most of the characters smoke, and that's not the case today.