[In the following review, Corrigan argues that “K” Is for Killer is unsuitable for those unfamiliar with the Kinsey Millhone series, but loyal fans will find the novel interesting.]

One of the advantages of series fiction is its power to postpone the resolution of a suspenseful situation over the course of a few novels. Like those Saturday afternoon serials of yore—The Falcon, Buck Rogers, The Lone Ranger—many a mystery novel has tied its readers up in knots over some subplot complication and abandoned them on the railroad tracks of anticipation, only to delay rescue till the next installment. Consider the case of Sue Grafton's series featuring Kinsey Millhone. As devoted readers know by rote, Kinsey was orphaned in childhood and raised by her Aunt Gin. But, in last year's “J” Is for Judgment Kinsey discovered she had a hidden hive of relatives just waiting to swarm all over her and coat her with the honey of extended-family affection. At the conclusion of that novel, Kinsey was mulling over what kind of relationship, if any, she wanted to establish with her kin. Consequently, curious Kinsey fans will fling open “K” Is for Killer and race through its pages only to discover … that Kinsey is still mulling over what to do about her relatives. Well, can you blame her? If she encourages contact, she'll be stuck in an inescapable round of family social obligations. It's hard to imagine a cynical loner like Kinsey really enjoying herself at her second-cousin's-once-removed high school graduation party.

Besides the dangling relative dilemma, other factors contribute to making “K” Is for Killer read like a “time out” mystery in the series. For one thing, most of Kinsey's alternative family members have temporarily vanished: her cop pal, Con Dolan, is in the hospital, her lovable landlord, Henry Pitts, is vacationing, and her surly surrogate mom, Rosie, barely grunts a hello. Another isolating feature of “K” Is for Killer is its setting: most of the action takes place during the dead of night. While investigating the life and puzzling death of a beautiful call girl named Lorna Kepler, Kinsey starts keeping call girl's hours. All her night-time prowling takes its toll on Kinsey's familiar wisecracking narrative voice: “I was vaguely aware of a psychological shift, a change in my perception now that I'd substituted night for day. Like a form of jet lag, my internal clock was no longer synchronized with the rest of the world's. My usual sense of myself was breaking down, and I wondered if a hidden personality might suddenly emerge as if wakened from a long sleep.”

Kinsey's descent into darkness begins when Lorna's mother hires her to find out whether Lorna was, in fact, murdered. (When her body was found it was so badly decomposed that the cause of death couldn't be determined.) Confounding Kinsey's investigation are a grim line-up of suspects—including Lorna's father and sisters—who'd prefer to bury their memories of the dead woman six feet under. To balance things out, Kinsey receives some crucial help from a deejay at an all-night radio station and a prostitute named Danielle who gives Kinsey the first decent haircut she's had since this series began. Though her baffled body clock makes her chronically groggy, Kinsey is still alert enough to put up a good fight in the creepy conclusion. But, to be brutally blunt (in the best Kinsey Millhone tradition), plot and character aren't very intricately developed here because they're not the primary focus of this novel. Instead, Grafton seems to want to concentrate on creating an eerie nocturnal mood. “K” Is for Killer is not the Kinsey Millhone mystery you'd recommend to someone who's unfamiliar with the series—it's too idiosyncratic and somber—but, for loyal readers, it'll probably become what the “Nebraska” album is to Bruce Springsteen fans.