# Alphabet ends at Y: RIP Sue Grafton **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2017, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540 "2017-12-29T20:53:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/21 "2017-12-30T16:45:13Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > That’s too bad. I haven’t read any of the books, but I thought the series progression was cool. > > Are the books any good? The earliest are really good, as time went on I think she got repetitious and long-winded. But the characters are well written, you almost feel like you know them. Kinsey is a private detective, single woman, independent, ex-cop, and while checking out mysteries sometimes gets in over her head. I do love each book has an epilogue of how her case turned out. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/22 "2017-12-30T16:50:33Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > Was she planning to kill her off? Oh, I wouldn’t think so! I was always hoping the last novel would end with Kinsey brought up to date in the 21st century, and was writing about looking back at her last case before she ‘retired’. (and why she retired - did Henry die and leave her a fortune? Did Kinsey get wounded by a villain in the course of her work and become disabled? Did she marry, or get involved with her family, or what??? We’ll never know, and there will always be a missing volume: ‘Z’.) Kinsey was ‘stuck in the 80’s’ and earlier, in all the books. Because that was when detectives had to go out and pound the streets and do research and so on. What fun would it be reading about a private detective searching during a job staring into a computer all day, as they might well do today?? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/23 "2017-12-30T17:34:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > \ > > Grafton must have known about these. Her father was a mystery writer himself during the same period. His first two had titles taken from the first two lines of a nursery rhyme. Why he didn’t continue seems to be a … mystery. > \ Ed McBain also wrote the Matthew Hope series, about a Florida private detective: Goldilocks Rumpelstiltskin Beauty and the Beast Jack and the Beanstalk Snow White and Rose Red Cinderella Puss in Boots The House that Jack Built Three Blind Mice Mary, Mary There was a Little Girl Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear The Last Best Hope ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/24 "2017-12-30T19:04:48Z")
I always thought Grafton should’ve had a book called “L Is For Lunch”, based on her characters’ most popular activity (at least in the novel I read). Hard to believe readers keep buying ghostwritten mystery fiction after the author croaks. Just let it go, people. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/25 "2017-12-30T19:10:10Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I always thought Grafton should’ve had a book called “L Is For Lunch”, based on her characters’ most popular activity (at least in the novel I read). > > Hard to believe readers keep buying ghostwritten mystery fiction after the author croaks. > > Just let it go, people. I’d be pretty pissed if i stuck around for 25 books and there was no conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/26 "2017-12-30T19:31:34Z")
Sue had just published Y Is for Yesterday this year. She did write almost to the end. Robert Parker literally died at his desk. Authors are hard core. 😉 Geez, Kindle books are getting outrageous. $15 for a mystery book? There’s no printing or distribution costs for a digital book. It’s a file that gets downloaded. > **[Y is for Yesterday (A Kinsey Millhone Novel Book 25) - Kindle edition by...](https://www.amazon.com/Yesterday-Kinsey-Millhone-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B01MUBJLNC)** > > Y is for Yesterday (A Kinsey Millhone Novel Book 25) - Kindle edition by Grafton, Sue. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Y is for... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/27 "2017-12-30T21:24:05Z")
Man, that sucks, to fall just one short of the obvious conclusion to such a long-running series. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/28 "2017-12-30T22:05:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Man, that sucks, to fall just one short of the obvious conclusion to such a long-running series. That’s a reason why Agatha Christie wrote books ending her Poirot and Marple series in the 1940s, at the height of her powers. She died in 1976. Instead of the slow, sad decline to a wretched end that practically every series writer goes through, her fans got peak books to remember her by. She always was a top notch marketer. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/29 "2017-12-30T23:02:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > That’s a reason why Agatha Christie wrote books ending her Poirot and Marple series in the 1940s, at the height of her powers. She died in 1976. Instead of the slow, sad decline to a wretched end that practically every series writer goes through, her fans got peak books to remember her by. She always was a top notch marketer. Her last few books before “Curtains” and “Sleeping Murder” were pretty said, though. It’s been pointed out that while Poirot died in his, Miss Marple didn’t in hers. As for Grafton, she had said that Kinsey was her if she hadn’t turned to writing. I’m sorry to see her go. I met her at Bouchercon a few years back and had her sign my books. She was a great writer to meet, and generous with her time and enthusiasm. I hope, now she’s gone, that her family relents on selling the rights to her books. I understand why she didn’t want to, but that shouldn’t apply to what’s good for the living, not to mention Grafton’s legacy. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/30 "2017-12-31T01:44:29Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > That’s a reason why Agatha Christie wrote books ending her Poirot and Marple series in the 1940s, at the height of her powers. She died in 1976. Instead of the slow, sad decline to a wretched end that practically every series writer goes through, her fans got peak books to remember her by. She always was a top notch marketer. Agatha continued writing. Elephants Can Remember was published in 1972. Nemesis (Miss Marple) was published in 1971. The series ending books, Curtain and Sleeping Murder were written early and published posthumously. Curtain reunited Poirot and Hastings. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/31 "2017-12-31T02:27:35Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Ed McBain also wrote the Matthew Hope series, about a Florida private detective. Correction: Matthew Hope was a lawyer/detective (a la Perry Mason), not a private detective. McBain, the supreme police proceduralist, always liked to say “The last time a private eye solved a murder case was never.” Disclaimer: I was McBain’s editor for the four final Hope novels. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/32 "2017-12-31T02:50:11Z")
This thread reminded me that I never finished the Mathew Hope series. I was getting used paperbacks from a local place. I’ll check Amazon and see which books I missed. I recall they were very good. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/33 "2017-12-31T04:45:51Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Hard to believe readers keep buying ghostwritten mystery fiction after the author croaks. > > Just let it go, people. Some of it is entertaining and very good. Series continuations that I have enjoyed: Felix Francis books continuing the horse racing mysteries of his father, Dick Francis (the new books are substantially better than his father’s last few). Jill Paton Walsh books continuing the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries of Dorothy Sayers. The first two books, based on Sayers’ notes, are the best, but I am thrilled to have them and very happy that the series was continued. Ace Atkins books continuing Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels. They are great, and fit right into the Spenser canon. I know that not every series continuation works out, but I love these three, and still keep track of when the next installments will be available. I’m torn about Grafton’s. If she didn’t want them continued, I’d like to see her wishes respected, but OTOH, it was just one more book and then the series would have been completed anyway. And it would be so nice to have a conclusion, instead of leaving the alphabet forever unfinished. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/34 "2017-12-31T16:28:42Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > McBain wrote some 87 Precinct mysteries with one word titles, intending to go through the whole alphabet, with the last one being _Exit_: Ax, Bread, Calypso, Doll, Fuzz, Ghost, Heat, Ice, Jigsaw, Kiss, Lightning, Mischief, Nocturne, Poison, Romance, Tricks, Vespers and Widows were published. I never noticed that about his one-word titles but looking at the [list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/87th_Precinct#The_87th_Precinct_Mysteries) I see they not only had multi-word titles interleaved between them, they weren’t published in order. Reading them piecemeal from the library didn’t help, either. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/35 "2017-12-31T18:20:21Z")
Dick Francis’s books took a steep nosedive after his wife died and there was talk that she had helped with the plotting. I am sad there won’t be any more Kinsey adventures but really, what kind of series wrap up were people envisioning? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/36 "2017-12-31T19:02:28Z")
> [@toast\_pakora](#): > > I am sad there won’t be any more Kinsey adventures but really, what kind of series wrap up were people envisioning? I can’t remember all of the details, but in the last few books, she had begun tying up a number of threads. She had established Kinsey’s relationship with her family, and IIRC, indicated that Kinsey was due to receive an inheritance that would have allowed her to substantially improve her lifestyle. She had also started to address Kinsey’s romantic live, bringing back a number of previous lovers and setting up the idea that she would eventually pick one of them to be her life partner. I expected the final book to show Kinsey settling down with someone and moving on from her current living and work arrangements to something new and more permanent. Remember that the entire series takes place in a relatively short period of Kinsey’s life, only a few years. I saw it as representing a time when she was still unsettled and finding herself, and expected the conclusion to be the end of that phase of her life. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/37 "2017-12-31T19:26:40Z")
RIP. I’m sorry that there won’t be a Z, but I’m going to sit down with A and read through to Y in her honor. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/38 "2018-01-01T13:16:11Z")
Sad news, of course for her family and close friends foremost, and then, secondarily for us selfish fans. I’ve been a major fan of the Kinsey series for a long time, I even acquired copies of all of her short stories before she collected them in the book “Kinsey and Me.” I totally respect her wishes for no one to write Kinsey after her death, and it could well be that she had no story for “Z” just yet, but I’d be surprised if she didn’t at least have in mind the personal-life events for Kinsey, Henry, et al that would have taken place, and I hope the family lets us know where Sue meant for them to end up by the end of the book and series. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/39 "2018-01-01T13:18:45Z")
Clothanump: > [@](#): > > Remember that the entire series takes place in a relatively short period of Kinsey’s life, only a few years. 1982 - 1989. “A” is for Alibi was written in, and clearly meant to take place in, 1980, but starting with “B” is for Burglar, days of the week consistently lined up with a 1982 start date, so the 1980 week-days of “A” can be written off as an understandable anachronism. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540/40 "2018-01-01T14:35:44Z")
So, [comic book time](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ComicBookTime) was not in effect? Even though _Y is for Yesterday_ was published in 2017, the story is definitely set nearly 30 years ago? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alphabet-ends-at-y-rip-sue-grafton/805540.md?page=3)