Z is for Zero

“Sue Grafton, a prolific author of detective novels known for an alphabetically titled series that began in 1982 with “A Is for Alibi,” died on Thursday night in Santa Barbara, Calif. She was 77. Her daughter Jamie Clark, announcing the death on the author’s website and Facebook page, said Ms. Grafton had cancer. With the publication of her latest book in August, Ms. Grafton’s alphabetical series had reached “Y Is for Yesterday.” “She was adamant that her books would never be turned into movies or TV shows,” her daughter wrote, “and in that same vein, she would never allow a ghost writer to write in her name. Because of all of those things, and out of the deep abiding love and respect for our dear sweet Sue, as far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends at Y...”

Ms. Grafton’s husband, Steven F. Humphrey, said her illness had prevented her from making any progress on the planned final book in the series, although she did have the title. “She always said that last book would be ‘Z Is for Zero,’ ” he said. “She’d been saying that for 30 years...”

Sue Taylor Grafton was born on April 24, 1940, in Louisville, Ky. Her father, C. W. Grafton, was a lawyer who also wrote mystery novels, and her mother, the former Vivian Harnsberger, was a teacher. “Y Is for Yesterday,” the latest of Ms. Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone novels, was published this year.  “Ask me if I’d ever sell the film or TV rights to these books,” she said in a 2013 interview with The Minneapolis Star Tribune promoting “W Is for Wasted.” “No, I would not. I would never let those clowns get their hands on my work. They’d ruin it for everyone, me more than most.”  “A Is for Alibi” was her eighth book and, she said, “my ticket out of Hollywood.” “I was smitten with all those little Victorian children being dispatched in various ways,” she told The New York Times in 2015. “ ‘A is for Amy who fell down the stairs; B is for Basil assaulted by bears; C is for Clara who wasted away; D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh.’ Edward Gorey was deliciously bent..”

Her book series features Kinsey Millhone, a private investigator, whom “A Is for Alibi” introduced this way:

“My name is Kinsey Millhone. I’m a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I’m thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind.” Ms. Grafton read the Nancy Drew books and Agatha Christie growing up, but, she said, the first book that really rocked her was Mickey Spillane’s “I, the Jury.” “After Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie, what a revelation!” she said, “and it may have been the moment when the spirit of Kinsey Millhone first sparked to life...”

Ms. Grafton was forever being asked how much of her was in Kinsey Millhone, and she acknowledged that there was a sort of alter-ego connection between author and character. But, she noted to The Seattle Times in an interview in August, there was one big difference: She realized early in the series that if she was going to write the entire alphabet, Kinsey could not age in real time and still be limber enough for a fast-moving detective yarn. “When I started, she was 32 and I was 42,” Ms. Grafton said. “And now she’s 39 and I’m 77, which I just do not think is fair...”

~ NY Times