Q is for Quarry - Sue Grafton

"Wait, wait," you say. "You NEVER give Millhone books 4 stars."

I know, I know. But this one. This one was different. This one was BETTER. This one earned it. (Plus is probably doesn't hurt that it comes after the extremely weak and confusing P is for Peril - see my review of that one here).

When I got to the author's note at the end, it all made sense.  Grafton was inspired by a real case for this one. And for some reason, life really can be stranger than fiction, or at least more interesting. Sometimes real life offers us just the perfect mix of mystery, suspense, and horror. Whereas fiction can sometimes reach too far and somehow miss the mark. 

Q is the story of an old unsolved murder with an unidentified victim. Lt. Dolan is trying to cheer up a friend of his by enlisting Kinsey's help in re-investigating a cold case of a woman who was dumped in a quarry in 1969. The victim is a Jane Doe - not much to go on. A small detail leads Kinsey and Dolan down state where they start to unravel not only the identity of the victim, but also the identity of the killer. 

The story unraveled well. Kinsey was helpful and even though the story involved some more background on her family, she didn't come across as a sulky teenager in this one when interacting with her family. So all in all, this is probably the best book in the alphabet series I have read. Is 2016 the year I finish the alphabet series? Probably not, but I'm going to keep reading them and hopefully some of the future installments measure up to this one.

4/5 Stars.

Three Cups of Deceit - Jon Krakauer

It took Jon Krakauer 75 pages to unravel all the lies spun by Mortenson and Relin in 350 pages of Three Cups of Tea (read my review of that one here) I wasn't blown away by Krakauer's writing in this one, but he didn't intend this to be like one of his longer books. 

He succinctly unravels Mortenson's deceit.

Like Krakauer I am really confused why Greg would go to all that trouble to concoct such an elaborate lie. The story, the parts that are true would be admirable. It reminds me of the woman who lied for years about being a September 11th victim and really was nowhere near the towers on that day. 

The lies undo a lot of the good that could be done by bringing the entire scheme into doubt. The mismanagement of the funds make me happy that I never gave money to the organization. 

I hope the CAI can move on from here. Mortenson can take his millions and quietly live with his family, but I doubt someone who's ego needs that much fluffing will be able to stay away from the spotlight. At least he won't be looking at the Nobel prize anytime soon.

4/5 Stars.