Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mystery Books in Order
Sue Grafton's long-running detective series follows Kinsey Millhone, a sharp-witted private investigator working out of fictional Santa Teresa, California. Each installment is titled after a letter of the alphabet, running from A to Y before the author's death left the series unfinished.
Publication order
In the order the books were originally released.
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Buy on Amazon1982 · Sue Grafton
Private investigator Kinsey Millhone takes on a case from Nikki Fife, a woman released from prison after serving eight years for poisoning her…
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Buy on AmazonB is for Burglar (Kinsey Millhone, #2)
1985 · Sue Grafton
Kinsey is hired to locate Elaine Boldt, a wealthy Santa Teresa woman who has seemingly vanished, last reported in Florida. What begins as a routine…
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Buy on AmazonC is for Corpse (Kinsey Millhone, #3)
1986 · Sue Grafton
A young man named Bobby Callahan, badly injured and amnesiac after a car crash he believes was attempted murder, hires Kinsey to find out who wanted…
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Buy on AmazonD is for Deadbeat (Sue Grafton)
1987 · Sue Grafton
A scruffy ex-con called John Daggett hires Kinsey to deliver a check, then turns up dead in the harbor, ruled a drunken drowning. Kinsey suspects…
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Buy on AmazonE is for Evidence (Sue Grafton)
1988 · Sue Grafton
Kinsey investigates a suspected arson claim at a California manufacturing plant, only to find herself framed as the one who took a bribe to falsify…
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Buy on AmazonF is for Fugitive (Sue Grafton)
1989 · Sue Grafton
Kinsey travels to the small coastal town of Floral Beach to help Bailey Fowler, who fled after being accused of a teenage girl's murder seventeen…
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Buy on AmazonG is for Gumshoe (Sue Grafton)
1990 · Sue Grafton
Hired to check on an elderly woman living alone in the Mojave Desert, Kinsey simultaneously learns that a dangerous man she once helped imprison has…
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Buy on Amazon1991 · Sue Grafton
While processing a routine insurance claim, Kinsey crosses paths with Bibianna Diaz and gets pulled into a fraud ring run by the volatile Raymond…
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Buy on AmazonI is for Innocent (Sue Grafton)
1992 · Sue Grafton
Kinsey is hired by attorney Lonnie Kingman to finish the work of a recently deceased investigator on a wrongful-death civil suit. The defendant was…
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Buy on Amazon1993 · Sue Grafton
An insurance company asks Kinsey to look into Wendell Jaffe, a man presumed dead by suicide five years ago whose widow collected on his policy—until…
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Buy on Amazon1994 · Sue Grafton
Restless and unable to sleep, Kinsey takes a late-night case from a grieving mother who refuses to accept that her daughter Lorna's death was…
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Buy on AmazonL is for Lawless (Sue Grafton)
1995 · Sue Grafton
A neighbor's request to help with a denied military burial benefit leads Kinsey into the tangled legacy of a dead man with a hidden past. The trail…
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Buy on Amazon1996 · Sue Grafton
The wealthy Malek family hires Kinsey to find Guy, the long-estranged black-sheep brother who vanished eighteen years ago, now due a share of a large…
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Buy on Amazon1998 · Sue Grafton
In the small Sierra town of Nota Lake, Kinsey is hired by a widow to find out what was troubling her husband, a CHP officer, in the weeks before he…
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Buy on Amazon"O" Is for Outlaw (Sue Grafton)
1999 · Sue Grafton
A tip about a long-lost box of belongings forces Kinsey to confront her own past and her first ex-husband, Mickey Magruder, a disgraced cop she…
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Buy on Amazon2001 · Sue Grafton
Kinsey is hired by an ex-wife to look into the disappearance of Dr. Dowan Purcell, a nursing-home administrator who vanished without a trace amid a…
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Buy on Amazon2002 · Sue Grafton
Working a genuine cold case, Kinsey teams with two ailing retired detectives to identify a young woman whose stabbed body was found unclaimed beside…
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Buy on AmazonR is for Ricochet (Sue Grafton)
2004 · Sue Grafton
Kinsey takes a simple-sounding job escorting Reba Lafferty home from prison and keeping her on the straight path for her wealthy father. But Reba is…
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Buy on Amazon2005 · Sue Grafton
A documentary filmmaker named Daisy hires Kinsey to discover what became of her mother, Violet Sullivan, who drove off one night in 1953 and was…
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Buy on Amazon2007 · Sue Grafton
A routine background check for an insurance defense case puts Kinsey in contact with Solana Rojas, a caregiver hired for an elderly neighbor. Sensing…
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Buy on AmazonU is for Undertow (Kinsey Millhone, #21)
2009 · Sue Grafton
A young man approaches Kinsey claiming that as a boy he witnessed two men burying something on a property—possibly tied to a notorious decades-old…
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Buy on AmazonW is for Wasted (Kinsey Millhone, #23)
2013 · Sue Grafton
Kinsey is drawn into two intertwining cases: the death of a homeless man found on the beach with her name and number in his pocket, and the demise of…
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Buy on Amazon2017 · Sue Grafton
In 1989, Kinsey looks into a blackmail threat against a young man recently released from custody for a crime committed years earlier as a teenager,…
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Frequently asked questions
What order should I read the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mystery books in?
Publication order — Author Sue Grafton and publisher (Putnam/Holt) numbered the novels A through Y; readers and bookseller guides universally recommend reading in this sequential alphabetical/publication order. Start with “"A" is for Alibi.”
How many books are in the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mystery series?
We list 23 books by Sue Grafton , published between 1982–2017.
Where can I buy the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mystery books?
Each title above links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Reading order compiled from author/publisher guidance and verified bibliographic data. Spotted an error? We continuously correct the catalog.