Book ~ "L is for Lawless" (1995) Sue Grafton

From Goodreads ~ When Kinsey Millhone's landlord asks her to help deceased World War II vet Johnnie Lee's family find out why the military has no record of his service, she thinks it'll be a cinch. But she is about to meet her match in world-class prevaricators who take her for the ride of her life.

When Lee's apartment in burgled and a man named Ray Rawson, who claims to be an old friend of Lee's, is beaten up, Kinsey soon finds herself on the trail of a pregnant woman with a duffel bag. Soon the intrepid P.I. is following leads halfway across the country and encountering another man from Lee's past - a vengeful psychopath.

Stalked by a new enemy and increasingly suspicious of Rawson - not to mention running out of time and money - now Kinsey must steer a collision course to solve a decades-old mystery that some would like better left unsolved.

It's the 1980s and Kinsey Millhone is a private detective in Santa Teresa, CA, in her thirties.  She is asked by her landlord, Henry Pitts, to help out Bucky, the grandson of their recently deceased neighbor, Johnnie Lee.  Bucky is trying to ensure his grandfather has a military burial but seems to be getting the runaround while trying to get his records and the cost covered.  As Kinsey investigates, free of charge, she discovers that Johnny wasn't as he seemed.  What she thought was going to be a quick and easy favour ends up taking her to Texas as she follows a suspicious-looking pregnant woman leaving Johnnie Lee's old apartment.  The next thing she knows she on the run for her life and running out of money.

In the meantime, Henry's brother, William, is marrying Rosie, the owner of Kinsey's local bar, are getting married in a couple days and Kinsey has to make it back to Santa Teresa in time for the wedding.

I wasn't crazy about this story.  Kinsey started out doing Henry a favour out of the goodness of her heart.  I don't know why she hung on as long as she did considering how dangerous it had gotten, she didn't even know the family she was helping and she had no money ... I would have left a lot sooner.  I didn't find the characters likable or believable.  It's written in first person perspective in Kinsey's voice.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

This is the twelfth in the "alphabet series" featuring Kinsey Millhone.  Though it is part of a series, it works as a stand alone.  I discovered this series in the mid-1990s and have read them all.  I started rereading them last year.  I read the latest, Y is for Yesterday, in October and with the author's recent death, Y is for Yesterday will be the end of the series.

Book ~ "Toronto Sketches 4: The Way We Were" (1995) Mike Filey

From Goodreads ~ Mike Filey's "The Way We Were" column in the Toronto Sun continues to be one of the paper's most popular features. In Toronto Sketches 4, the fourth volume in Dundurn Press's Toronto Sketches series, Filey brings together some of the best of his columns.

Each column looks at Toronto as it was, and contributes to our understanding of how Toronto became what it is. Illustrated with photographs of the city's people and places of the past, Toronto Sketches is a nostalgic journey for the long-time Torontonian, and a voyage of discovery for the newcomer.

Mike Filey had a column in the Toronto Sun for about 30 years and I read it for many years (I like learning about the history of Toronto) ... this book is a compilation of some of his columns.

We learn about Scadding Cabin, transit, Mother Parker's Tea Company, Hurricane Hazel, the Santa Claus Parade, Walt Disney's Canadian connection, the Toronto Postal Delivery Building (which would became the Air Canada Centre), Telemeter (pay-per-view back in 1960), the organ that was in Shea's Hippodrome and now in Casa Loma, and more.

Even though the book was published in 1994, it was still an interesting book because it dealt with many historical events in Toronto ... for example, the Air Canada Centre (ACC) was still in the discussion stages (it opened in 1999) when the book was published.

Toronto Postal Delivery Building  (in the foreground) in 1944

Now the Air Canada Centre (ACC),
where the Toronto Leafs, Raptors and Rock play

If you live in Toronto or are from Toronto, you should check it out.

Book ~ "Dear Irene" (1995) Jan Burke

From Goodreads ~ When a strange letter signed "Thanatos" -- the ancient Greek name for death -- lands on Irene Kelly's desk, the intrepid reporter doesn't think much of it; she gets crazy mail all the time. A less cryptic message is sent when a body turns up the next morning. As more letters roll in, the death toll mounts...and Irene fears that her mysterious pen pal has cast her in his own private Greek tragedy as Cassandra, the seer whom others refused to believe. It's the killer's dream to challenge Irene to follow his ancient blueprint for murder. It's his ultimate desire to make her face the inevitable -- that she is the next to die.

This is the third in the series of eleven (as of 2011). I read it years ago and am rereading the series.

This one was okay. Irene and Frank are now engaged and living together and expanding their family.

Irene is just getting back to work after the beating she had in the second book. Frank is very protective and its driving her crazy.

She starts getting cryptic letters giving her clues to murders. Working together with the police and other reporters, she goes down the path of solving the mystery.

The "whodunnit" was an interesting twist that came and ended quickly.