The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Series Author, Sue Grafton, Author Biographies

Sue Grafton was born on April 24, 1940, in Louisville, Kentucky, where she and her sister were also raised. His parents were attorney CW Grafton and Vivian Harnsberger Grafton. His father also wrote that in his spare time he had published four mysteries.

After graduating with a BA in English Literature from the University of Louisville in 1961, Sue worked in

Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, California, cashier, medical secretary, and hospital admissions clerk. Although he began writing when he was 18, it was not published until 1967.

Sue is married to Steven F. Humphries and has three children from previous marriages. He was in the midst of a divorce in the 1980s when he began writing his books on Kinsey Millhone. She jokes, “Your homicidal urges can become a good thing in this world. Don’t let that ex-husband get you down! Just start a new job.”

Sue Grafton lives in Santa Barbara, where her protagonist Kinsey Millhone lives, but has renamed her Santa Theresa in the books. Many years ago, another author, Ross Madonnald, also placed his protagonist, Lew Archer, in Santa Theresa.

Sue says that when she first did book signings, most of the people in line were women, but now there are at least as many men, if not more. She is not a gender neutral writer.

Sue was writing a book a year but decided it was too much, so now she publishes a book every eighteen months. She says that when she dies, she will leave all her papers to Boston University. She adamantly refuses to let Hollywood take over Kinsey Millhone.

Books by Sue Grafton:

Kinsey Million Series:

A is for Alibi (1982)

B is for Thief (1985)

C is for Corpse (1986)

Dis for Deadbeat (1987)

E is for Evidence (1988)

F is for Fugitive (1989)

G is for Gumshoe (1990)

His for Homicide (1991)

I is for Innocent (1992)

J is for Trial (1993)

K is for Killer (1994)

L is for Lawless (1995)

M is for Malice (1996)

N is for Rope (1998)

O is for Outlaw (1999)

P is for Danger (2000)

Q is for Quarry (2002)

R for Ricochet (2004)

S for Silence (2005)

T is for Trespassing (2007)

U for Undertow (2009)

Kinsey Millhone Bus:

Three Complete Novels 1: A, B, and C (1990)

Three Complete Novels 2: D, E, and F (2001)

Three Complete Novels 3: G, H and I (2002)

Three Complete Novels 4: J, K, and L (2007)

Three Complete Novels 5: M, N, and O (2008)

Independent novels:

Keziah Dane (1967)

The Lolly-Madonna War (1998)

Edited anthologies:

Best American Mysteries: 1998 (1998) with Otto Penzler

Non-fiction:

Writing Mysteries: A Handbook of America’s Mystery Writers (2002)

Sue Grafton is well known for the painstaking and thorough research that she does for each book. Her entire series takes place in the 1980s, so she has to make sure she doesn’t get ahead of herself (hmm… no cell phones…). Of course, that means Kinsey Millhone is also staying in his 30s.