
Book Chat: Sue Grafton
By Elizabeth
Parker
As
I was preparing this month's selections, I
noticed it has already been an entire year since
this column began. It is hard to believe I've
been writing this column that long, since I was
somewhat shy about starting. I'm glad now that I
did, because not only have I been able to share
some of my good finds with you, I've been blessed
with the many fine suggestions you've given me.
This month I'd like to introduce
you to Sue Grafton's work. For those who never
read because they are too pretty and have other
things to occupy their time, Sue Grafton is a
famous mystery writer, specializing in the tough
private-eye genre, with the twist that hers is a
woman, Kinsey Milhone. Kinsey is the typical
wise-cracking P.I. made famous by Raymond
Chandler and continued by many others. Without
checking, I believe that Sue Grafton was one of
the first to place a woman in this role.
Now Sue Grafton hasn't written
much with a transgender twist. But in a recent
book, there is a lengthy, key scene where she
betrays her open-mindedness. In "K
Is For Killer", she has Kinsey
investigating the death of Lorna Kepler, a
beautiful flirtatious loner. Her death was a
mystery which the cops couldn't seem to solve.
Her mother hires Kinsey to look into it, and with
little else to go on, she tracks down the cast
and crew from a pornographic movie Lorna starred
in years ago. Lorna's co-star in the movie,
Russell Turpin, a man with an extremely large
private appendage(of course), lives in San
Francisco when Kinsey tracks him down. He
apparently lives with a female roommate, Cheri
Stanislaus. While Kinsey is waiting for Russell
to come home, Cheri arrives first.
"The blonde coming up
the stairs wore makeup so pale, the effect was
ghostly. Her eyes were elaborately done up with
thick false eyelashes, two shades of eye shadow,
and a black pencil line on both her upper and
lower lids. Her forehead was high, and her hair
was teased upward at the crown, held back with a
gaudy rhinestone clip. The rest of her hair was
long and straight, splitting at the shoulder so
that half extended down her back. A cluster of
long curls tumbled over her breasts. Her long
dangle earrings were shaped like elongated
question marks. She wore a dark leotard on top
and a slinky black skirt that was split up one
side. Her hips were narrow, her stomach
flat."
Cheri invites Kinsey in for a
drink, and they talk. Cheri is abrupt, but not
unfriendly. They move back to the bedroom where
Cherri starts to get more comfortable, taking off
her girdle and pantyhose. Then she begins taking
off her makeup, talking about Lorna's pretty skin
and how much she envied it. Then she casually
removes her wig, revealing a wig cap and
Russell's baritone. There is no apology, just a
matter of fact revelation, and Kinsey apparently
takes it in stride. But she is fascinated by the
transformation, and quizzes Russell about his
predilection. Kinsey is not judgemental, and in
response to Russell's query, even tells him that
she likes Cherri better. Russell agrees, showing
a preference I'm sure we can all identify with.
Grafton shows remarkable
sensitivity in this revealing scene, and has
displayed this in other episodes involving
unconventional lifestyles. And she does this with
a character who suffers no fools, who in fact
makes short work of those unfortunates who
exhibit symptoms of the "demons of
stupidity".
Grafton has one earlier book with a character
who dons drag to pull off a crime. Unfortunately
I can't go into detail as it would ruin the
entire book. It is "D Is For
Deadbeat", and I've actually blown
it for you just by revealing its title in this
context. But I can't exactly ask you to read the
entire series(though I believe you would enjoy
doing just that)!
In this book, there is little of the
sensibility Kinsey is to display in Killer. But
she is dealing with a murderer. Even then,
however, she manages to exhibit understanding of
the person, not the crime. The drag is not
described in detail, and you will probably, like
me, be disgusted with the apparent ease with
which the killer pulls off a convincing female
impersonation with no prior practice. Grafton
attempts to explain this away by hinting that the
victim might have been aware of the disguise and
allowed the crime to happen as a means of
atonement. Sounds weak to me. But I do believe
you will enjoy this early book of Grafton's, and
I apologize if I've said too much.
Since I haven't given you the usual
blockbuster this month, I thought I'd tell you
about a book which is about a very strange
transgendered character. The book is "Exchange
Alley", by Michael Walsh.
It starts out with the murder of a Danish
diplomat named Egil Ekdahl. The opening sequence
is intriguiging as we find out the Egil keeps his
body totally shaved and is a spy of some sort.
But during the opening sequence Egil is shot and
castrated. NYPD Homicide Lieutenant Francis Byrne
is assigned the case and while examining the
corpse discovers a photograph of two women, one
of whom seems to be a younger version of Byrne's
mother. Byrne is nonplussed and steals the photo,
inappropriate behavior for a Homicide Detective.
He investigates Egil's background, beginning with
the Danish consulate. At the consulate he meets
sexy Ingrid, the epitome of a stereotypical Mata
Hari, who seduces him and introduces him to the
seamy side of Manhattan club life. At one club in
particular, we meet the denizens who provide our
interest in this book. It turns out that Egil was
one of the prettiest drag customers the club had.
We don't get much more than that, but the
proprietor is also a very attractive
transvestite, and we get a lot of interaction
with her.
The rest of the book develops into a bizarre
net of plots, involving Egil's Oedipus complex,
and even the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The effect is like Silence of the Lambs meets
JFK. In all, I quite enjoyed the book due to the
transgender spice, though I hated myself
afterward.
Bibliography
Grafton, Sue, "'D' Is For
Deadbeat", Henry Holt and Company, Inc.,
1987, ISBN: 0805002480 (Hardback)
Grafton, Sue, "'D' Is For
Deadbeat", Crime Line, 1988, ISBN:
0553271636 (Paperback)
Grafton, Sue, "'K' Is For
Killer", Fawcett Books, 199?,
(Hardback)
Grafton, Sue, "'K' Is For
Killer", Fawcett Books, 1995, ISBN:
0449221504 (Paperback)
Walsh, Michael, "Exchange
Alley", Warner Books, 1997, ISBN: 0446520691
(Hardback)
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