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By Sue Grafton (Berkley: 2005)

How could I have missed one of Grafton’s “alphabet mysteries”? I usually watch for the next book as soon as the last one is out. But somehow I missed S Is for Silence when it was new. That’s all right. It gave me an entertaining read when I finally discovered the book on our church book loan table.
Daisy Sullivan contracts for five days of Kinsy Milhone’s detective service in 1987 to try to discover what happened to her mother, Violet, 34 years before. Violet was last seen driving around town in a brand new Bel-Aire Chevrolet with her pet Pomeranian. No one knew what became of her or if she were alive or dead. For years the townspeople suspected Violet’s husband, Foley, because he was an abusive drunk, and no one would have been surprised if he had killed Violet. Daisy was greatly disturbed by the sudden disappearance of her mother and had never managed to cope with it.
Kinsey knows she’s on the trail of something when all four tires on her VW were slashed. Instead of being scared off, she just redoubled her efforts and eventually uncovered the culprit.
The story from Kinsey’s viewpoint is interspersed with the viewpoints of interested parties at the time of Violet’s disappearance. The technique reminds me a little of reading Dickens and it gets in the way of the story a bit, but through it the reader does gain insight into the motives and thoughts of those who knew Violet best.
Grafton’s books are not “great literature,” but they are pleasing adventure stories that don’t assault the reader with graphic sex or bad language. That earns them the GCB* seal of approval.

* Good Clean Book