There was a time when the domain
of the fictional private investigator was pretty much an all-male affair. Their creators were almost exclusively men, they were invariably maverick ex-policemen with at least one failed marriage behind them, and, dressed as though they had never been in possession of a mirror, they would skulk around the seedier districts of whatever city they inhabited, often resorting to dubious measures in order to fulfil the assignments which enabled them to eke out little more than a modest living. They probably smoked too much or had a drink problem (sometimes both) and generally speaking, they would cut lonely and doleful figures behind their wisecracking facades.
Things have changed now, thanks to the arrival of feminism and equal opportunities, and women have begun to enter this previously exclusively male territory, not only in the form of the private investigators themselves, but also as authors of the genre, and it seems that as a species, they’re going all out to give the men a run for their money. Sue Grafton, Kentucky-born author with a mystery-writing heritage, brings us a thirty-two year old P.I. with the androgynous handle of Kinsey Millhone (what’s wrong with giving a female detective a feminine name, I wonder?) who ticks most of the qualifying boxes, knows how to handle a gun and has no qualms about using it.
In B is for Burglary, the second in the so-called ‘Alphabet’ series, Kinsey (let’s be chivalrous and call her by her forename) is approached by a woman anxious to trace her sister, of whom nothing has been heard for six months or more. There’s no love lost between the siblings, but the two women are among a number of beneficiaries to a legacy, and Elaine’s Boldt’s signature is the final one required before the estate can be wound up. Kinsey takes on the case, which has her flitting to and fro between California and Florida (nice work if you can get it), during which she discovers that at about the same time that Elaine disappeared, one of her neighbours was murdered in her own condominium, which was later set on fire deliberately. Kinsey suspects the two events to be related and when she is unexpectedly relieved of her commission by Elaine’s sister, her curiosity is piqued sufficiently to make her want to carry on with the investigation.
So what advantages does a female private investigator have over her male counterparts, you may ask? Well, women are more apt to notice their surroundings for one thing, and while a man would simply walk (or break) into an apartment, Kinsey does so whilst taking in the room’s decor; what man, for example, would notice that “the place was done out in rattan and pastels and smelled faintly of mildew” or that the bathroom contained “a sink shaped like a sunken marble shell, gold-plated fixtures, gold-flecked mirrored tiles on one wall”? It’s certainly a great help from a reader’s point of view to picture the scene and to get the feel for a place, but you can’t help wondering what else might be about to happen while you’re getting the full Homes and Gardens treatment.
Kinsey keenly observes the people she meets, too, as any good detective should, and she does it with a wry humour: “Her glasses today had tortoiseshell rims and big round lenses tinted the colour of iced tea. She wore glasses so well it made other women wish their eyesight would fail.” As the series progresses and Kinsey reveals more of her personality, it’s clear that she’s quite a wit, although she can be a tad bitchy at times; no matter - bitching as well as solving crimes – it’s all part of multi-tasking, something else which men aren’t generally very good at. Arguably, being female helps her to draw her interviewees into her confidence more easily, which can’t be at all bad for business, and in B is for Burglary, she acquires a couple of enthusiastic women helpers, bringing a conspiratorial, sisters-are-doing-it-for-themselves air to the proceedings.
Although her detailed descriptions of the people she encounters and the places she visits can be a little irritating at times, in fact they break up what might otherwise be a rather dull account of the everyday movements of a private investigator – “drove here, spoke to so-and-so, typed up a report”, and so on – and to hear the story from Kinsey’s point of view (the book is written in the first person) gives one the sense of being in at the very centre of the action, witnessing the events as they actually happen and generally adding to the suspense.
Although the feminism aspect isn’t nearly as pronounced as I’d expected, nevertheless, I wonder what the average full-blooded male reader of thrillers will make of the book and indeed, the series as a whole. I suspect they might find the descriptive prose a little tedious after a while - it has to be said that men generally don’t take an interest in soft furnishings, make-up and hairstyles – and the appeal might therefore be somewhat limited in that respect, although it’s by no means a women-only type of read, and certainly doesn't come within a million miles of the so-called chick-lit field. It is, as I’ve said, a very well-written novel, and one that provides a refreshing alternative to the norm in the world of detective fiction.