Sue Grafton, 1940-2017: “The Alphabet Now Ends at Y”
Bestselling mystery novelist Sue Grafton was born in Louisville, KY on April 24, 1940. She began writing novels as a teenager but failed to find success and turned to screenwriting. She wrote primarily for television for 15 years and said the experience taught her a great deal about writing. While going through a painful divorce and fantasizing about murder, she decided to try writing another novel. She was inspired by Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies to write a series of novels with alphabetical titles. The first in the series A is for Alibi was published in 1982 and introduced the world to private investigator Kinsey Millhone. Grafton continued the series with B is for Burglar, C is for Corpse and so on. Her final book, Y is for Yesterday, was released in August 2017.
Announcing her mother's death, Jamie Clark stated that Grafton was "adamant that her books would never be turned into movies or TV shows and in that same vein, she would never allow a ghost writer to write in her name. Because of all of those things, and out of the deep abiding love and respect for our dear sweet Sue, as far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends at Y."
Sue Grafton died after a two-year battle with cancer on December 28, 2017.
Photo credit: By Mark Coggins from San Francisco (Sue Grafton Uploaded by tripsspace) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons]
2 thoughts on “Sue Grafton, 1940-2017: “The Alphabet Now Ends at Y””
She will be missed.
I began reading the Alphabet Murders with Q is for Quarry. I became hooked immediately, falling in love with Kinsey and Sue simultaneously. Kinsey and I are the same age and it was easy to appreciate and identify with the time frame. I continued to read forward while at the same time going back to A is for Alibi.
I was very sad to hear of Sue’s passing. She provided me with many hours of blissful reading enjoyment. I’ve often wondered why no one ever thought to make a series with the Kinsey stories. A fine job was done with David Suchet as Poirot. Now I know!
Thank you Sue, thank you!