Remembering Sue Grafton
Sue Grafton passed away on December 29, 2017. She was 77.
Back in 1982, when an unknown Sue Grafton published the first book in her mystery series, the “A” that was for “alibi” could have been for “achievement.” The bestselling author’s books, including current titles running in alphabetical order from “A” to “S,” have sold millions of copies and are published in more than 25 languages and in nearly 30 countries.
Grafton, one of the world’s most well-known and beloved mystery novelists, lives and writes (for the better part of each year) in Louisville. It is where she grew up, whiling away many a happy hour indulging her imagination and laying the groundwork for the writer she would become.
“I value the simplicity of the world I grew up in,” Grafton says of her childhood in Derbytown during a recent interview by phone. She notes that she and her sister, Ann, a retired librarian, were always encouraged to read and were in fact allowed to read anything they wanted.
“In those days, the world was much more innocent. I feel fortunate I was able to have as much freedom as I did.
“I was allowed to wander the park and it was fabulous. I played and made up stories and dramas. What we used to think was really fun was to go to the park and bake a potato. What would a kid say today if you told them your mom thought it was fun to go the park and bake a potato?”
Murder Most Alphabetical
Known as the alphabet series, Grafton’s books have been keeping readers on the collective edge of their seats for 25 years—ever since “A” is for Alibi arrived on the crime scene.
With “A,” says Grafton, “I had nothing to lose and could afford to do whatever suited me. It never occurred to me there were rules; I was flying by the seat of my pants and you can see it. There’s a sassiness in ‘A’ that I’m not sure I’ve ever recaptured.”
Grafton’s millions of fans would disagree. Readers have followed her street-smart heroine, the scrappy 30-something female private investigator Kinsey Millhone, as she has worked her way through 19 adventures (each set in the pre-CSI environs of fictional Santa Teresa, California), countless peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, and into one black, all-purpose polyester dress—when the occasion calls for gussying up. These include a zigzagging knuckle-biter in “S” is for Silence that alternates between Kinsey’s sometimes acerbic, always incisive narrative in her present-day world, and flashbacks to a 1950s-era past by relatives and acquaintances of the book’s victim.
“ ‘S’ ” took me a long time to arrive at,” she says, admitting that the book’s disjointed timeline presented a struggle. According to her journal, it took from February 6, 2004, until September 30 of that year for Grafton to figure out how to accomplish what she calls the time switches.
“Once I got that, the book came relatively quickly.” Eventually, Grafton realized she could handle the timeline any way she pleased.
“Writing is an odd process, but if I can’t experiment at this point, then shame on me. Life has to be about taking risks, but it’s harder as you get older.”
One of the elements of Grafton’s books that fans often ask about is Kinsey’s family relationships. Readers got a glimpse of her kinfolk in “J” is for Judgment and learned a bit more in “M” is for Malice.
“I would like to wrap up Kinsey’s family relationships,” she says, allowing this delicious tidbit: “And now I know them. I didn’t at first. I’ll wait for a story to tell about it, but mostly it’s about what I feel like doing at the moment.”
Storyteller in her Blood
Grafton was born in 1940 to Vivian Harnsberger and C.W. Grafton, an attorney who specialized in municipal bonds and the author of several novels, including the highly regarded whodunits The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope and The Rope Began to Hang the Butcher.
In 1961, she graduated from the University of Louisville, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in English literature. In spite of her degree, Grafton has often said she doesn’t have a scholarly bone in her body, a fact belied by her richly layered storytelling technique.
“Some mystery writers are heavy-handed and almost clumsy,” says Zev Buffman, veteran Broadway producer and president of Owensboro’s RiverPark, site of the recent International Mystery Writers Festival for which Grafton presented a talk as well as a master level workshop.
“Sue has a buoyant style. Her writing flies through the air with the greatest of ease.
“Mystery storytelling today has been sort of lost to new technology and science, but Sue always structures her stories like screenplays in the real world around us.”
In fact, early in her career, Grafton spent a number of years in Hollywood doing exactly that. In 1979, she wrote the screenplay for the movie Walking Through the Fire, winning a Christopher Award. She adapted the Agatha Christie novels Sparkling Cyanide and A Caribbean Mystery in 1983 with husband Steven Humphrey. One of her early novels, The Lolly Madonna War, was made into a movie in 1973 starring Rod Steiger and Jeff Bridges.
Her résumé includes writing credits for the 1970s TV series Rhoda, and the 1982 series (including the pilot) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, among a slew of scripts.
“In many ways I’m working back to mysteries. I spent 15 years in Hollywood. It was all preparation.”
Can’t Take Kentucky Out of the Girl
She began writing seriously as an 18-year-old and had in fact written seven novels—two of which were published—before penning “A” is for Alibi. She has won countless awards, including Distinguished Alumna-University of Louisville and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, among many others. She is a member of several professional organizations, including Writers Guild of America, West, and Mystery Writers of America Inc.
Grafton has been married to Humphrey for nearly 30 years, has three children, and four grandchildren. She loves cats (felines Beau, Molly, and Emma have their own photo file on her Web site) and good cuisine—some of which she developed a taste for right here in the Bluegrass.
Among her favorite places to dine are Louisville’s four-star Jack Fry’s, Lilly’s, and Avalon with its classic American cuisine. Favorite eats include Kentucky’s signature Benedictine spread, country ham salad, and Derby pie.
“I used to be fond of the hot brown, but once they published the calorie content, I nearly went into cardiac arrest.”
Grafton splits her time between her homes in Kentucky and in Santa Barbara, the latter not far from the stomping grounds of her smarty-pants gumshoe—although in “O” is for Outlaw, Kinsey high-tails it through Louisville and into some rare moments of introspection involving her first husband, Mickey Magruder.
Grafton admits to being well-organized, maintains a tidy office environment, and is an early riser and inveterate exerciser who loves bracing walks. Whether in California or Kentucky, she keeps to a regular writing routine.
Grafton frets over maintaining the quality of her writing through the end of the alphabet, something fans and critics would undoubtedly say she is accomplishing with admirable skill and flair. She has said that much of her creative energy is spent coming up with fresh storylines; in this area, too, Grafton has pulled off a page-turner with each successive book. What she attributes her success to is not mysterious: old-fashioned hard work.
For her legions of readers, though, one question remains: What comes after “Z”?
“I’ll wait and see what happens,” she says cheekily. “After I conquer the alphabet, perhaps I’ll write a mystery play.”
But before the curtain rises, there is “T” is for Trespass, arriving in bookstores on December 4. While Grafton remains mum on the storyline, she does admit that “T” was torture.
“I’ve never had a book that drove me so insane, and I’m trying not to whine too much about it. I’m a cockeyed optimist, but if I thought the remaining six books were as difficult as this one, I’d commit myself to an institution.”
Just so long as she takes her keyboard with her.
