Her spirited and resourceful literary heroine, California PI Kinsey Millhone bears just a teensy resemblance to her! Ms. Grafton’s extensive career included writing screenplays and television movies in Hollywood, but she eventually became disillusioned with the famous city, saying of it, “..it’s not a nice place.”

This Kentucky-born author, who now has homes both in Louisville and in Montecito, California, has been married to Steve Humphrey for twenty years, proudly proclaims three children and two grandchildren, and puts cats and exquisite cuisine at the top of her ‘must-have’s’ list!

A: By the time 'Z' IS FOR ZERO is published I'll be eighty years old. (Two years per book times eight books equals sixteen years which when added to my present age of sixty-four will put me at eighty) so I'll be doing what most ambitious eighty-year-olds do...I'll be partying!

Q: Can you share your new plans with us now?

A: Sure. I'm picturing hats, horns, and helium balloons. Kinsey is hoping everyone will send expensive presents. She'll be forty years old, by the way, and the year will be 1990.

Q: Why did you decide to set your books in the 80's decade as opposed to allowing Kinsey to grow older along with the rest of us?

A: When I started writing the alphabet series, I realized it was going to take me years and years...twenty-two so far and I'm only at "S." If I had allowed Kinsey to age at the same rate as the rest of us, she'd be so old her shenanigans would look start looking silly by the time I reached 'Z.' Instead, I decided to age her one year for every two & a half books. Getting hung up in the 80's was not entirely by design. 'A' IS FOR ALIBI was set in the spring of 1982, the same time it was published. 'B' IS FOR BURGLAR takes place in June of 1982 and 'C' IS FOR CORPSE takes place in August of 1982. Since the books are sequential and since the writing and publishing processes take so long, Kinsey's now lagging hopelessly behind. And I say, bully for her! What's so terrific about aging that everybody has to do it at the same rate?! I thought forty was a great age...at least as nearly as I can remember it.

Q: What is your greatest ambition at this point in your life, and how would you characterize any future challenges both professionally and personally?

A: My greatest ambition at this point is to complete 'S' which currently has no title, no storyline, and no characters, but is otherwise superb. My challenge is always quite simple---write the next sentence well.

Q: Can you share with us something about yourself that is not commonly known?

A: Let's see. Hmmm. Seems like anything interesting is already known. You want something boring? How about this. I recently lost twenty-five pounds through sheer dint of will. What's the secret? I counted calories. What a concept. Took me from February 4, 2004 until August 4, but I finally hit my goal. Now I'm determined to keep the weight off. I weigh every morning and if my weight goes up by even two tenths of a pound, I'm right back in harness, counting calories again. Was the weight loss difficult? Of course! But not as hard as working my way through the alphabet.

Q: If you hadn't become so successful a writer, what would have been your second career choice?

A: I'd probably be working in law enforcement.

Q: What characteristics do you share with Kinsey?

A: I jogged for 25 years until my feet started breaking down. Now I walk 5.4 miles a day, five days a week, which is more than she does. I love junk food...especially those Quarter Pounders with Cheese...but I've had to give it up in the interest of weight control. Kinsey's still young enough that she doesn't suffer from the same pesky weight problems. I do occasionally eat a peanut butter and pickle sandwich which always makes me swoon. I own her all-purpose dress and both the hand-guns she's used and I drove her 1974 pale blue VW until 1994 when I bought a pick-up truck. I've also been known to cut my hair with a pair of nail scissors, especially when I'm out on tour and my hair cutter's nowhere near.

Q: If you could choose to have lunch with anyone, who would it be?

A: My father, C.W. Grafton, who died in 1982, four months before 'A' IS FOR ALIBI came out. He was a municipal bond attorney in Kentucky but he wrote and published 3 mystery novels in his lifetime. His first, THE RAT BEGAN TO GNAW THE ROPE won the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award of 1943. I'd love to talk to him about how he worked.

Q: Do you have a favorite book or literary character?

A: Not really. I read all the time and my favorite book is usually the one I'm reading in the moment. I confess I'm tough...if I read ten to fifteen pages and find a story doesn't interest me, I toss that book aside and it's on to the next.

Q: If you were to write a nonfiction book, what topic would interest you?

A: I wouldn't write a non-fiction book. Non-fiction is hard and I'm sure it would feel like writing a high school term paper. Ugh. With regard to fiction, my father used to say, "I know it's true because I made it up myself!

Interview Date: October 2004
Profile and questions compiled by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch Library