"J" is for Judgement - Sue Grafton
Product Description(
Amazon.com)
"J" is for Jaffe: Wendell Jaffe, dead these past five years. Or so it
seemed until his former insurance agent spotted him in the bar of a
dusty little resort halfway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz.
"In
truth, the facts about Wendell Jaffe had nothing to do with my family
history, but murder is seldom tidy and no one ever said revelations
operate in a straight line. It was my investigation into the dead man's
past that triggered the inquiry into my own, and in the end the two
stories became difficult to separate."
Five years ago, when
Jaffe's thirty-five-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja
coast, it seemed a sure thing he'd gone overboard. The note he left
behind admitted he was flat broke, his business bankrupt, his real
estate gambit nothing but a huge Ponzi scheme about to collapse, with
criminal indictment certain to follow. When the authorities soon after
descended on his banks and his books, there was nothing left: Jaffe had
stripped the lot.
"Given my insatiable curiosity and my natural
inclination to poke my nose in where it doesn't belong, it was odd to
realize how little attention I'd paid to my own past. I'd simply
accepted what I was told, constructing my personal mythology on the
flimsiest of facts."
But Jaffe wasn't quite without assets.
There was the $500,000 life insurance policy made out to his wife and
underwritten by California Fidelity. With no corpse to prove death,
however, the insurance company was in no hurry to pay the claim. Dana
Jaffe had to wait out the statutory five years until her missing husband
could be declared legally dead. Just two months before Wendell Jaffe
was sighted in that dusty resort bar, California Fidelity finally paid
in full. Now they wanted the truth. And they were willing to hire Kinsey
Millhone to dig it up.
As Kinsey pushes deeper into the mystery
surrounding Wendell Jaffe's pseudocide, she explores her own past,
discovering that in family matters as in crime, sometimes it's better to
reserve judgment.
"J" is for judgment: the kind we're quick to make and often quicker to regret.
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (May 15, 1993)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805019359
ISBN-13: 978-0805019353
MY THOUGHTS: Someone has staged a death and got away with. But did he? Kinsey is on the hunt for Wendell Jaffe. She finds him in Mexico, but loses him. Then he shows up at his old home town. But what does he want, forgiveness? Full of secrets and lies, this is a really great read. I give this book 5.....
This book is for 2 of my reading challenges......
Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
