Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff's office--a tough, honest cop respected by everyone. When he died suddenly, the townsfolk were saddened but not surprised: Just shy of sixty-five, Newquist worked too hard, smoked too much, and exercised too little. That plus an appetite for junk food made him a poster boy for an American Heart Association campaign.

A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she's got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes. That's why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she's out on parole and needs Kinsey's...

In the peaceful community of Grace Valley, California, folks look out for one another like family. In a town like this, it's hard to keep a secret - but Dr. June Hudson has managed to keep a humdinger. Visits from her secret lover, undercover DEA agent Jim Post, are as clandestine as they are passionate. They somehow fit with her demanding schedule as the town's doctor. But how can a secret lover compete with a flesh-and-blood heartthrob from her...

Beverly Danziger, who looked like an expensive wrapped package from a good but conservative shop, places a problem before female private eye Kinsey Millhone; there was a will to be settled, and Beverly's sister needs to be found.

"Let's talk about Kinsey's past. We know of the aunt who raised her, the second husband who left her, and her long-lost family up the California coast. But what about Kinsey's husband number one? He was always a blip on the radar--until now. Kinsey receives a call from a random guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction. Last week, he bought a stack of boxes--and Kinsey's name turned up in them. For thirty bucks, Kinsey buys the lot and...

It was the silly season and a Monday at that, and Kinsey Millhone was bogged down in a preliminary report on a fire claim. Something was nagging at her, but she couldn't pin it. The last thing she needed in the morning mail was a letter from her bank recording an erroneous $5,000 deposit in her account. Kinsey had never believed in Santa Claus and she wasn't about to change her mind now. Resigning herself to a morning of frustration, she phoned the...

A sadistic computer hacker, code-named Phate, sets his sights on Silicon Valley, infiltrating his victims' computers, invading their lives, and luring them to their deaths. An imprisoned hacker named Wyatt Gillette is freed to aid in the investigation, and teams up with old-school homicide cop Frank Bishop, forming an uneasy alliance in which they must utilize every ounce of their respective talents to stop Phate.

Lorna Kepler was beautiful and willful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. Maybe that's what killed her. The cops suspected homicide, but they could find neither motive nor suspect. The case was gradually shifted to the back burner and became another unsolved file. Only Lorna's mother kept it alive, consumed by the certainty that somebody out there had gotten away with murder. And so Kinsey Millhone is pulled into the netherworld of...

"Surrounded by the sweeping cliffs and beauty of Big Sur, Kate Powell treasured her life at Templeton House ... and the family who raised her like one of their own. Although Kate lacked Margo's beauty and Laura's elegance, she knew she had something they would never possess--a shrewd head for business. Driven by ambition, Kate measured her life's success with each soaring promotion. But now, faced with professional impropriety, Kate is forced to look...

Sleuth Kinsey Millhone is pulled into the detritus of a dead man's life, a man who was wanted dead by everyone he knew. He called himself Alvin Limardo, and the job he had for Kinsey was cut-and-dried: locate a kid who'd done him a favor and pass on a check for $25,000. It was only later, after he'd stiffed her for her retainer, that Kinsey found out his name was Daggett. John Daggett. Ex-con. Inveterate liar. Chronic drunk. And dead. The cops called...