From booklist:
Kinsey Millhone bonds over junk food with two ailing old-timers in a novel that combines an 18-year-old unsolved murder case with a subtle but heartfelt rumination on aging. About to turn 37, with the daunting task of trying, ineffectually, to decorate her newly rented, mildewed office, Kinsey is suffering from a general malaise. Then Lieutenant Con Doyle, currently sidelined by a series of heart attacks, contacts her about his investigation of a cold case involving the murder of a female adolescent who was never identified. Doyle wants to help out his old mentor, 73-year-old bachelor Stacey Oliphant, who is ill with cancer. Over a lunch of salami sandwiches chased by shots of Old Forrester (Doyle's self-prescribed healthy-heart eating program), Doyle talks Kinsey into coming on board. The three follow many fruitless leads and interview a host of desperate, dysfunctional small-town denizens before solving the case. As usual, Grafton combines in-depth, complex characterizations with a fluid narrative style; she also gives us a model portrait of how to face aging and illness with grace and humor. Grafton appends an interesting author's note detailing the facts of the real (still-unsolved) case that inspired her story.

Purchased last month at Black Bart's Bookstore's "Going out of Business" sale. I already have a copy TBR, so this one is AVL for trade/release.

I decided this afternoon to send this book out as a ray. I posted a notice in the forums. If you are interested in joining PM me.

  How my bookring works:
    + Someone will PM you for your address, PM them back
      - If you are swamped, ask them to skip you and PM me and I'll move you down the list
      - Otherwise, send them your address
    + You receive the book, please make a journal entry letting everyone know that you received it
    + Put the book at the top of your TBR pile (under other rings/rays that arrived first)
    + Read the book (take your time and enjoy the book, don't feel rushed to finish it)
    + When the end is in sight, check the book's journal and PM the next person to get their address
    + Finish the book, make another journal entry and let everyone know what you thought of the book
    + Send the book to the next person on the list, make release notes (Controlled Release)
        or journal entry to let everyone know that it's in the mail

  * Feel free to PM me at any time with questions *

  +The last person in my bookrays can do whatever they want with the book (keep/release/RABCK/relay/ring/ray/trade/etc) after they finish it

The order: Gypsieyzs - Hartford, CT; USA

Ray Completed Enjoy!

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to first (and last) person on the list.

Enjoy!

Received the book in the mail today. Have started reading it.

I have finished this book. It was an enjoyable read.. will offer it in a bookray.

Here is my review from the other copy of this book, which I read last week:

I had some trouble early in this book dealing with a cold case (1969) being investigated 18 years later (1988) in a recently written book (2002). Keeping dates straight was difficult. I read mysteries that are set in the past or written in the past 60s-90s without trouble, so I'm not sure why I had trouble here.

I also had some issues with the depth into which we delved into Kinsey's soap opera of a life. I'm tired of dealing and not dealing with her issues with her parents and her relatives and the men in and out of her life.

Finally, I don't much care for how Grafton finishes her books. If you're going to spend all of this time on other stuff, then tie everything up at the end, don't just leave it hanging.

I missed the report style in this book. Normally it reads like a case report to give to a client but this one did not.

The mystery was interesting and had plenty of twists and turns to hold my attention once we got to it. I have Ricochet and Silence on my bookshelf. I don't know that I'm going to go out of my way to read beyond that unless they get better than this one.