The Alphabet Ends at Y

I have a part time gig at a bookstore, usually working on weekends and the occasional weekday evening shift. I have worked in bookstores in some capacity for over a decade because of a personality quirk that I share with others that makes us “bookstore people.” As vague an explanation as that is, it’s the best I’ve got. It has nothing to do with being a voracious reader (some of us aren’t), or having a love for the classics (East of where now?) or being particularly adept at recommending the perfect book for customers (corporate pretty much does this job for us with the displays they have us set up). There’s only one unifying factor that I’ve been able to identify that makes a bookstore person, and that is a love of organizing and alphabetizing. Which is why Sue Grafton’s death is a particular blow to bookstore people all across the U.S. because now, the alphabet ends at y.

A few months ago I was walking around the bargain section of the bookstore with a hardback copy of T is for Trespass trying to find the stack that it belonged to when it occurred to me that Sue Grafton had almost finished the alphabet. I distinctly recall thinking that it would be a shame if something happened and she was unable to publish Z is for whatever the title was going to be. Then, as if the Universe bent, not to my will, but in direct opposition to my will, Sue Grafton passed away and her family has said that there are no plans to release a final book post mortem.

For booksellers everywhere, shelving Grafton’s epic collection will be like seeing a picture frame hanging on a wall slightly askew and being unable to straighten it. It will be like pouring a bowl of cereal and realizing there’s barely a fourth of a cup of milk left in the fridge. It will be like recieving a 99% test score because you forgot to write your name. Grafton’s alphabet series will now always be the sentence left

Joking aside, I hope the best for her family and understand their wishes for the alphabet to end in y, as it sounds like that’s what Sue Grafton herself would have preferred. I had never read a Grafton mystery, and following the news of her passing decided to give one a shot, picking up A is for Alibi from the library. I began reading at about nine o’clock last night with the intention of reading the first few chapters and going to sleep. By eleven o’clock I had finished a fourth of the book and the print was starting to blur for my tired eyes. I like Grafton’s protagonist, Kinsey Millhone, which makes me like Grafton. The writing is comfortable and unchallenging, making it a quick read so far, which is great because it’s a murder mystery and I’m impatient and want to know how it resolves as soon as possible (right now I suspect the ex-wife). If it ends as good as it started, I’ll pick up B is for Burglar later.