"Y" Is for Yesterday

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"Y" Is for Yesterday
Y Is for Yesterday.jpg
First edition cover
Author Sue Grafton
LanguageEnglish
Series Alphabet Mysteries
Genre Mystery fiction
Publisher G. P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date
August 22, 2017
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages496 first edition
ISBN 978-0-399-16385-2
Preceded by"X" 

"Y" Is for Yesterday is the twenty-fifth and final novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. Grafton intended to write a Z novel, but she died before she was able to do so. It features Kinsey Millhone, a private detective based in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. [1]

Contents

The novel, set in 1989, finds Kinsey getting pulled into a decade-old case involving a sexual assault at an elite private school. The novel, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, was released in the United States on August 22, 2017. [2]

Plot summary

In 1979 Iris Lehmann steals a test to help her best friend, Poppy Earl, a fellow student at a private high school in Santa Teresa. In the same year four teenage boys from the school sexually assault a classmate and film the attack. When the tape goes missing, the suspected thief, a classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one student turns state's evidence and two of peers are convicted.

Fast-forward to 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, is released from prison. McCabe's parents receive a copy of the attack that was filmed, along with a ransom demand. The McCabe family calls Kinsey Millhone for help.

In an interview with NPR on August 20, 2017, Grafton stated the basis of the book was an amalgamation of two actual events: "The origin was a case that happened in Santa Barbara, where a kid was picked up because his brother owed $1,500 to a drug dealer. And eventually, he was shot and killed up in the mountains. Second part of the plot was from a case down in Orange County, where some kids –always kids– assaulted a girl and filmed it and then circulated this bunch of photographs, which she knew nothing about until somebody told her." [3]

Publication history

Y Is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton was published on 22 August 2017 by Marian Wood Books/Putnam, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. [4]

Critical analysis

Reviews

On August 30, 2017, "Y" Is for Yesterday topped USA Today 's best-seller list. [5] On September 1, 2017, it topped The New York Times Best Seller list and was later placed on its Fiction Best Sellers of 2017 list. [6] Publishers Weekly reviewed the book with the following blurb: "Grafton once again proves herself a superb storyteller." [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Grafton</span> American writer

Sue Taylor Grafton was an American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the "alphabet series" featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. The daughter of detective novelist, C. W. Grafton, she said the strongest influence on her crime novels was author, Ross Macdonald. Before her success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies.

<i>"A" Is for Alibi</i> 1982 novel by Sue Grafton

"A" Is for Alibi is the first mystery novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series, and was published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston in 1982. Featuring sleuth Kinsey Millhone, it is set in the southern California city of Santa Teresa, the nom de plume for Santa Barbara. She wrote the book during a divorce and admits about her husband that she "would lie in bed at night thinking of ways to kill him". The New York Times gave the book a lukewarm review.

<i>"G" Is for Gumshoe</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"G" Is for Gumshoe (1990) is the seventh novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"H" Is for Homicide</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"H" Is for Homicide is the eighth novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. In this novel, Kinsey Millhone goes under cover to help break up an insurance fraud ring in Los Angeles led by Raymond Maldonado. She infiltrates the ring by befriending Maldonado's former girlfriend Bibianna Diaz. In the process she meets up with a former school mate and ex cop, Jimmy Tate.

<i>"B" Is for Burglar</i> 1985 novel by Sue Grafton

"B" Is for Burglar is a mystery novel by American writer Sue Grafton. It was published in 1985 by Henry Holt and Company as the second novel in her "Alphabet" series of mystery novels.

<i>"C" Is for Corpse</i> 1986 book by Sue Grafton

"C" Is for Corpse is the third novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"F" Is for Fugitive</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"F" Is for Fugitive is the sixth novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"I" Is for Innocent</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"I" Is for Innocent is the ninth novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"J" Is for Judgment</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"J" Is for Judgment is the tenth novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The novel is set in 1984 and features a significant development in Kinsey's personal back-story, as she discovers that she has extensive family living in the Lompoc area.

<i>"L" Is for Lawless</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"L" Is for Lawless is the 12th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"N" Is for Noose</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"N" Is for Noose is the 14th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California, although much of this novel's action takes place elsewhere in California.

<i>"O" Is for Outlaw</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"O" Is for Outlaw is the 15th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"P" Is for Peril</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"P" Is for Peril is the 16th novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. The novel focuses on the disappearance of Dr. Dowan Purcell, a nursing home administrator and doctor at Pacific Meadows Nursing Home, and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The novel is set in 1986.

<i>"Q" Is for Quarry</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"Q" Is for Quarry is the 17th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"R" Is for Ricochet</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"R" Is for Ricochet is the 18th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"S" Is for Silence</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"S" Is for Silence is the 19th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"T" Is for Trespass</i> Novel by Sue Grafton

"T" Is for Trespass is the 20th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in the fictional Santa Teresa, California. Grafton drafted six possible story lines for the novel before settling on the final plot.

<i>"U" Is for Undertow</i> 2009 novel by Sue Grafton

"U" Is for Undertow is the 21st novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. It features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California.

<i>"W" Is for Wasted</i> 2013 novel by Sue Grafton

"W" Is for Wasted is the twenty-third novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. It features Kinsey Millhone, a private detective based in Santa Teresa, California, a fictional version of Santa Barbara, California.

<i>X</i> (Grafton novel) 2015 novel by Sue Grafton

"X" is the twenty-fourth novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. It features Kinsey Millhone, a private detective based in Santa Teresa, California, a fictional version of Santa Barbara, California.

References

  1. ↑ "Biography: Sue Grafton". Penguin Random House . Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  2. ↑ McClurg, Jocelyn (May 4, 2017). "Read an excerpt from Sue Grafton's new 'Y Is for Yesterday'". USA Today . Gannett . Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  3. ↑ Brown, Dwane (August 20, 2017). "'Y Is For Yesterday': Sue Grafton's Penultimate Mystery Series Novel". NPR . Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton: Publication information". www.bookbrowse.com. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
  5. ↑ McClurg, Jocelyn (August 30, 2017). "Sue Grafton, down to 'Y,' lands at No. 1 on USA Today's books list". USA Today . Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  6. ↑ Christensen, Lauren (September 1, 2017). "A Decades-old Detective Series Is Still on Top". The New York Times . Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  7. ↑ BookBrowse. "Summary and reviews of Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
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