Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton (1940-2017) was an American crime novelist from Louisville, Kentucky, who created the private investigator Kinsey Millhone and the alphabet mysteries, from "A" Is for Alibi (1982) to "Y" Is for Yesterday (2017).

Born on 24 April 1940, she was the daughter of C. W. Grafton, a municipal bond lawyer who also wrote mystery novels. Her first novel, Keziah Dane, appeared in 1967, after which she spent about 15 years writing television film scripts. That work left her with no wish to deal with Hollywood, and she refused to sell screen rights to the Kinsey Millhone books.

"A" Is for Alibi was published on 15 April 1982 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston (later Henry Holt), introducing Kinsey Millhone of Santa Teresa, a fictional version of Santa Barbara. The series continued with "B" Is for Burglar (1985), "C" Is for Corpse (1986) and further lettered novels to Y, plus the collection Kinsey and Me (2013). "B" Is for Burglar won both the Anthony and the Shamus Awards, "G" Is for Gumshoe also won both, and "K" Is for Killer won a Shamus. She received the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2008 and was named an Edgar Grand Master in 2009. She died in Santa Barbara on 28 December 2017 before writing "Z" Is for Zero, and her family said the alphabet would end at Y.

For collectors

The prize is the Holt, Rinehart and Winston first edition of "A" Is for Alibi (1982), which had a first printing of 7,500 copies, of which about 6,000 sold at first.