Q Is For Quarry is the name of a Sue Grafton mystery that I passed by on my walk the other day. I have a new route that takes me past a Little Free Library.
For those not in the know, Little Free Libraries are very small, wooden structures perched on top of a post. Passerby are encouraged to take –or leave– a book.
The previous week I had left Gone Girl, which I picked up about two months ago from another Little Free Library. It was quite riveting, but I was ready to part with it, so I dropped it off. I was curious whether anyone else had picked it up or had left any other books.
Q Is For Quarry caught my eye. It was a hardback. It beckoned to me. I opened the little Little Free Library Door, but wasn’t sure if I’d like it. I am very particular about mysteries and gravitate toward those involving food (my favorite authors are Joanne Fluke and Ellen Hart). I started to walk away, but the book called to me again. I thought about bringing it home. I thought of the other books waiting at home for me. I didn’t want to bring it home, only to neglect it.
Fast forward twelve hours. I was scanning headlines on nytimes.com to see if anything jumped out at me. One headline did. It read: “Sue Grafton, Whose Detective Novels Spanned The Alphabet, Dies At 77.”
How quirky to have had a special connection with her book only hours before. Perhaps her spirit wished to talk with me. When Sue Grafton was still alive, we had been in touch via snail mail. I had asked her a question. She typed a response and then kept me on her mailing list, sending holiday greetings every year. Recently she told her fans about her surgery and book tour cancellation; she enclosed a tiny flashlight like that her character, Kinsey Millhone, uses. I sent a thank you note and best wishes for her recovery. I keep the flashlight on my keychain for good luck. I am sad that she’s gone. I will miss her sweet cards.
Notes from the cupcake rescue league 
The tribute to the late Sue Grafton was meaningful and well written with your personal touch she would have liked. The N.Y. Times had a fine article about her after her death.
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I liked reading the Sue Grafton series about her lady investigator. I was sad to hear of her death but admired her determination to try and finish her alphabet series. You were very fortunate to have a snail-mail contact with her. I think, lilyalfred was right–Sue would have liked your personal tribute. I did too.
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I, too, am saddened at her death. I thoroughly enjoyed her series always trying to second-guess the next title. I think I only got one right, and never could envision a Z (zealot, zeal, zeta?). It was only chance that me started on her series. I was visiting the library with my sons, who were not even in school at the time, and found E is for Evidence. Read it, and then realized A-D were already published and borrowed them, not in order as I would have wished, but in a piecemeal fashion depending on which book was on the library shelves. From there, I read them in order…usually receiving them as a present from my older sister. While I give away so many of my books, I still have them.
My sincere condolences to her family. Her voice will be writing voice will be missed, but I am sure her family is devastated. Thanks for writing such a fitting tribute.
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