L Is for Lawless 
Henry Pitt, her longtime landlord asks her to help a fellow neighbor find evidence that his grandfather served in the military during the Second World War. With such proof, the man can be decently buried, courtesy of the U.S. government. It seems such a simple thing, but with Kinsey, it rarely is. Before long she finds herself entangled with an eccentric and quarrelsome family as well as a long lost buddy who has turned up just in time to get himself beaten up in a robbery attempt of the alleged veteran's apartment. It seems there is a reason the Armed Services have no record of the dead man's service. Kinsey sets out to determine what he might have been doing instead of fighting against the Japanese and why someone might think his shabby apartment worth a burgle.
Typical of the series, the mystery is not the central point of the story, but rather a starting point for Kinsey to become embroiled in a suspenseful (and delightful) search-and-rescue operation, usually against her better judgement. In this case, a gun-toting, arthritic octogenarian and revelations of the inner workings of bargain-rate motels are all part of the adventure. This is an easy and enjoyable read, and a solid addition to Grafton's string of alphabetical hits. --K.A. Crouch
Reviews
I have to admit that one of my favorite characters in this series is Henry Pitt, Kinsey Millhone's landlord and friend. I enjoyed the Henry who wrote crossword puzzles and tried them out on Kinsey before he sent them in for publication. I enjoyed the Henry who always had something baking in his kitchen. And many times I have wondered why some sexy senior citizen hasn't snagged this wonderful catch of a man!
This story gives us a little more insight into Henry than we've seen in the past. Henry convinces Kinsey to help a friend of his on a simple matter - she needs to show that Henry's friend served in the military during World War II so he can be buried as a veteran. Such a simple request and it should have a simple solution, but as we've seen with Kinsey in the past, nothing is an easy task, so the plot thickens...
The family of the deceased is too busy fighting among themselves to be much help to Kinsey. Then an old friend shows up and gets attacked at the dead guy's apartment. Once again we're on a race to see what's around the next corner for Kinsey and to find out why the government has no record of this veteran serving his country.
There's a little bit of mystery, but more suspense in this book. And more laughs than we've seen in the past with Grafton's other books. I'd recommend this easy read to anyone wanting a few hours of enjoyment as it's definitely one of Sue Grafton's better books in this series. I only hope she will continue with this quality and not hit any more bumps that throw her off to only mediocre writing!