美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Y Is For Yesterday': Sue Grafton's Penultimate Mystery Series Novel

 

DWANE BROWN, HOST:

It all started with "A Is For Alibi¹," then came "B Is For Burglar," "C Is For Corpse²" and on and on through the alphabet for mystery novelist Sue Grafton and her main character, the spunky female detective Kinsey Millhone. And now, Sue Grafton has her latest book out, "Y Is For Yesterday," which, by the way, is out on Tuesday, leaving only one more letter, one more novel to wrap up 35 years, Sue, worth of murder, mayhem and mystery. Sue Grafton joins me from member station WFPL in Louisville, her home town. Thank you for joining us.

SUE GRAFTON: You're welcome. It's fun.

BROWN: Well, I guess my first question is why, Sue, why? Get it, like, you know, the letter Y. Sorry.

GRAFTON: What was I thinking? Well, I got into the alphabet. I don't know if you're aware of this. My father wrote crime fiction. He was an attorney here in town, but he was crazy about detective novels. So he wrote and published two of a projected eight-book series. At any rate, I was reading an Edward Gorey cartoon book called "The Gashlycrumb Tinies." And that's little pen-and-ink drawings of Victorian children being done in in various ways. A is for Amy (ph), who fell down the stairs. B is for Basil (ph), assaulted by bears. C for Claire (ph), who - you know, and on down the alphabet.

I thought, what a keen idea. So I sat down and wrote out as many crime-related words as I could think of. But I wasn't even sure I could sell "A Is For Alibi." And if I sold it, I wasn't sure anybody'd be interested in "B Is For Burglar." So it was a crapshoot, but I'd been working in Hollywood for 15 years. I thought, I've got to get back to solo writing. So the detective novel's the perfect way to launch myself.

BROWN: Yeah, solid writing. You actually stuck with the same character for all these books, a female detective named Kinsey Millhone. Tell us a little bit about her for those who don't know her.

GRAFTON: I will do. So for one thing, it dawned on me early that if she aged⁴ one year for every book, it was going to start looking silly. And so she ages one year for every two and a half books. So when I started, she was 32, and I was 42. Now, she is 39, and I am 77. So there's a little bit of injustice⁵ there, but she is single. She's been married twice. She has no kids, no pets, no house plants.

She has one dress that she thinks is perfectly⁶ suitable for funerals and weddings and trips to the library. So she is very unpretentious. And she's very grounded. She is actually my alter ego⁷. She is the person I might have been had I not married young and had children, except she will always be braver. I am really appalled⁸ by violence and avoid it at all costs.

BROWN: Has she changed over the decades?

GRAFTON: Some people claim she has mellowed⁹. I don't have a way to make that judgment¹⁰ because I write from the gut¹¹ and from the heart. So she's - I think she's pretty consistent, which is to say jaded¹² and sassy and cussing like a sailor.

BROWN: Which, of course, you don't do.

GRAFTON: Oh, no, absolutely not.

BROWN: Well, let's talk about the latest book, "Y Is For Yesterday." Walk us through the plot.

GRAFTON: Well, 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 dealer¹³. 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. So they ended up going to court. So I juxtaposed the two.

BROWN: So you've drawn¹⁴ this story, your fictional¹⁵ story, based on true life events?

GRAFTON: Which I don't often do. True life real crime is so stupid. It is without subtlety¹⁶. It's usually alcohol-fueled and impetuous. And people are not as smart as they think they are, but people get killed anyway.

BROWN: Sue, what is it about these stories, do you think, that grabs readers the most?

GRAFTON: Well, I hope - my intention is never to write the same book twice. I read series. And after book two or three, I can see what the setup is. So that kind of spoils it for me. But if I repeated myself, I would be considered shallow and not very imaginative.

BROWN: Well, we're heading towards the end of the alphabet here, Sue. One more letter to go.

GRAFTON: I know. Please.

BROWN: How do you feel about getting to the end of the alphabet?

GRAFTON: I am looking forward to it, to tell you the truth. Everybody I know is retired¹⁷, and I'm still plugging along. I think it will be interesting to have a day and a week and a month and a year that isn't already spoken for. The last, actually, 38 years, I've known exactly what I'm doing next. And this is a little moment of freedom if I can come up with a storyline for "Z Is For Zero," which remains¹⁸ to be seen.

BROWN: "Z Is For Zero." So that's supposed to come out - what? - a year and a half or so?

GRAFTON: Yeah. Well, good luck. We'll see if I figure out how to do it. But I'm always in this position. I'm always wracking my brain trying to come up with one more interesting storyline. So having done it 25 times, all I have to do is one more.

BROWN: That's all you keep telling yourself, right? One more.

GRAFTON: Yeah, exactly.

BROWN: It has been a hoot³ talking with you, Sue Grafton. Her latest is "Y Is For Yesterday," which is out on Tuesday. Sue, thank you so much for taking the time out.

GRAFTON: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE TIME JUMPERS' "STOMPIN' AT THE STATION")

1 alibi   

n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口

参考例句：

• Do you have any proof to substantiate your alibi? 你有证据表明你当时不在犯罪现场吗？
• The police are suspicious of his alibi because he already has a record.警方对他不在场的辩解表示怀疑，因为他已有前科。

2 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

3 hoot   

n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭

参考例句：

• The sudden hoot of a whistle broke into my thoughts.突然响起的汽笛声打断了我的思路。
• In a string of shrill hoot of the horn sound,he quickly ran to her.在一串尖声鸣叫的喇叭声中，他快速地跑向她。

4 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

5 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

7 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

8 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 mellowed   

（使）成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 )； 使色彩更加柔和，使酒更加醇香

参考例句：

• She's mellowed over the years. 这些年来他变得成熟了。
• The colours mellowed as the sun went down. 随着太阳的落去，色泽变得柔和了。

10 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

11 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

12 jaded   

adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• I felt terribly jaded after working all weekend. 整个周末工作之后我感到疲惫不堪。
• Here is a dish that will revive jaded palates. 这道菜简直可以恢复迟钝的味觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

14 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

15 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

16 subtlety   

n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别

参考例句：

• He has shown enormous strength,great intelligence and great subtlety.他表现出充沛的精力、极大的智慧和高度的灵活性。
• The subtlety of his remarks was unnoticed by most of his audience.大多数听众都没有觉察到他讲话的微妙之处。

17 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。