“She would have wanted me to do it,” insurance agent-turned-author, Gus Melman, told Loser News earlier this week.
Melman, who was novelist Sue Grafton’s Santa Barbara neighbor from 2003-2005, just completed his first novel which ironically ties up Grafton’s Alphabet Series just nine years after her death.
“We discussed the series frequently over the backyard fence,” he continued. “I told her I’d finish it for her if she croaked before she got to ‘Z’. She just gave me a weird look, which I took as a green light.”
Melman, who says he’s read at least two and a half books in the series, divulged that he’s taking protagonist, Kinsey Millhone, in a slightly different direction.
“Yeah, she’s moonlighting as a stripper now,” he remarked over his third Dos Equis. “Plus, she has a kid who gets kidnapped at the beginning of the book and she has to solve a murder to get him back.”
When asked whether he was concerned the changes might ostracize Grafton fans, he seemed unconcerned.
“Those people just want closure,” he explained. “They could really give a crap about Kinsie Whatserbutt. In truth, I spent most of the book introducing characters from my upcoming series The Numeric Mysteries.”
Melman’s next book, 1 is for Wonderful, is set to hit bookstores in the fall of 2027.
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