"Y" Is for Yesterday


"Y" Is for Yesterday is the twenty-fifth and final novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. Grafton initially wanted to write a Z novel, but she died before she was able to do so. It features Kinsey Millhone, a private detective based in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California.
The novel, set in 1989, finds Kinsey getting pulled into a decade-old case involving a sexual assault at an elite private school. The novel, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, was released in the United States on August 22, 2017.

Plot summary

Characters

Best-seller lists

On August 30, 2017, "Y" Is for Yesterday topped USA Today best-seller list. On September 1, 2017, it topped The New York Times Best Seller list and was later placed on its Fiction Best Sellers of 2017 list.

Development of the novel

In an interview with NPR on August 20, 2017, Grafton stated the basis of the book was an amalgamation of two actual events: "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 dealer. 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."