S is for Silence
by Sue Grafton
When someone walks out of your life, it hurts. However, it hurts even more if you are a young girl and the person who walked out of your life forever is your own mother. Daisy was an innocent six-year old girl when her vivacious mother Violet blew her a kiss and walked out of the family's front door with her little Pomeranian dog tucked under her arm.
That was the last anyone ever saw of Violet Sullivan and, after 34 years, Daisy hasn't been able to emotionally move on with her own life. Haunted by images of her mother's disappearance and fears that either her own father is a murderer or that her mother never really loved her, Daisy needs closure. She needs to know what happened on that July 4th evening so very long ago.
If a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing then finding the truth about what really happened could be just another devastating blow. Kinsey cautions Daisy that she might not like the answers ... if and when Kinsey could even discover what really happened to Violet. After all, the local townspeople of rural Serena Station fall into two camps. Many of them believe that Violet was nothing more than a cheap tawdry woman who cared more for hanging out at the bar and flirting with whoever would buy her a drink. The rest of the town thinks that Foley, Daisy's father, killed Violet in a jealous rage and has hidden her body somewhere.
After more than three decades, the case has grown icy cold but when Kinsey starts asking questions around Serena Station she discovers that the missing persons case hasn't been forgotten. Everyone remembers Violet and not with much affection. A selfish and neglectful mother. An abused wife. The town's tramp who slept with just about any man she met. She was lusted after by men and despised by jealous women.
Yet, no one could forget Violet Sullivan who was last seen driving out of town in a brand new Chevy Bel Air in an eye-catching shade of purple. Neither the police or Serena Station's citizens seems to have an explanation of how a beautiful redhead in a brand new car could have just disappeared off the face of the earth on a summer's night in 1953. It will be up to Kinsey Millhone to find the answer to what really happened.
Read our biography of Sue Grafton.
