Born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1940, author Sue Grafton started writing as a teenager.

She graduated from the University of Louisville in 1961. Six years later, Grafton published her first novel, Keziah Dane. Her next book, The Lolly-Madonna War (1969), was turned into a feature film.

After working as a television writer for several years, Grafton debuted her first Kinsey Millhone novel, A Is for Alibi, in 1982. Going through nearly the entire alphabet,

Grafton made it up to Y is for Yesterday, before her death from cancer on December 28, 2017.