Sue Taylor Grafton (April 24, 1940 – December 28, 2017) was an American author. She mostly wrote detective novels. She was best known for her "alphabet series" of books, featuring the character Kinsey Millhone. The first in the series was ""A" Is for Alibi" (1982); the final was ""Y" Is for Yesterday" (2017). She also wrote screenplays for television movies. Crime writer Ross Macdonald was her biggest influence as a writer.