Although the Chinese couldn't tell anyone exactly what an earthquake measured on the Richter scale (since the Richter scale wasn't created until 1935), they did manage to invent the world's first earthquake detector -- a seismograph.
WHAT IS AN ALIBI? An alibi is any evidence showing that a citizen accused of a crime was somewhere other than at the scene of a crime when the crime occurred. While T.V. and movies often portray the alibi as a fraudulent and untruthful, in the real world, the alibi is a perfectly respectable legal defense.
In apparent tribute to Macdonald, Millhone refers to her private investigator license as a photostat, as did Macdonald's character Archer. Grafton's first book of this series is A Is for Alibi, written and set in 1982. The series continues with B Is for Burglar, C Is for Corpse, and so on through the alphabet, with the exception of the 24th novel, simply titled X.