Book Review: “X” By Sue Grafton
Review from Mike Pihlman
Thanks to a windfall in the last book, Kinsey Millhone, Private Detective in Santa Teresa, CA, now has enough money in the bank not to worry about slow times. And these are slow times.
In the middle of a drought, Kinsey’s octogenarian landlord, Henry, is stressing about his exorbitant water bill despite his herculean efforts to keep the bill down. Kinsey is doing her part taking shorter showers after her morning 3 mile runs, but, to date, the bill is still extremely high.
Professionally and personally, Kinsey is working four projects (three non-paying):
Project number one is helping her friend, Ruthie, sort out the business records her late husband, PI Pete Wolinsky, left her. His record keeping is a mess. While sifting through the mess, Kinsey comes across a package with information Pete was gathering before he was shot and killed in the last book.
Project number two, Kinsey decides to chase down the clues Pete left, and once she understands what is happening, she will deliver the package to the person it was meant to go to.
Project number three is meeting with an elegant very wealthy woman, Hallie Bettancourt, who wants help finding her long lost son, Christian Satterfield.
Hallie pays her $200 to get started, and Kinsey gladly accepts (slow business times, after all).
Project number four is investigating who Henry’s new elderly neighbors are, because, Kinsey suspects they are definitely not who / what they seem.
One project can lead to a serial killer (and possibly her own death), one to an art theft worth millions of dollars, one to solving an embezzlement case, and one to happiness for one forgotten child (who is now grown up with a kid of her own).
“X” is the next to last book in the Kinsey Millhone series, since, sadly, we lost Sue Grafton at “Y”. I have “Y” but will save it for awhile, as I will miss Kinsey being in my life…..yeah, I know she is a fictional character, but, still……:-(
