Review by Deb Czajkowski
Kinsey
Millhone is a thirty-eight-year-old private detective in Santa Teresa, CA. Being her own boss has many perks; choosing
how and when she takes a case is top of her list. Most often someone walks into her bungalow
office with a problem or missing person.
Sometimes, it’s just plain curiosity from someone or something in
Kinsey’s life that pulls her in.
Henry
Pitts is eighty-nine years old and sharp as a tack. He’s also Kinsey’s long-time landlord. Henry converted his old garage into a
spectacular apartment for Kinsey. Their
relationship has proven mutually beneficial, often sharing their evening meals
together and discussing his current project or her current case. Henry’s current project is a major plumbing
issue. Kinsey’s current case? Nothing
pressing at the moment.
Pete
Wolinski was also a private detective; ‘was’ because he was murdered six months
ago. Now his wife, Ruthie, is being
audited and needs Kinsey’s help in locating various financial records in and
amongst Pete’s haphazard filing system.
It is while sorting through one of his boxes of files that Kinsey
stumbles upon an apparent case in progress.
When
seemingly unconnected events all appear to point to Pete’s unsolved case,
Kinsey’s curiosity meter springs to high.
But pursuing this would be purely on her own time and her own dime. Still, doesn’t she owe it to Pete? Technically, no; and technically it’s not
even an actual case. It is really just
one sheet of paper with coded numbers on it.
Curious, though, right?
You
do know what is said about curiosity?
Curiosity killed the…..
(Disclaimer: No animals were actually
harmed in this book!) However…..
X
is Sue Grafton’s twenty-fourth Kinsey Millhone novel, each novel beginning with
a letter of the alphabet. The first
book, A is for Alibi, begins with
Kinsey at age thirty-two and is set in the early 1980s. Think back to 1980. No one had a computer. And phones were the cord kind, connected to a
wall. You want information? You drive to the library or the court
house. You need to type up a report or a
letter? Or complete a document for
filing? Pull out your Smith-Corona! And then put the document in an (stamped)
envelope and drop it in the mailbox.
It’s
now 1989. Not a lot has changed for
Kinsey: she still does things the old-fashioned way! In other words, Sue Grafton continues to
succeed in staying true to Kinsey’s character and her real-life timeframe.
But
twenty-four Kinsey murder mysteries? One might think there must be a lot of redundancy in plots and overall content. Not so!
Each book is cleverly fresh, with new and different deviousness with
each plotline. And X is no exception. In X the author yet again grabbed my
attention in the early pages and kept me frantically turning page after page,
until once again I reached Kinsey’s final report, respectfully submitted.
Which
leaves me where I always am at the end of a Sue Grafton novel: Wanting the next one!
Purchase
the book at:
About the Author:
Sue Grafton is
published in 28 countries and 26 languages—including Estonian, Bulgarian, and
Indonesian. She's an international bestseller with a readership in the
millions. She's a writer who believes in the form that she has chosen to mine:
"The mystery novel offers a world in which justice is served. Maybe not in
a court of law," she has said, "but people do get their just
desserts." And like Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, Robert Parker and
the John D. MacDonald—the best of her breed—she has earned new respect for that
form. Her readers appreciate her buoyant style, her eye for detail, her deft
hand with character, her acute social observances, and her abundant
storytelling talents.
Connect
with the author at:
Marian Wood Books/Putnam is giving
One
lucky winner a print copy of
X
by Sue Grafton
US
only