REVIEW: “B” IS FOR BURGLAR" by SUE GRAFTON
In “B Is for Burglar” Beverly Danziger visits Kinsey Millhone, Private Detective, at her office in the California Fidelity Insurance building, and hires her to find her sister Elaine Boldt, who hasn’t been heard from in months. Mrs. Danziger wants Kinsey to have Elaine sign a legal document that will enable them to receive a small inheritance left to the sisters by their cousin.
Kinsey begins her search at Elaine’s condo in Santa Teresa and meets her neighbor Tillie, who is collecting Elaine’s mail in her absence. Right away, she receives a lot of cooperation from Elaine’s friends and neighbors, including information about bridge games, and excursions, and the fact that Elaine did not drive a car and had no driver’s license. Kinsey finds nothing in Elaine’s condo on the second floor that could be considered clues. And where is Elaine’s gray Persian cat Mingus? From Elaine’s window, she notices that a house next door has recently burned down. She wonders whether that fire had anything to do with Elaine’s disappearance, and learns that the fire killed her neighbor Marty Grice, whose husband Leonard is in a deep state of grief. Leonard loans Kinsey a key to the burned-out house and she examines the premises.
Then, she travels to Boca Raton, Florida, where she checks out the condo there where Elaine has previously spent winters. She encounters a woman named Pat Usher staying in the condo, who says she has permission from Elaine to temporarily reside there. Charmaine Makowski, the manager of the property, tells Kinsey that she and her husband are trying to make her leave, because subletting is against condo association policy, and they have no contact or explanation from Elaine. Usher insists that Elaine stayed in the condo for a few days, then left to go to Sarasota.
Kinsey meets Elaine’s neighbor Julia Ochsner, a gleeful 80-year old woman, who played bridge with Elaine regularly. She loves that Kinsey is investigating, because she genuinely wants to know what happened to her friend. She becomes a valuable contact.
Upon her return to Santa Teresa, Kinsey meets Leonard Grice’s 17-year old nephew Mike, who keeps an eye on the burned house and property for his Uncle Leonard. She inadvertently discovers Mike’s secret drug stash; nonetheless, she and Mike get along very well and he’s helpful to her in the investigation.
Kinsey begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Kinsey and Tillie go back to Elaine’s apartment to have another look. Because of what they discover, Tillie calls the police, and Kinsey leaves so she doesn’t have to explain herself to Santa Teresa Police Lieutenant Dolan.
From the beginning, Kinsey knew something was wrong with the way Elaine disappeared. One clue at a time, she deftly follows leads and studies evidence until she solves this case, but not without violent consequences to herself. … Pam Wilder…