REVIEW: “X’ by SUE GRAFTON
The story in Sue Grafton’s novel “X” is a continuation and expansion of the investigation that Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone pursued in Grafton’s previous book, “W Is for Wasted,” in which Pete Wolinsky was killed. When Wolinsky died, he left files in his office and over eighty boxes of client files and other items in his garage at home. His wife Ruthie contacted Kinsey and asked her to go through the files and stacks of boxes to see if there was anything in them of value.
In “X,” Kinsey continues her sorting of items in Wolinsky’s stored boxes and discovers a coded list, which she shows to her landlord Henry. Henry knows how to decipher the code and provides her with a list of six women. Because of that list and Wolinsky’s notes, she suspects that Ned Lowe, an outside sales rep with a photography hobby, has some sort of relationship with some of the women on Wolinsky’s list. Kinsey draws an “X” in black marker on the top of a particular banker’s box containing receipts, files, mail, and other items she is curious about, and takes it with her to her office.
She visits one of the women on the list, who had dated Lowe: a psychologist named Taryn Sizemore, who had sued Lowe for stalking and harassment. She explains who he is to Kinsey. “He’s in outside sales; at least he was when I dated him. Probably still doing it in one form or another. He can be warm and thoughtful and empathetic. I was completely taken in when we first met. I thought we were soul mates. It doesn’t last, but it’s irresistible when he’s rolling out the charm. His job is to get along with people—chin-wag and problem-solve and make nice—which might seem odd until you realize it’s all learned behavior. He’s human by imitation. Maybe that’s why he does such a good job of it; there’s no unruly emotion to get in the way of his goal, which is to dominate.”
While Kinsey ponders mysterious collections of receipts and notes about Ned Lowe, a wealthy woman named Hallie Bettancourt contacts her and hires her to locate an ex-convict she claims is her son, whom she gave up for adoption thirty-two years ago. She pays cash for Kinsey’s services. A few days later, Sgt. Detective Spencer Nash from the Santa Teresa Police Department visits her office and wants to know where she acquired the marked $100 bill she used to buy groceries at Alpha Beta. Kinsey begins her own clandestine investigation of Bettancourt. She tails Bettancourt and her traveling companions to a Beverly Hills hotel, and books her own room there while she surreptitiously observes Bettancourt’s actions and activities, until she discovers Bettancourt’s real name.
Ruthie’s house is broken into. Kinsey believes it was Ned Lowe, but Ruthie disdains this theory. Then, Kinsey’s office is broken into. All her furnishings are moved around and the coffee carafe has been burning for hours on the warmer. The storage box with the “X” on top has been removed. Again, Kinsey suspects Ned Lowe and her fear of him mounts.
As she searches for and interviews some of the women named on Wolinsky’s list, she learns what Wolinsky was actually up to with his research, notes, and list of women, and develops a new respect for him.
Meanwhile, back in the neighborhood where Kinsey lives, an elderly couple, Edna and Joseph Shallenbarger, have moved into the house next door that had been for sale for a long time. Edna relentlessly prevails upon Henry to take her shopping and run errands for her. Kinsey senses something about these two is suspicious, and over the course of the story, she discovers what they are up to. … Pam Wilder …