Grafton, Sue: W is for Wasted

The death of Pete Wolinsky, a shady PI that Kinsey knew slightly, is the fi rst event that concerns this story. She didn’t know him well, and she barely noted his passing, until she is well into this puzzle before she realizes his connection to it.

When a dead homeless person turns up with no identification and Kinsey’s name and phone number are in his pocket as the only clue to his identity, Kinsey, of course, gets called. Being short on current cases, and for once comfortably off financially, Kinsey starts looking for answers when she can’t identify the man. She eventually is able to identify him as R.T. Dace.

Before she finds all the answers, her neighbor and landlord, Henry, his funeral loving brother William and her former lovers Robert Dietz and Lon Cheney are all involved in this tale. We also meet a twisted research doctor, a suspicious husband and several homeless people.

Remember when several books back, Kinsey discovers that she is not totally without family. Her mother’s family surfaces and she meets grandmothers, aunts, and cousins and they all want to get to know her. Having never had family and being a solitary type of person, she has a hard time reconciling with these family members that she has been told all along had denied her existence. Now, she learns that R.T. Dace, the homeless man, was her father’s nephew, which makes him her cousin, and he had three children and an ex-wife.

Not only does she now have relatives on her father’s side, but R.T. has left a will designating Kinsey as his executor and heir. Over half a million dollars is found when the puzzle is all solved. But before that all happens, the deaths of three other homeless people, the activities of the research doctor, and Pete Wolinski, the shady PI all become involved. Of course, the children of R.T. Dace want in on the fun.

Join Kinsey as she puts this puzzle together. It is one of Grafton’s longest books, but one you won’t want to put down.

by Margie Gilbert