X by Sue Grafton

I listened to this one as an audiobook and I think that is what left me feel ambivalent about it. Kinsey Millhone is the PI in this series and she is only 38, but in the audiobook, she sounded much older and more bitter. That's not how I like Kinsey and I think if I had read the book, I would have gotten a different tone.

We start this one off with Teddy Xanakis, a very bitter woman who caught her husband, Ari, having a sex with her best friend. We know she's planning some revenge and we know it will eventually involve Kinsey.

All of the books in this series can act as standalones since Kinsey will "get people up to date" at the beginning of each book. All the books are well worth reading, however. Kinsey lives alone in Santa Theresa, CA, is 38 and a PI. Also, it's 1989.

Kinsey meets up with a Hallie Bettancourt to help her find her son who she gave up for adoption.

Kinsey also helps Ruth, Pete Wolinsky's widow, with some unfinished business of Pete's and is on the trail of a serial killer.

Kinsey also tries to figure out what is up with her new neighbors, an elderly couple who just have an iffy quality about them

Does this sounds like a lot of non-connecting story lines? Yes, because it is. This book bounced around too much to make a lot of sense. I was actually expecting all of the 3 lines to converged but they never did. If we had just ditched the new neighbors and the Xanakis, Bettancourt storylines, this would have been a good, fleshed out book. There were issues with the serial killer line that made no sense but I think all the other people were fighting for page space.

Do read this series, but don't start with X. Maybe, leave it for very last or skip it all together.