W is for Wasted - Sue Grafton

I was just complaining about series books written by authors other than the original author, like The Girl in the Spider's Web, and others I can't think of at the moment.  Authors of series with many, many books often run out of steam, or plots.  Sue Grafton amazes me.  I've read all of her Kinsey Millhone books except 'V' is for Vengeance and X and I still find them exciting.

I like that Kinsey hasn't aged dramatically from the beginning.  I don't want to read about an old Kinsey tracking down criminals in her wheelchair.  The books are full of familiar people, places, and situations, but they're not stale. 

In W is for Wasted, Kinsey finds a new group of friends:  a bunch of homeless people, most of them  addicts or alcoholics.  But they're not bad people.  MOST of them are not bad people.  R. T. Dace, one of them, dies.  Kinsey's name and number are in his pocket.  She has no idea why.

As she gets more involved, she's astounded to find that she's been named executor of his estate and is  his sole heir.  There's a good reason for this, but it takes some digging to find out what it is.  His three grown children are not happy at being cut out of the will.  He had been convicted of a crime he didn't do, was exonerated, but at least two of them still didn't believe he was innocent.  When he tried to make amends, they turned their backs, so he disinherited them.

Kinsey wishes that she had no family.  She had enjoyed being an orphan most of her life.  Families are complicated.  As they say, you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family.  And some of hers are dillies.

There's also the mystery of who shot and killed another private investigator, Pete Wolinsky.  When Kinsey finds a connection between Dace's death and Wolinsky's, many things fall into place.

There are some medical matters that had me skimming, but not big bits.  I'm not as patient as I used to be.  They were necessary for the story and were interesting  -  to a point.

I'll be looking for V is for Vengeance and for X to bring me up to date.  I'll be waiting for the end of the alphabet, too.