X — Kinsey Millhone #24

A Letter Without a Word

X, the twenty-fourth Kinsey Millhone novel, is the only entry in the Alphabet without an accompanying word — not “X is for” anything, just the bare letter, a fittingly stark title for one of the darkest books in the series. Grafton weaves several threads through the novel: a devious divorcée named Teddy Xanakis cons Kinsey into helping locate an estranged son, the first move in a web of deceit involving a valuable painting and tax fraud; a petty but escalating menace develops as the elderly new neighbors of Kinsey’s landlord Henry manipulate and exploit those around them during a drought; and, most chillingly, the files of a dead colleague — Pete Wolinsky, from W Is for Wasted — yield a coded list that proves to be the record of a methodical killer who has murdered women for years without detection.

The serial-killer thread is the book’s dark heart. The discovery, hidden in a dead man’s coded files, of a predator who has operated undetected for years — choosing victims carefully, leaving no trace, evading any suspicion — gives X a genuine chill. This killer is the series’ most ruthless and elusive adversary, a monster who hides in plain sight, and the slow revelation of his existence and his methods gives the novel a creeping dread. Unlike the conventional villains of the series, this killer leaves no trace, and the horror is in the realization that such a predator could exist and operate for so long unseen.

A Web of Deceit

The con-artist thread provides the novel’s central scheme, as Teddy Xanakis manipulates Kinsey into unwitting participation in a plot involving a valuable painting and financial fraud. This thread is a study in deceit, Kinsey gradually realizing she has been used and working to untangle the layers of manipulation. The con gives the novel a clever, twisty plot, the kind of scheme that requires Kinsey to recognize and counter a sophisticated deception, and it demonstrates Grafton’s plotting skill even amid the book’s darkness.

The petty-menace subplot — Henry’s manipulative new neighbors, their exploitation of those around them during a drought — provides a counterpoint of small-scale, domestic malice that shadows the novel’s greater evils. This thread is more mundane, almost comic in its pettiness, but it contributes to the book’s overall atmosphere of menace and deceit, the suggestion that malice operates at every scale, from the petty to the monstrous. The juxtaposition of the neighbors’ small cruelties with the serial killer’s great evil gives the novel a thematic texture, the everyday and the extraordinary forms of human malice running in parallel.

A Diffuse, Bleak Entry

X is one of the more diffuse Kinsey Millhone novels, its multiple braided threads — the con, the neighbors, the serial killer — giving it a fragmented structure that lacks the focus of the series’ tighter entries. The threads are connected more by theme and atmosphere than by plot, and the novel covers a great deal of ground, the diffuse structure asking for the reader’s patience. This is a craft-driven entry, more interested in atmosphere, character, and the slow accumulation of dread than in a single propulsive mystery, and readers who prefer a focused plot may find it scattered.

The tone is correspondingly bleak. X is among the darkest entries in the series, its serial-killer thread chilling, its con-artist scheme cynical, its petty-menace subplot sour, and the overall atmosphere is downbeat and ruthless. This darkness is deliberate — the novel is an exploration of human malice in its various forms — but it makes for a grim read, lacking the lighter pleasures of the series’ more entertaining entries. The craft is evident, the atmosphere masterfully sustained, but the bleakness is unrelenting.

Setting Up the End

X serves an important function in the series: it sets up the predator who shadows the final book. The serial killer uncovered in Pete Wolinsky’s files — a methodical, elusive murderer — survives the novel and carries forward into Y Is for Yesterday, where he becomes a direct threat to Kinsey. This continuity gives X significance beyond its self-contained threads, establishing the dangerous adversary whose pursuit of Kinsey provides the series’ climactic tension. For readers approaching the end of the Alphabet, X is a crucial setup, introducing the menace that the final book resolves.

Grafton’s clean prose and Kinsey’s dry narration ground the bleak material, and the craft-driven storytelling sustains the atmosphere of menace and deceit. The 1980s setting remains a defining texture. X is the series in a dark, diffuse, craft-driven mode, anchored by an undetected serial killer, a con-artist scheme, and petty domestic menace, one of the bleakest and most atmospheric later entries, setting up the climactic confrontation of the final book.

Where It Sits in the Series

X is the twenty-fourth Kinsey Millhone novel, following W Is for Wasted and preceding the final entry, Y Is for Yesterday. It connects forward through its serial-killer thread, which continues into the last book, making it best read before the finale. For readers tracking the Alphabet series, it is one of the darkest and most atmospheric later entries, and a crucial setup for the series’ end.

Among the Kinsey Millhone books, X stands out for its bleakness, its chilling serial-killer thread, and its craft-driven, multi-strand structure, one of the darkest entries in the series. It is a diffuse, atmospheric novel that explores human malice in its various forms and sets up the predator of the final book, demonstrating Grafton’s craft even as its downbeat tone and fragmented structure make it a grim, demanding read.

Our rating: 3.8/5 — One of the darkest Kinsey Millhone novels, a bleak, craft-driven entry weaving a con-artist scheme, petty menace, and the chilling discovery of an undetected serial killer who shadows the final book.