Wasted days and wasted nights, but not if you have a good book

We go back in time for "W is for Wasted." It's 1988 and Kinsey Millhone is age 38.

There are two parallel investigations that PI Kinsey gets involved with. First there is a homeless man who had Kinsey's name and phone with him when he died. Through the investigation, Kinsey learns that the man was a former convict whose conviction was overturned. He was ostracized by his children and was a long lost relative of Kinsey's. She learns that the man had made her the executor of his estate.

The second story involves a shady police investigator, Pete Wolinsky who tried to take advantage of every situation. He gets involved in a marital investigation and it develops that there is a chance for Pete to make extra money through blackmail.

This is an enjoyable novel with a contemporary plot in that it deals with the homeless and medical experiments. The Wasted in the title appears to be about the lives of the homeless and in particular, Kinsey's relative who wasted his life when he had the brains to make something of himself.

Kinsey's relative, R.T. Dane was tried and convicted of a crime that a fellow worked committed. Only when the other man was on his death bed was Dane's conviction overturned and Dane freed. By that time, his family didn't want anything to do with him.

The action moves along nicely and Kinsey's dealing with Dane's children is interesting to follow. We come to feel that the children were only looking for what they could get from suddenly seeing something in their dead father that they liked.

I found the book entertaining but not one of the author's best works. I appreciated how  the author wrote about the homeless and how they might have become more if their situations were different.