WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.560 Okay, so let's get into this. I want you to just 00:00:01.560 --> 00:00:03.879 picture it for a moment. It's the early 80s, 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:08.939 you're a writer, and you get this huge idea. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:12.960 A really huge idea. Yeah, and you decide, I'm 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.839 not just going to write one mystery novel. I'm 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:18.839 going to write a whole series based on the alphabet. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:23.879 All 26 letters. A, B, C, all the way to Z. I 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:25.460 mean, that sounds like a marketing gimmick at 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:27.120 first, but then you think about the commitment. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.460 It's staggering. You're basically planning out 00:00:29.460 --> 00:00:32.359 the next, what, 25, 30 years of your life right 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:34.280 there. And that's the legacy of Sue Grafton, 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:37.960 the alphabet mysteries. Exactly. And today, we're 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:39.979 not trying to tackle the whole shelf. We are 00:00:39.979 --> 00:00:43.159 going to zoom in on just one, the second book 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:47.369 from 1985. B is for Burglar. Which is such a 00:00:47.369 --> 00:00:48.990 critical book in the series. You know, a lot 00:00:48.990 --> 00:00:51.090 of times that second novel can be a slump. The 00:00:51.090 --> 00:00:52.590 sophomore slump, yeah. Right. You've used up 00:00:52.590 --> 00:00:54.950 your best ideas in the first one. But B is for 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:57.609 burglar is, well, it's widely seen as even better 00:00:57.609 --> 00:01:00.130 than A is for alibi. And it has the awards to 00:01:00.130 --> 00:01:01.969 prove it. This isn't just some potboiler you'd 00:01:01.969 --> 00:01:04.489 grab at the airport. Oh, not at all. It won the 00:01:04.489 --> 00:01:07.569 Anthony Award and the Shamus Award in 1986. And 00:01:07.569 --> 00:01:10.150 get this. The New York Times called it, and I'm 00:01:10.150 --> 00:01:12.650 quoting here, one of the best written crime novels 00:01:12.650 --> 00:01:15.719 by anybody in recent memory. Wow, that's high 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:18.159 praise. It really is, especially for a genre 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.599 that sometimes gets, you know, looked down on. 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:23.239 So that's our mission for this deep dive. We're 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:26.200 going to unpack how Grafton takes what is honestly 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:29.640 a really boring starting point, finding a signature 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.840 for some paperwork, and spins it into this huge 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:36.769 web of arson, identity theft, and murder. But 00:01:36.769 --> 00:01:38.629 first, we have to talk about our guide on this 00:01:38.629 --> 00:01:41.450 journey, the one and only Kinsey Malone. Right. 00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:43.730 If you're expecting some brooding, alcoholic 00:01:43.730 --> 00:01:46.930 male P .I., you're in for a surprise. She is 00:01:46.930 --> 00:01:49.049 a splash of cold water. She's based in Santa 00:01:49.049 --> 00:01:51.329 Teresa, which is Grafton's fictional Santa Barbara. 00:01:51.650 --> 00:01:54.109 She's practical, fiercely independent. I love 00:01:54.109 --> 00:01:55.790 that she feels so real. She cuts her own hair 00:01:55.790 --> 00:01:58.430 with nail scissors. Tries a beat up old Volkswagen. 00:01:58.810 --> 00:02:00.230 She's not trying to save the world. She's just 00:02:00.230 --> 00:02:02.359 trying to pay her rent. Exactly. And that's really 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:04.540 front and center here because the case she takes 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:08.080 on is, well, it's deceptively simple. It really 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:12.439 is. So the setup is this. A woman named Beverly 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:15.479 Danziga walks into her office. And Beverly is 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:18.539 a handful. Let's put it that way. She's wealthy, 00:02:18.699 --> 00:02:21.659 a bit abrasive, and she has this very administrative 00:02:21.659 --> 00:02:24.780 problem. She needs to find her sister, Elaine 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:27.280 Bolt. Just to get a signature. There's an inheritance 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.460 and they can't get the money until Elaine signs 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:31.729 off on the paperwork. So the job is literally 00:02:31.729 --> 00:02:35.349 find my sister, get her signature. That's it. 00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:37.750 And the story Beverly tells is that Elaine was 00:02:37.750 --> 00:02:40.469 last seen taking a cab. She was heading to her 00:02:40.469 --> 00:02:42.729 condo in Boca Raton, Florida for the winter. 00:02:42.870 --> 00:02:45.310 The classic California snowbird move. Right. 00:02:45.610 --> 00:02:48.189 But the problem is Elaine seems to have just 00:02:48.189 --> 00:02:50.930 vanished. She got in the cab, but she never showed 00:02:50.930 --> 00:02:53.469 up in Florida. Now Kinsey's first reaction is 00:02:53.469 --> 00:02:56.189 she almost doesn't take the case. She thinks 00:02:56.189 --> 00:02:58.650 this isn't a job for a P .I. It feels like a 00:02:58.650 --> 00:03:00.729 family squabble. Like the sister is probably 00:03:00.729 --> 00:03:03.370 just ignoring her. But, you know, rents do. So 00:03:03.370 --> 00:03:06.030 she takes the retainer. And that simple case 00:03:06.030 --> 00:03:08.530 starts to unravel almost immediately. It does. 00:03:08.610 --> 00:03:10.590 When she starts making calls to Florida, she 00:03:10.590 --> 00:03:13.330 hits a wall. There is absolutely no trace of 00:03:13.330 --> 00:03:15.509 Elaine Bold. She's just gone. Completely. And 00:03:15.509 --> 00:03:17.949 this is a really smart choice by Grafton because 00:03:17.949 --> 00:03:21.770 it isolates Kinsey. Remember, this is 1985. No 00:03:21.770 --> 00:03:24.650 internet, no cell phone pings? No. She's stuck 00:03:24.650 --> 00:03:27.250 in California, relying on long -distance calls 00:03:27.250 --> 00:03:29.930 in her gut. And eventually, her gut tells her 00:03:29.930 --> 00:03:32.469 she has to go see for herself. She flies to Florida. 00:03:32.689 --> 00:03:35.009 And that's where we meet the first big red flag. 00:03:35.289 --> 00:03:38.830 The tenant. Pat Usher. Right. Kinsey gets to 00:03:38.830 --> 00:03:41.750 Elaine's condo in Boca Raton. She's expecting 00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:44.389 it to be empty, maybe a little dusty. Instead, 00:03:44.530 --> 00:03:48.270 this woman, Pat Usher, is just living there. 00:03:48.409 --> 00:03:50.819 And Pat has this very neat... Very convenient 00:03:50.819 --> 00:03:53.159 story. She says she's subletting. Oh, Elaine 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:54.879 just decided to take a spontaneous trip around 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:56.620 the world and she's just watching the plants. 00:03:57.020 --> 00:03:58.900 Which, you know, maybe that could be true. People 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:01.939 do that. But Kinsey immediately spots a hole 00:04:01.939 --> 00:04:04.280 in the story. The postcards. This is such a great 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:06.319 little piece of detection. Break that down for 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:08.280 us. Why are the postcards so important? Well, 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:10.599 Pat Usher shows Kinsey all these postcards she's 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:12.719 gotten from Elaine. See? Here's one from London, 00:04:12.780 --> 00:04:16.160 one from Paris. She's fine. Okay. Seems plausible. 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:18.639 But Kinsey's already checked with everyone back 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:22.120 in California. The sister, Beverly, friends, 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:25.519 neighbors, and guess what? Nobody else has heard 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:28.259 from her. Not a word. Now, if you're on the trip 00:04:28.259 --> 00:04:30.019 of a lifetime, you might send a card to your 00:04:30.019 --> 00:04:32.600 house sitter, sure. But you're definitely sending 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:34.980 one to your family. It just rings false. Totally. 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:38.000 It feels like someone is trying to create a story. 00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:40.860 Look, she's alive. Stop looking. But for Kinsey, 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:43.240 that just makes her dig in deeper. So now she 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:46.160 knows Pat Usher is lying about something. But 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:48.779 she can't just stay in Florida forever. And this 00:04:48.779 --> 00:04:50.839 is where we see one of Kinsey's real strengths. 00:04:51.139 --> 00:04:53.779 It's not fighting. It's her people skills, her 00:04:53.779 --> 00:04:56.759 networking. She recruits Elaine's elderly neighbor, 00:04:56.939 --> 00:04:59.240 a woman named Julia. I love Julia. She's the 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:02.970 classic nosy neighbor. weaponized for good. Exactly. 00:05:03.410 --> 00:05:05.790 Kinsey basically asks her, can you just keep 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:09.170 an eye on this apartment on Pat Usher? And that 00:05:09.170 --> 00:05:11.410 frees Kinsey up to go back to California and 00:05:11.410 --> 00:05:13.509 work the other end of the problem. And back in 00:05:13.509 --> 00:05:15.850 Santa Teresa, the whole thing gets a lot darker. 00:05:16.269 --> 00:05:18.949 The case goes from a simple missing person to 00:05:18.949 --> 00:05:21.569 something much more violent. Because the timeline 00:05:21.569 --> 00:05:24.329 starts to line up with another crime, a local 00:05:24.329 --> 00:05:27.730 tragedy. The Grice case. Let's lay this out. 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:31.209 Elaine lived next door to a couple. the grises 00:05:31.209 --> 00:05:34.470 marty grice and her husband and about a week 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:37.449 before elaine supposedly left for florida there 00:05:37.449 --> 00:05:41.029 was a brutal home invasion at their house a burglar 00:05:41.029 --> 00:05:44.310 broke in killed marty grice and then set the 00:05:44.310 --> 00:05:46.550 house on fire to cover it up so you've got a 00:05:46.550 --> 00:05:49.550 murder and an arson at house a and a week later 00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:53.670 the woman at house b In a mystery novel, there's 00:05:53.670 --> 00:05:55.930 no such thing as a coincidence. And then things 00:05:55.930 --> 00:05:57.870 start getting really personal for Kinsey. It's 00:05:57.870 --> 00:06:00.490 not just phone calls anymore. Right. First, the 00:06:00.490 --> 00:06:02.389 apartment supervisor's place gets broken into. 00:06:02.649 --> 00:06:05.829 Tilly. She was holding Elaine's mail. And the 00:06:05.829 --> 00:06:07.850 burglar wasn't looking for cash. No, they were 00:06:07.850 --> 00:06:10.800 looking for documents. And then Kinsey's own 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:13.180 apartment gets tossed. Which is a huge line to 00:06:13.180 --> 00:06:15.379 cross. That's her safe space. It is. But it's 00:06:15.379 --> 00:06:17.699 also a clue. Because by seeing what they were 00:06:17.699 --> 00:06:20.959 looking for, she realizes they're after one very 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:23.720 specific thing. Elaine's passport. Which makes 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:25.819 no sense. If Elaine is traveling the world, she'd 00:06:25.819 --> 00:06:27.699 have her passport with her. The fact that someone 00:06:27.699 --> 00:06:30.279 is tearing up Santa Teresa looking for it means 00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:32.279 she never took it. And if she never took it, 00:06:32.300 --> 00:06:35.000 she never left the country. The whole story is 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.660 a lie. Now, while all this is happening, Her 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:42.399 relationship with her client, Beverly, just completely 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:45.139 implodes. It does because Kinsey does the logical 00:06:45.139 --> 00:06:47.180 thing. She says, look, there have been break 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:49.379 -ins. Your sister is missing. We need to go to 00:06:49.379 --> 00:06:52.439 the police. And Beverly's reaction is not what 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:55.160 you'd expect. She freaks out. She is absolutely 00:06:55.160 --> 00:06:58.680 violently against involving the cops. She just 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:00.959 wants her money. So what does Kinsey do? She 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:03.100 fires her client. That's such a great character 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:05.480 moment. The truth matters more than the paycheck. 00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:08.139 It frees her up. She technically starts working 00:07:08.139 --> 00:07:10.600 for Julia, the neighbor in Florida, so she can 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:13.220 bring in the police on her own terms. She partners 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:15.699 up with an officer named Jonah Rogg. And they 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:18.500 uncover that Beverly's motives were even worse 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:22.279 than just greed. Turns out Beverly's husband, 00:07:22.540 --> 00:07:24.699 Aubrey, was having an affair with the missing 00:07:24.699 --> 00:07:28.529 sister, Elaine. And Beverly knew. She knew. So 00:07:28.529 --> 00:07:31.129 now you have a client who hated her sister and 00:07:31.129 --> 00:07:33.529 wanted her money. She looks like a major suspect. 00:07:33.870 --> 00:07:36.610 So Kinsey is now convinced Elaine is dead. She 00:07:36.610 --> 00:07:39.009 feels it. And her focus goes right back to Pat 00:07:39.009 --> 00:07:41.769 Usher. And Pat makes a mistake. She feels the 00:07:41.769 --> 00:07:44.290 pressure, trashes the Florida condo, and disappears. 00:07:44.829 --> 00:07:47.949 But she leaves a trail. A paper trail. Kinsey 00:07:47.949 --> 00:07:50.430 finds out that Pat Usher applied for a driver's 00:07:50.430 --> 00:07:54.129 license. But she used the name Elaine Bolt. Identity 00:07:54.129 --> 00:07:57.990 theft. Clear as day. Exactly. But that only proves 00:07:57.990 --> 00:08:00.550 Pat is a fraud. It doesn't prove what happened 00:08:00.550 --> 00:08:03.870 to the real Elaine. For that, the answer is back 00:08:03.870 --> 00:08:05.850 in the ashes of the Grice house. And it comes 00:08:05.850 --> 00:08:09.149 from a teenage kid, Mike, who was the dead neighbor's 00:08:09.149 --> 00:08:11.410 nephew. Right. He's a bit of a delinquent, but 00:08:11.410 --> 00:08:13.870 he was there the night of the fire. And he confesses 00:08:13.870 --> 00:08:16.009 to Kinsey that he saw something. But his timeline. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.540 It doesn't match the police report. Not even 00:08:19.540 --> 00:08:22.639 close. And that discrepancy, that gap in the 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:26.360 timeline, it makes the official story of a burglary 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:29.019 impossible. That's the aha moment. That's when 00:08:29.019 --> 00:08:31.220 it all clicks into place. And the truth is just 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:34.820 horrific. The body that was found in the fire. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:36.899 The one they identified as the neighbor, Marty 00:08:36.899 --> 00:08:39.679 Grice. It wasn't Marty. It was Elaine Bolt. That 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.090 is just... chilling. So let's walk through this 00:08:42.090 --> 00:08:44.490 because it's a complicated scheme. The neighbors, 00:08:44.769 --> 00:08:47.850 the Grices, they murdered Elaine. Their plan 00:08:47.850 --> 00:08:50.149 wasn't just to kill her. It was to steal her 00:08:50.149 --> 00:08:52.500 identity and her money. But how do you make one 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:56.240 body look like another in 1985? You burn it first 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.480 to make it visually unidentifiable, and then 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:01.840 you focus on the one thing they used for identification 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:04.679 back then. Dental records. Exactly. They broke 00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:06.960 into the dentist's office and physically swapped 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:09.779 Marty Grice's dental file with Elaine Bolt's. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:13.200 That is diabolical. So the coroner finds a body, 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:15.899 checks the teeth, pulls the file labeled Marty 00:09:15.899 --> 00:09:18.019 Grice, and it's a match. Because it's really 00:09:18.019 --> 00:09:21.019 Elaine's chart. So Marty Grice is declared legally 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:23.259 dead. Well, the real Marty Grice. Is very much 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:26.480 alive. She flies to Florida using Elaine's identity. 00:09:26.860 --> 00:09:29.759 She gets cosmetic surgery to look more like her. 00:09:29.799 --> 00:09:32.019 She becomes Pat Usher as a temporary disguise. 00:09:32.419 --> 00:09:34.539 And that explains the postcards. She was sending 00:09:34.539 --> 00:09:36.240 them to herself to keep up the illusion that 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:38.139 Elaine was still alive and traveled. No, she 00:09:38.139 --> 00:09:40.259 was literally having her face changed to match 00:09:40.259 --> 00:09:42.779 the stolen identity. But they missed one thing. 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:45.059 The passport. The passport. They couldn't find 00:09:45.059 --> 00:09:47.789 it before they killed Elaine. So while Marty 00:09:47.789 --> 00:09:49.990 is in Florida getting surgery, her husband is 00:09:49.990 --> 00:09:53.730 back in California ransacking apartments, desperate 00:09:53.730 --> 00:09:56.970 to find it. That one loose thread that unraveled 00:09:56.970 --> 00:10:00.169 everything. And that leads to the climax. Kinsey 00:10:00.169 --> 00:10:02.570 figures it all out. She goes back to the burned 00:10:02.570 --> 00:10:05.149 out Grice house looking for the murder weapon. 00:10:05.309 --> 00:10:07.690 A very dangerous move. And of course they're 00:10:07.690 --> 00:10:09.950 there. Marty has come back from Florida. They 00:10:09.950 --> 00:10:12.750 ambush her. And it's not a clean Hollywood fight. 00:10:12.830 --> 00:10:15.850 It's a real struggle. Marty Grice actually gets 00:10:15.850 --> 00:10:18.330 shot in the arm. But Kinsey is tough and pragmatic. 00:10:18.629 --> 00:10:21.070 She manages to get control of the situation and 00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:24.029 call for help. So justice is served. It's just 00:10:24.029 --> 00:10:26.210 amazing how we started with a signature on a 00:10:26.210 --> 00:10:28.690 piece of paper. And ended with a murder for identity 00:10:28.690 --> 00:10:31.769 plot involving swapped dental records and arson. 00:10:32.129 --> 00:10:34.590 It really shows you why this book won all those 00:10:34.590 --> 00:10:36.610 awards. It does. And it really makes you think 00:10:36.610 --> 00:10:39.960 about identity. especially back then. That's 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:42.600 the really haunting takeaway. The whole crime 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:45.279 only works because of how fragile analog identity 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:49.000 was. In 1985, you are who your paperwork says 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.620 you are. You are who your dental records say 00:10:51.620 --> 00:10:54.000 you are. The idea that someone could just kill 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:57.080 you, swap a file in a cabinet, and then literally 00:10:57.080 --> 00:11:00.059 walk into your life and become you. It suggests 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:02.220 our sense of self was held together by, what, 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:05.240 manila folders and paperclips? And a basic level 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:07.679 of trust that the Graces just completely exploited. 00:11:07.740 --> 00:11:10.720 It's a terrifying thought. Yeah. How easily could 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:13.500 someone have just slipped into your life back 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:16.299 then? If they were ruthless enough. Disturbingly 00:11:16.299 --> 00:11:19.539 easily. Well, thank you for joining us for this 00:11:19.539 --> 00:11:22.320 deep dive into Sue Grafton's B is for Burglar, 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:24.799 a true classic of the genre. It was a pleasure. 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:27.000 It's always great to revisit Santa Teresa. So 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:30.029 keep asking questions. And stay curious. We'll 00:11:30.029 --> 00:11:31.149 see you on the next deep dive.