Review: THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTUNE, Richard Osman

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DJ1TQH16
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin, Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 25, 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 409 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1405975629 
• Book 5 of 5: Thursday Murder Club Mysteries  

Synopsis (Amazon)

Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.

But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?

My Take:

 Joyce's daughter Joanna is getting married and Elizabeth is still not really herself. And then at the wedding itself comes an action which brings the Thursday Murder Club a task, after almost a year of inaction. And the old team prove that they've still got it, despite the failings that come with their advancing years. 

There were times when I found this latest incursion into geezer lit both challenging and exasperating.  I struggled at times to remember the background to each character, but thank goodness it all came together at the end. 

My Rating: 4.4

I've also read

4.5, THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB  - #1

4.3, THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE - #2

4.6, THE BULLET THAT MISSED - #3

4.8, THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE - #4

4.5, WE SOLVE MURDERS

Review: KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, Deanna Raybourn

• 
  This edition published 1923 by Hodder & Stoughton
  
• Supplied by my local library
• ISBN 978-1-399-71278-1
• 353 pages
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. But now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates their real-world resourcefulness in an age of technology.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses-paid trip to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realise they've been marked for death.

To get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman - and a killer - of a certain age.

My Take

I seem to have score a number of books about elderly or retiring assassins just lately. 

• 4.5, SEVENTEEN: Last Man Standing - #1
• 4.5, ASSASSIN EIGHTEEN - #2

I've added 'geezer lit' to my labels for this one. 

Four female assassins on the brink of retiring, highly trained, very successful, find that they in turn are on someone's list, so they must track down who is after them. They are not sure who to trust of their former associates, nor entirely sure what they've done. Some of them are aging more quickly than others of their group.

Entertaining reading.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

SILENT IN THE GRAVE

About the author

New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a double major in English and history and an emphasis on Shakespearean studies. She taught high school English for three years in San Antonio before leaving education to pursue a career as a novelist. Deanna makes her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband and daughter and is hard at work on her next novel.

Review: MURDER ON FRIDAY STREET, Russell Cooper

• This edition read on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CJBCR7K4
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Red Balloon Press (September 19, 2023)
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 394 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1919602178
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1919602172
• #1 Friday Street Murder Mysteries
  

Synopsis (publisher) 

If you love Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, you’ll love this.

Eccentric twin brothers, Cedric and Ambrose, retire from MI6 to make honey and tackle crosswords at Tanglefoot Farm in England’s Surrey Hills.

The unsolved brutal murder of their long-lost friend drags them back into the secret life they left behind.

Can Cedric and Ambrose, along with Charlie, their dead friend’s daughter, and the seventy-five year old mystery woman who lives in a campervan, unravel the clues and crack the cold case before the killer strikes again?

The chase is on to solve the mystery and catch the murderer.

Murder on Friday Street is the highly entertaining first book in the Friday Street Murder Mystery series. If you like witty, feisty women, a tangle of clever clues, and hilarious adventures, then you’ll love Russell Cooper’s gripping murder mystery.

My Take

While I enjoyed reading this latest outing in the geezer lit genre, I am just a little uncomfortable with its close proximity to that other very successful series by Richard Osman. It feels a little to0 close to a spoof on a spoof, an author saying "I can do a little better.  ... instead of one retired spy lets put a few of them together and see what happens." (although I am sure this sort of thing happens more than I indicate in my reviews)

In the middle of it there is some serious plotting, a serious cold case, some delightfully drawn characters, some humorous and not-so humorous situations.

However, if you read it then come back here and tell me if you think I've been unduly harsh with my coattails analogy.

My rating: 4.0

About the author

Russell Cooper...grew up on a rich diet of spy novels and Sunday afternoon television dramas. Following a hectic career in the restaurant business I did a couple of undisclosed stints (nothing dangerous) with NATO & GCHQ. Today I live in Surrey UK and when I’m not writing, editing or reading, I support the demands of Winnie, my toy poodle.

Review: DEATH IN THE SUNSHINE, Steph Broadribb

• 
  This edition available as an e-book on Amazon (Kindle)
  
• Book #1, The Retired Detectives Club
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B094JMFJNK
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (March 1, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 319 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

Four ex-cops in a retirement paradise. Sure they’ll rest…when the killer is caught.

After a long career as a police officer, Moira hopes a move to a luxury retirement community will mean she can finally leave the detective work to the youngsters and focus on a quieter life. But it turns out The Homestead is far from paradise. When she discovers the body of a young woman floating in one of the pools, surrounded by thousands of dollar bills, her crime-fighting instinct kicks back in and she joins up with fellow ex-cops—and new neighbours—Philip, Lizzie and Rick to investigate the murder.

With the case officers dropping ball after ball, Moira and the gang take matters into their own hands, turning into undercover homicide investigators. But the killer is desperate to destroy all the evidence and Moira, Philip, Lizzie and Rick soon find themselves getting in the way—of the murderer and the police.

Just when they think they can finally relax, they discover that someone has infiltrated their ‘safe’ community. Can they hunt down the murderer and get back to retiring in peace? And after all the excitement, will they want to?

My Take

A crime fiction that is not quite a cozy, and not quite geezer lit. Moira, married couple Philip and Lizzie, are British cops who have, for various reasons, decided to retire to Florida in the USA. Philip and Lizzie have been retired at The Homestead for about 10 years while Moira is recently arrived. Rick, on the other hand, is American, recently widowed. Moira is trying to maintain a low profile and seems to have a lot to hide. She is cautious not to reveal too much about herself to her new neighbours.

All four feel that they have been either forced into retirement or have retired too early, that they still have a lot to give. So when Moira discovers a body in the lap pool they slip into old ways. They all know what ought to be done in terms of an investigation, and find it hard to understand while the local police are slow to react.

A reasonably satisfying read with plenty of room for a sequel or two.

My rating: 4.5 

About the author
Steph Broadribb was born in Birmingham and grew up in Buckinghamshire. Most of her working life has been spent between the UK and USA. As her alter ego - Crime Thriller Girl - she indulges her love of all things crime fiction by blogging at www.crimethrillergirl.com
Steph is an alumni of the MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at City University London, and she trained as a bounty hunter in California. She lives in Buckinghamshire surrounded by horses, cows and chickens.

 

Review: AN A-LIST FOR DEATH, Pamela Hart

• 
  this edition published 2022, made available by my local library
  
• published by HQ Fiction
• ISBN 978-1-8672-0189-2
• 353 pages
• Author website
• #2 in the Poppy McGowan series

Synopsis (author website)

Shooting for fame could end your career … and your life. A sparkling mystery from a stylish new voice in crime fiction, in a book that will delight fans of Richard Osman and Kerry Greenwood.

TV researcher Poppy McGowan has never sought the spotlight and is none too happy to be photographed with rock god Nathan Castle. When the photo pops up on celebrity gossip sites, it sparks a media feeding frenzy, forcing Poppy to go to ground, don a wig, and pull some nifty moves to escape a tailing car. And she cops abuse from Nathan’s outraged fans.

None of this would have happened if Poppy had not found Nathan’s mother Daisy, one-time glamour girl and elderly best friend of her Aunty Mary, bleeding and unconscious in her bathroom. The police dismiss the case as an accident, but Poppy is sure there are questions to be answered. Who attacked Daisy, and why? Will she come out of her coma? What secrets are her gathering family hiding? What happens to Daisy’s money if she dies?

When a murder occurs outside Daisy’s flat, the police step in at last. Unfortunately, they finger Poppy’s boyfriend, Tol, for the crime – after all, he had bad blood with the victim. As Daisy’s money-hungry family circle, amid hints of poisoning, bribery and blackmail, Poppy must find a way to clear Tol’s name and ensure Daisy’s safety.  

My Take

To me, this novel feels a cross between chick-lit, geezer-lit, and a cozy.

If none of those terms are familiar to you, then perhaps the closest is cozy, although there are a couple of nasty deaths and a couple of close calls.

The narrator is the heroine, Poppy McGowan herself, a youngish woman who works for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) on producing research material for children's programs. This role gets Poppy into Museums and other places which might be difficult to crack. So an Australian writer, using Australian settings.

The novel is tightly plotted although I found the main plot a little implausible. However the characters are strong and believable.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Pamela Hart is my married name and The Soldier’s Wife was my first book under that name, inspired by my grandfather’s service as an ANZAC at Gallipoli (see The Story behind The Soldier’s Wife). Since then, I’ve enjoyed working with other true stories set in and after WWI. Each book has given rise to the next, as I stumble over wonderful stories while doing the research for the current book. As Pamela Freeman, I’ve written children’s fiction, epic fantasy, crime fiction and children’s poetry. You can find out more about my other books here.

I became seriously interested in historical fiction when I wrote The Black Dress, a fictional account of the childhood of Mary MacKillop in the Australia of the 1840s-1860s.

I have a Doctor of Creative Arts in Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney, and I teach writing (face-to-face and online) at the Australian Writers’ Centre.

My writing started when I was a children’s scriptwriter for ABC Kids, which was where I began to write children’s stories. But then I found that I wanted to tell stories for adults, too, and particularly stories about women’s lives, loves, tears and joys.

I live in Sydney with my husband and son and many musical instruments. (I’m a drummer – or at least I’m learning to be one!)

I love to keep in touch with my readers, so follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

Awards

    The Black Dress, NSW Premier’s History Prize, 2006
    Victor’s Challenge, Aurealis Award, 2009
    Ember and Ash, Aurealis Award, 2011
    Desert Lake, ASO Librarian’s Choice Award, 2017
    Shortlistings: NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Romantic Book of the Year Australia (the Ruby), Romantic Book of the Year UK (the Rona), Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards, Koala Awards, Wilderness Society Environment Award, Speech Pathology Awards.

Review: THE BULLET THAT MISSED, Richard Osman

• 
  This edition Large Print from Penguin Random House published 2022
  
• ISBN 978-0-593-63266-6
• 447 pages
• #3 Thursday Murder Club series
• read an extract
  

Synopsis (publisher)

It is an ordinary Thursday and things should finally be returning to normal.

Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club is concerned. A decade-old cold case leads them to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers.

Then, a new foe pays Elizabeth a visit. Her mission? Kill . . . or be killed.

As the cold case turns white hot, Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), while Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim chase down clues with help from old friends and new. But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?

My Take

Local television compere Mike Waghorn has come to interview members of the Thursday Murder Club at Cooper's Chase for South East Tonight. It was all Joyce's idea. Mike intends his focus to be on retirement communities, he doesn't know he is meeting the Thursday Murder Club. They hope to pump him for information about a former colleague whose body has never been found. Fate seems to have stepped in when Mike himself suggests her name for their attention.

There are a number of continuing characters in this series, so it really does help to have read the earlier books.

One of the aspects that I enjoy about these geezer lit stories is the underlying gentle humour.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• 4.5, THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB  
• 4.3, THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE
  

Review: THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE, Richard Osman

• 
  this edition published by Viking 2021
• #2 Thursday Murder Club
  
• ISBN 978-0-241-42543-5
• 420 pages

Synopsis  (publisher)

The second novel in the number one Sunday Times bestselling Thursday Murder Club series featuring the old (but far from past-it) team as they pursue a brand new mystery.

It's the following Thursday, and Elizabeth has just had a visit from a man she thought was dead. It's (one of) her ex-husbands, and he's being hunted. His story involves some diamonds, some spies, and a very angry mobster.

Elizabeth puts it down to his normal grandstanding, but then the bodies start piling up. So she enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for the killer. If they find the diamonds - well, that's just a bonus...

But this time the murderer isn't some small-time criminal, and it soon becomes terrifying clear that they wouldn't bat an eyelid at killing four septuagenarians. Can our team find the killer before the killer finds them?

My Take

The Thursday Murder Club usually spend their time solving cold cases, so when a real case comes up, they jump at the chance, especially when it involves one of their small group. First of all their undisputed leader Elizabeth, ex-MI5, gets a letter from someone whom she believes is dead. And then Ibrahim is attacked by some young ones, his mobile phone snatched, and he is kicked in the head.

And then, local detectives Chris and Donna are trying to nail their local drug dealer Connie. Without success. And Chris falls in love.

As the novel develops various subplots emerge, the story becomes a mixture of the serious and black comedy, and Joyce keeps us all up to date, as she did in the first book in the series, through her daily diary.

Entertaining geezer lit.

My rating: 4.3

I've also read 4.5, THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

Review: THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB, Robert Thorogood

• 
  This edition published by Harper Collins UK 2021
  
• ISBN 9-78008-43590-5
• 338 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…

Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.

One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar.

Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…

My Take

I have categorised this novel as "geezer lit" - a sub-genre of mystery crime fiction in which "old geezers" are the principal characters, usually as amateur sleuths. (see this link for further examples). The authors themselves often fall into the "old geezer" category too.

Judith, Suzie and Becks work with a local police woman to find the murderer first of Judith's "neighbour" and then of the two subsequent murders that take place in the small Thames village of Marlow.

The reading audience is probably those who are "of an age" and like their cozies. I found the story entertaining. Under the leadership of Judith, a 77 year old who likes swimming in the Thames naked on a summer's night, the trio investigate a number of suspects and commit some very audacious acts. I enjoyed participating vicariously with them.

My rating: 4.4

About the author 

Robert Thorogood is the creator of the hit BBC One TV series DEATH IN PARADISE.He was born in Colchester, Essex, in 1972. When he was 10-years old, he read his first proper novel – Agatha Christie’s Peril at End House – and he’s been in love with the genre ever since.He now lives in Marlow in Buckinghamshire with his wife, children and an increasingly cranky Bengal cat called Daniel.

Review: BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP, S.J. Watson

• published: HarperCollins Publishers 2011
• ISBN 978-0-06-206055-5
• 358 pages
• Source: my local library

Plot synopsis (author's website)

Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. She looks in the mirror and sees an unfamiliar, middle- aged face. And every morning, the man she has woken up with must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband, she is forty-seven years old, and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories.

But it’s the phone call from a Dr. Nash, a neurologist who claims to be working with Christine without her husband’s knowledge, that directs her to her journal, hidden in the back of her closet. For the past few weeks, Christine has been recording her daily activities—tearful mornings with Ben, sessions with Dr. Nash, flashes of scenes from her former life—and rereading past entries, relearning the facts of her life as retold by the husband she is completely dependent upon. As the entries build up, Christine asks many questions. What was life like before the accident? Why did she and Ben never have a child? What has happened to Christine’s best friend? And what exactly was the horrific accident that caused such a profound loss of memory?

Every day, Christine must begin again the reconstruction of her past. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more unbelievable it seems.

My take

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is an ambitious debut novel: a story told from the point of view of an amnesiac whose memory, both short term and most of her long term, disappears overnight and dumps her back into life each morning over two decades earlier. Even then her memory of life until then is patchy and imperfect.

You get the general gist of the novel from the synopsis (above). There is a mystery on several fronts: why over twenty years have elapsed since the "accident" happened that left Christine like this; whether the two main people in her life, her husband and the neurologist, are actually telling her the truth; whether the fact that Christine was a writer had anything to do with her accident.

Christine, at the prompting of her neurologist, resorts to a ploy that Mike Befeler's elderly protagonist Paul Jacobsen also uses in the geezer lit cozy  RETIREMENT HOMES ARE MURDER (published 2007), keeping a journal on a daily basis. The journal becomes his memory. In Christine's case she records what she is told as well as what happens to her. So this "memory" is imperfect as well.

There was enough in BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP to keep me going, sufficient curiosity about what had happened to Christine, whether she would have a miraculous recovery that would put everything in its place. I think Watson probably took the theme as far as he could. There was the impression that the author was exploring some laneways to see where they led, only to back out of them when they became unproductive. As Christine pieces together her story via her journal, so too the reader, on another level, puts together the timeline of what has happened to Christine in the last twenty-plus years. Therein lies the mystery element. There are a number of story elements that remain unexplained and of course the reader at times knows quite a bit more than Christine does even though she diligently reads through her ever expanding journal when reminded to.

My rating 4.4

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP won the 2011 CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and the Galaxy Book Award for 2011 Crime & Thriller Novel of the Year as well as coming to the attention of Richard & Judy.

Other reviews and sites to visit

• SJ Watson's website
• Petrona
• Reactions to Reading
• from the author: the inspiration behind BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP (pdf)

Review: A CANTERBURY CRIME, Brian Kavanagh

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 386 KB
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: BeWrite Books (October 19, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00480ODQU
• Published by BeWrite Books 2010 ISBN 978-1-906609-42-9
• source: I bought it.

This novel begins with a brief background to the history of Canterbury and in particular to the murder of its Archbishop in the Cathedral just after Christmas in 1170.

Antiques dealer Hazel Whitby and her Australian companion Belinda Lawrence have been asked to catalogue and value the contents of a deceased estate, the Manor House. It is just a few days to Christmas and Hazel and Belinda will be spending Christmas in Canterbury.

Professor de Gray died nearly six months earlier, supposedly from a heart attack. But Hazel and Belinda hear stories of there having been "blood on his head" and the Professor's body was cremated with almost indecent haste, the day after his death.

They have been commissioned by Miss Mowbray (who reminds Belinda of a modern Mrs Danvers) to evaluate the contents of the Manor House, which turns out to be a virtual Aladdin's Cave. Shortly after they begin work, Miss Mowbray goes up to London, and there meets with an accident.

As with the other 3 titles in this series, I enjoyed the historical background that Kavanagh uses to give depth to the story. Belinda's romance with the handsome Mark (who appeared in #2) and her partnership with Hazel provide continuity from one novel to the next. (If oyu are new to the series, I strongly suggest you read them in order). Like its predecessors A CANTERBURY CRIME is a pleasant whodunnit in the true cozy tradition.

There is a growing sub-genre of mystery crime fiction known as "geezer lit" (the term is not mine). Some of them are mysteries in which "old geezers" are the principal characters, usually as amateur sleuths. Mike Befeler's RETIREMENT HOMES ARE MURDER and LIVING WITH YOUR KIDS IS MURDER are good examples of these.

There is though another side to "geezer lit" mysteries where the writer could (kindly) be said to be an "old geezer" - and surely Brian Kavanagh could lay claim to this status. Again, hoping Brian is not offended here, there are books where the main audience will be "old geezers" who love their reading.
A CANTERBURY CRIME will appeal to this audience. It is a cozy that is strongly part of the tradition. It will also appeal to those who on their travels have been to Canterbury and to the Cathedral in particular, and who enjoyed this taste of English history.

A CANTERBURY CRIME is a light enjoyable read, with a murder investigation by a couple of likeable amateur sleuths.

My rating 4.3

My reviews of earlier titles.

Review: THE MARATHON MURDERS, Chester D. Campbell

I read THE MARATHON MURDERS (publ. 2008) on my Kindle

Blurb
Did Sydney Liggett, assistant treasurer of Marathon Motor Works in Nashville, skip town in 1914 with embezzled funds, or was he framed and murdered? That's the question PI's Greg and Jill McKenzie are hired to answer when 90-year-old documents found during restoration of the company’s buildings disappear. They discover the contractor who had them has been murdered. As they follow the twisting path, more bodies are found and they fear their client, Liggett’s great-great-granddaughter, may be next.

ISBN 9780979916717

Although there are at least 3 nasty murders and some tricky situations for husband and wife team Greg and Jill, I found THE MARATHON MAN a fairly light read.
I have mentally put it into the category of geezer lit which means that is you are under about 60 you may not want to read it. Check out other geezer lit.
Greg and Jill, in their 60s, have been married for 40 years, and have only been working as private investigators since Greg's retirement. This is apparently their 4th adventure.



More about elderly author Chester D. Campbell can be found on his website.

My rating: 4.1

Review: LIVING WITH YOUR KIDS IS MURDER, Mike Befeler

This book, #2 in the Paul Jacobsen Geezer-Lit Mystery series, is the first book I've completed reading on my new Kindle. I noticed also that this book is available as an audio from Audible.

Finding that it was available on Kindle was great because the paper versions don't appear to be available yet here in Australia, and the US versions are quite expensive.

I read and reviewed the first in the series, RETIREMENT HOMES ARE MURDER, earlier this year after we had been to Left Coast Crime in Hawaii and met the author Mike Befeler there.

The background to the series is that 85 year old Paul Jacobson has short term memory loss. Like most elderly people he remembers things from the past very well, but most of them will be thankful they don't have his peculiar affliction - sleep wipes the slate of his memory perfectly clean. So if he takes a nap, all that preceded it is gone, and overnight sleep erases the previous day. To counteract that, in the first in the series, Paul's granddaughter got him to write a daily journal so that he can read it the following day and and least get some idea of what he has been doing. In RETIREMENT HOMES ARE MURDER, Paul was living on Hawaii in a retirement home, but his son Denny thought that was too far away and has persuaded Paul to come to live with his family in Boulder Colorado. The idea is really to keep a better eye on Paul, who always seemed to be getting into serious trouble in Hawaii.

But Paul's move to Boulder doesn't start too well - the man he is sitting next to on the plane rather inconveniently dies, and that's just the start of a succession of serious situations for Paul.
Like the earlier title LIVING WITH YOUR KIDS is an irreverent poke at the lives of the elderly. You'll discover for example that there is one thing that Paul can do that seems to prevent his memory loss, but is it a sustainable solution? Paul's son Denny is worrying that his memory may be going the same way, his daughter-in-law Allison is amazingly welcome, and his 12 year old granddaughter is delightful, a sleuth and lawyer in the making.

I kept thinking of what an amazing job the author Mike Befeler does of keeping his wires uncrossed. We, the reader, basically see the world through Paul Jacobson's eyes, and of course we can remember a lot of what he has forgotten. Just occasionally I felt like poking Paul, to tell him that we had already discovered the answer to that question - why the heck didn't he write it down!

You can probably tell from my tone that I thoroughly enjoyed reading LIVING WITH YOUR KIDS IS MURDER. I think Mike Befeler has hit on a story line that the elderly will find enjoyable too. It's not a long read - the hardcover version is 261 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1594147616.

My rating : 4.4

Review: RETIREMENT HOMES ARE MURDER, Mike Befeler

Thomson Gale, 2007, ISBN 978-1-59414-515-5, 290 pages.

Waking up every morning with a clean slate may appeal to some but for Paul Jacobsen it is "crapola". Every time he sleeps Paul Jacobsen's short term memory re-sets itself, so it is a real incentive not to nap during the day. While he is awake he has a photographic memory of what has happened since he last slept. And he's been living with this for 5 years!

Paul's son Denny has helped him to move into a retirement home on Big Island, Hawaii, and he wakes the next morning with no memory of how he got there or where important things like the dining room are. That morning he discovers the body in the laundry chute.

Mike Befeler's debut novel is humorous, quirky, and a bit of a romp in more ways than one. Mike himself, whom we met earlier this year at Left Coast Crime, refers to it as "geezer lit" - hence the cap in the image to the right.

RETIREMENT HOMES ARE MURDER is simultaneously a murder mystery with the usual red herrings, and a realistic exploration of the problems that be-set the elderly with advancing age.

My rating: 4.3

Blurb from Mike Befeler's website:
Remembering nothing from the day before, crotchety octogenarian Paul Jacobson must become an amateur sleuth to clear himself as a murder suspect when he finds a dead body in the trash chute of a retirement home. As Paul’s snooping and short-term memory loss get him in trouble with the local police, his new friends and granddaughter Jennifer help him solve an expanding list of crimes. Paul finds romance as he struggles to escape a murderer intent on a repeat performance.

Mike Befeler now has a sequel in print:
LIVING WITH YOUR KIDS IS MURDER.
Blurb from Mike's site:
Imagine waking up in your son’s home, not remembering anything from the day before and being accused of murder. Or consider a male Miss Marple enmeshed in a light-hearted Memento with a dash of Fifty First Dates. In this, the second of the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery series, crotchety octogenarian Paul Jacobson must solve two murders while struggling with the problems of his short-term memory loss. As Paul ends up suspiciously close to a bank robbery, kidnapping and drug bust, his granddaughter Jennifer helps him track down the real perpetrators. Paul juggles two girlfriends, experiences the vagaries of romance and must find a way to stay alive when he confronts the murderer.

Certainly a book I'd like to get my hands on.