I picked this one out as it comes from the author of Three Bags Full, a marvellously creative mystery with sheep as the central characters, with a brilliant translation. While this story held much promise as a variation on Osman‘s septuagenarian sleuths, it did not live up to that potential, most likely (I suspect) due to poor translation.
We are introduced to Agnes Sharp and her co-habitants at Sunset Hall, a large rambling house owned by Agnes that she has turned into a seniors shared accommodation. Her co-residents are all from some variation on clandestine services – police, military, espionage – but have left all that behind them in their dotage. They take care of one another through supervision of medications and rota for cooking and cleaning. Overall, their goal through cohabitation is to avoid Lime Tree Court, a nearby secure facility for the elderly, which embodies all their fears about old age homes – barbed wire fencing, id bracelets, wheelchairs, and bad food. They also have a pact of sorts – that when things get really bad for one of them, the others will “take care” of them (i.e., their own version of MAiD).
In this first story, there are a series of suspicious deaths, each connected in some way to the denizens of Sunset Hall. While the gang works to solve the crimes, they also must grapple with the individual frailties and difficult pasts. We see much of this through and with Agnes – her occasional disruptive tinnitus, forgetfulness, difficult hip – but there are glimpses of it with others that hint at future stories where they are the focus. The ultimate resolution of the crimes was somewhat farfetched but highlighted an important theme of the story – the disenfranchisement of the elderly, reflected in their treatment by much of society, from the police to the taxi drivers to the ominous “old folks home.”
I did enjoy the book but with some caveats. First, it does borrow (much) from the Thursday Murder Club series, not least the group of elderly folks but also their convenient (for a murder mystery) backgrounds in various arms of law enforcement (albeit with more physical and intellectual challenges for the club members. Worse was that the story felt over-long, with repetition and non sequiturs. I put this down to a problem with both editing and translation, both of which were much better in the previous book.
I have the second book in the series and am looking forward to the next sheep book later this year, so I’m not ready to give up on this author.
Fate: little book library.
1 – a murder
8 – female author
14 – a name in the title
21 – a translation
24 – food (each chapter is title based on a food that someone eats during that chapter)
36 – part of a series
rclr 
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