List
Senior Sleuths and Senior Crooks
Solving mysteries (and committing crimes) is not just for the young. These senior sleuths (and crooks) use the wisdom of their years to crack cases and take down bad guys (or to be the bad guy).
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The Thursday Murder Club
2020 by Osman, RichardGet this itemIn an English retirement community, The Thursday Murder Club meet weekly to discuss unsolved cold crimes. These four unlikely detectives, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron, are thrilled when a murder happens in their community. They set out to solve the crime. Led by Elizabeth, a retired MI5 agent, these seniors use their collective intelligence and experience to find the culprit. Full of adventure, British humor, and heartwarming friendship between the four main characters, this book was an instant sensation (deservedly so) when it was first published.
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Granny's Got a Gun
2018 by Lin, HarperGet this itemBarbara Gold may look like the grandmother that she is, but she is also a retired CIA agent. Having moved to the suburbs to be close to her son and his family after her retirement and her beloved husband's death, she is now bored with the retirement and the suburbs. When a member of her book club dies after the discussion is over, she knows he has been poisoned. Barbara then does what she does best--solve the mystery and take down the bad guy. Book one of The Secret Agent Granny series, this is a fun, short read. Barbara is a great granny and an even better (former) CIA agent.
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A Beginner's Guide to Murder
2021 by Stopps, RosalindGet this itemA teenage girl in trouble, three women in their 70s, and a dangerous man collide in this new thriller by British author Stopps. We see the story from the each woman's point of view, as well as the teenage girl's. As the elderly women tried to keep the girl safe, they realize the only way to do so is to murder. Tense and gripping, this book makes one thing clear: you do not want to cross these elderly women.
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The Old Woman with the Knife
2022 by Ku, Pyŏng-moGet this itemLike a lot of people, Hornclaw is slowing down as she ages. Hornclaw, however, is an assassin, and slowing down can mean her death. Greatly injured during one of her jobs, Hornclaw has no recourse but to seek medical assistance. This choice leads her down a path of greater connections but also huge danger as a rival seeks to use these new connections against her.
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Peg and Rose Solve a Murder
2022 by Berenson, LaurienGet this itemIn television, spinoff series happen all the time. It is rarer in books for there to be a spinoff series. Luckily, for fans of the Melanie Travis series, author Berenson spun off the characters of Peg and Rose into this new series. The two senior women become partners in bridge club. When another card player is murdered, Rose and Peg investigate. You don't have to have read the Melanie Travis series to enjoy the adventures of senior sleuths Rose and Peg.
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Aunty Lee's Delights
2013 by Yu, OvidiaGet this itemWidow Rosie Lee runs Aunty Lee's Delights, a restaurant that features delicious home cooked Singaporean meals. When two dead bodies wash up on the local beach, Aunty Lee decides to help the police find the killers. Some may call her a nosy busybody, but Aunty Lee is also a caring, intelligent woman (and an excellent cook). First in a series, Aunty Lee's Delights will delight all cozy mystery fans.
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The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules
2016 by Ingelman-Sundberg, C.Get this itemA group of senior citizens--fed up with their poor treatment at their nursing home--resort to crime. First, they just raid the kitchen, but soon they escalate to robbing a bank and stealing a Monet!
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An Elderly Lady Is up to No Good
2018 by Tursten, HeleneGet this itemMy coworker Becca raves about this book. She says, "Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and... no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two never-before-translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home."
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Exit
2021 by Bauer, BelindaGet this itemLike some retirees, Felix Pink volunteers. Felix volunteers as an Exiteer. The Exiteers provide comfort and moral support when terminally ill people commit suicide. Felix then cleans up the instruments of death so the family does not face any insurance issues. All goes smoothly for Felix until the day he helps the wrong person die. In order to clear his name, Felix investigates what happened and who benefited from the accidental death. Full of twists and turns as well as heartfelt sentiments, this thriller is a charming, suspenseful read.
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The Postscript Murders
2021 by Griffiths, EllyGet this itemWhen 90-year-old Peggy dies, only her home health worker Natalka thinks it is murder and not natural causes. Her efforts to convince Detective Harbinder Kaur are futile. So she teams up with Peggy's 80-year-old neighbor and the owner of the local coffee shop to investigate. Their investigation takes them to a literary festival in Scotland and the bodies keep piling up, as Detective Kaur is forced to take them seriously. Complex characters and a cracking mystery make this one a great read!
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Killers of a Certain Age
2022 by Raybourn, DeannaGet this itemFour women, hitting 60, are being forced to retire from their careers. They won't get cake or a gold watch, but they will be assassinated. These women work for "The Museum" an elite government organization composed of elite assassins. Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie, and Helen use their assassin training and experience to fight for their lives and defeat The Museum.
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The Windsor Knot
2021 by Bennett, S. J.Get this itemA murder has occurred at Windsor Castle and Queen Elizabeth, just shy of her 90th birthday, is not happy with how the investigation is going. So she decides to start her own investigation with the help of some of her undersecretaries. In addition to a fun mystery, we get some realistic glimpses behind the scenes of Windsor Castle.
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Getting Old Is Murder
2005 by Lakin, RitaGet this item75-year-old Gladdy Gold just wants to enjoy her retirement in her Fort Worth retirement home. When her neighbor and best friend die, she is suspicious and decides to investigate their deaths. Gladdy and her friends, contending with people's stereotypes about the elderly, have a hard time convincing the police that murders have taken place. It will take all her pluck and determination to ensure she is not next on the killer's list.
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The Coroner's Lunch
2004 by Cotterill, ColinGet this itemMy coworker Andrew recommends this series saying, "In 1976, for the first time in decades, the Southeast Asian nation of Laos is at peace. Instead of the retirement he was expecting, Dr. Siri Paiboun--a 72-year-old widower who spent most of those decades in the fights against the Japanese, the French, the Americans, and the previous Lao government--finds himself named national coroner, with a staff of two and a morgue that sometimes has electricity. Fortunately, Dr. Siri possesses a sense of the absurd that serves him equally well when dealing with Kafkaesque bureaucracy or shamanistic weirdness, as well as a CSI-meets-MacGyver genius for finding low-tech solutions to difficult forensic problems.
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