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Apparently, I am now “of a certain age”… I am really enjoying books with older folks either committing or solving crimes. Experiencing that bit of invisibility that comes with being past my prime, I can really chuckle at “the elderly” getting away with stuff because no one pays them any mind.
When I saw the description for Rules for Aging and Larceny, I couldn’t help but think of the similarities it shared with Killers of a Certain Age, which thoroughly entertained me. The latter is about four women who worked as assassins for years, and the former is about a group of four women who did heists for a short time when they were in their twenties.
In Rules, Frances Deluca is in her 70s, but she’s still fit. She plays a mean game of pickleball, for instance, and has not endeared herself to some other players. She has a grown son who lives a few states away, and one best friend. She very much misses her late husband, with whom she shared a full and happy life.
Now that she’s facing a terminal diagnosis, Frances decides she’s got to do something other than be plonked down into an old folks’ home in her son’s town. That’s no way to go. So she tracks down the women she hasn’t seen in five decades. She proposes that they pull one last heist together. It takes a bit of convincing, but they decide to go for it. Since their previous work was always done to get back at someone deserving of it, they go after a man who defrauded one’s granddaughter.
Rules for Aging and Larceny has hijinks, not-too-intense peril, a solid heist, lots of comments and jokes about being elderly, and friendship. I enjoyed it fairly well; I didn’t love it, but it hit the right notes.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 23 uses of strong language (including 2 of the c-word), around 65 instances of moderate profanity, about 45 uses of mild language, and 65 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes a number of references to old people having lots of sex in retirement homes, some vulgar references, and brief talk about it.
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*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
