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Two decades ago, I picked up a review copy of Leonie Swann’s Three Bags Full because I could not resist a murder mystery in which the sleuths are … sheep. And it certainly was just as clever and entertaining as I expected. (Apparently now it’s being made into a movie, and there’s a sequel just coming to the US, translated from the original German.) So when I saw a deal pop up on another mystery she’d written, this time featuring human investigators, I knew I’d have to give it a go.
While not sheep, the characters here are intriguing: a number of eccentric elderly folks sharing a home. (Perhaps the older I get, the more I enjoy older protagonists, especially those who are turning their hand to amateur sleuthing.) The primary investigator among these sometimes-doddering people is Agnes Sharp, who owns Sunset Hall.
One of their number has just expired, and her body is lying in their backyard shed. When a police officer arrives at their door announcing a neighbor has just been found dead as well, it’s actually rather convenient for them. But they’re going to have to figure out who killed the neighbor.
Agnes and company use their own special skills to solve the mystery, as they make inquiries and gather regularly to put the pieces together.
The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp is entertaining, with a nice mix of characters, especially the old folks, who each have particular health or memory issues, backgrounds, and skill sets. A Sunset Hall resident’s young grandson and a pet tortoise add a little something extra to the book too. Good for me, this is five years old and there’s a sequel I can sink my teeth into sometime in the future.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 3 uses of strong language, about a dozen instances of moderate profanity, about 15 uses of mild language, and a dozen instances of the name of Deity in vain. There are also about a dozen uses of British profanity. Violence includes a few deaths, one by shooting, others by poison. Details aren’t particularly gory, though they aren’t nonexistent, either.
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