Tag: older protagonist

Blurb Book Review: Too Old For This by Samantha Downing (spoilers ahead)

~ Robin James ~ Leave a comment

Cover image from Goodreads.com

Lottie has retired from her job and her hobby, when someone shows up at her door threatening to expose her hobby for all to see. The only option, as Lottie sees it, is to come out of retirement and kill the would-be docuseries producer. This murder causes ripples, though, and killing someone in your own home has risks.

Delightfully told, the author builds a relatable character before her murderous tendencies are fully realized by the reader. Lottie is well rounded as a character and her age is a nice barrier to remembering all the details that go along with being a serial killer.

The narrative style is easy to read and engaging, making me want to pick the book up at every opportunity. I was fully invested and wanted to know how Lottie could continue murdering people without getting caught.

There was some hand-waving I had to do, as I don’t think an elderly woman would have the strength to hit someone hard enough to kill them with one blow to the head, nor do I think a body could be effectively burned in a fireplace, even cut into pieces. But I also know that it would be silly to put actual methods of body disposal in a novel for anyone to use as a reference document.

Blurb Book Review: How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley (spoilers ahead)

~ Robin James ~ Leave a comment

Cover image from Goodreads.com


Lydia is ready for her new senior’s group at the community centre, prepared to drink tea and play quiet games. But the seniors that show up are far from quiet.

Daphne is hiding a big secret from her past, Art has traded his acting career for kleptomania, and there just might be a guerrilla knit-bomber in the group. To top it all off, the community centre ceiling collapses during the first ever meeting.

Now, the community centre is slated for demolition, leaving the new senior’s social group without a home. Together with other groups who use the centre – a daycare, an AA meetup, and an antenatal group – they set about finding a way to save their building.

The novel is what I’d call ‘fluffy’. The stakes are fairly low, the characters a bit too obvious, and the narrative style easy to read. That said, a fluffy book is just what I was looking for in light of the current goings on of the world.

It’s also a pleasure to read protagonists who are over 50, including some of the ageism that people this age face daily.

Overall, the novel was a good distraction from the world, and the author ties up all the loose ends into a neat little bow.

Blurb Book Review: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (spoilers ahead)

~ Robin James ~ Leave a comment

Cover image from Goodreads.com

This novel was one of the rare cases where I remembered why I’d put it on hold at the library. Usually I just open the book and start reading to see how fast I can pick up on the plot. For this one, I knew it was because the protagonist lived in a retirement village. I don’t run into many books where the main characters are older, perhaps my own fault for not seeking them out.

In this novel, Joyce gets invited to attend the Thursday Murder Club, where three other people discuss old, unsolved cases. Just as Joyce joins, a man is murdered. Now they have a fresh case to examine.

The storytelling was delightfully light. The author uses several characters’ points of view, including two detectives, each a different chapter. Joyce’s diary entries are sprinkled in between these short chapters, which is an interesting way of getting her point of view.

As the novel progresses, another man is murdered and an extra body is found in a grave. I thought things would get confusing but the author did a wonderful job in keeping everything tidy.

My only complaint was that for a mystery to be successful, the reader must have all the clues at hand and be able to come to the same conclusion as the characters. In this novel, the ending chapters revealed everything and tied up all the loose ends, but I doubt I’d have been able to know who the killers were based on the information given.

Still, this is a light read with quirky characters. I’ve already put the sequel on hold but there’s a lineup of people ahead of me.