Rita Lakin, Getting Old Is Criminal

Getting Old Is Criminal

Rita Lakin

Dell, May 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0440243866

They might be living in a Fort Lauderdale retirement community Lani Gardens, but the women of the Gladdy Gold Detective Agency live life to the fullest with gusto. Led by the irrepressible Gladdy, they take on investigations though they are not licensed sleuths. Currently the distaff detectives work on the case of the Peeping Tom, a man seen looking through the windows of the female residents, but stays in the shadows so has not been caught.

Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Ferguson hire Gladdy to find proof that his nonagenarian mother died at the hands of Lothario Philip Smythe. However, since the woman had heart trouble and there was no evidence of foul play, the doctor ruled natural causes. Alvin's wife believes her mother-in-law died from a heart attack as well. The detective agency learns that Philip will be in the Wilmington House retirement community so Gladdy and her sister Evvie go undercover as residents to fathom whether he is a killer. As Evvie falls in love with Phillip, evidence begins to surface that he is not what he seems. Gladdy is desperate to save her sister before someone kills her.

This geriatric chick lit mystery is a charming and exciting amateur sleuth tale starring the golden girls. The storyline revolves around senior citizens who are portrayed as having more energy than many middle age people (at least this reviewer). Gladdy possesses her full faculties with a mind sharper than a kosher butcher's knife. Her relationships with the women of her agency involve friendship, trust and caring though in some ways she is the grandmotherly hen.

Harriet Klausner