Rita Lakin (1930–2023)

I really enjoyed this mystery! It kept me up at night, which was not ideal- but I love occasionally being so taken by a book that i cannot put it down.

The characters are great- all are women of A Certain Age (here, in their 70s), with various aspects of their ages having an impact on their contributions. Gladdy- our protagonist- is the most sensible of them all- a responsibility she takes seriously.

I am not sure how plausible the central mystery is- but it works well in context.

If you want show more to expand your cozy mystery reading past the usual women in their 30s protagonists, I recommend this one! And I will be looking forward to reading more in the series. show less

When Gladdy Gold's neighbor, Selma Beller, dies, Gladdy is saddened, but not concerned, at 75 and living in a retirement community, Gladdy is accustomed to death. But when her best friend Francie dies, Gladdy is heartbroken and begins to be suspicious since both Selma and Francie died around the time of their birthdays. Gladdy tries to convince the police that murder may have taken place, but they don't believe her so she starts investigating on her own. After two more deaths and a couple of show more autopsies that show the victims were poisoned, the police finally believe Gladdy. But will they be able to catch the murderer before Gladdy becomes the next victim?

"Getting Old is Murder" is a nice, humorous first entry in what looks to be an enjoyable cozy mystery series. Gladdy is a wonderful creation, very funny and still full of life (and romance) at 75. Her friends are all well written, with a nice touch of humor that makes them seem real but doesn't poke fun at the elderly. Each character stands out as an individual: the wisecracking Hy and his wife Lois; Gladdy's sister Evvie, a movie critic; Sophie with her slightly off-kilter cliches ("you're a broken record, play another"); Harriet who is young but lives there to take care of her elderly mother, Esther); Enya who never got over the loss of her family during the Holocaust; and Denny, the mentally slow handyman. Although the book is a cozy mystery and the elderly don't hesitate to solve the crime, it also shows the real problems of getting old, especially in the bittersweet case of Irving struggling to take care of his wife who has Alzheimer's. All of these characters are well written and come alive on the page.

The mystery itself is nicely done with some neat red herrings and when the murderer is finally revealed, there is a real motive behind the slayings. There are some minor flaws - Francie's death is well telegraphed (it's never a good sign when the heroine in a mystery wonders what she'd do if something happened to her best friend!). There's also some minor editing errors, such as when Gladdy remembers dropping a friend off at the dentist when she never did so. Not a major error, but enough to stop the flow of the story for a second or two. Rita Lakin takes you into the victim's minds as they are dying, which I found unsettling in a cozy mystery.

But these are indeed minor flaws and this is a very enjoyable, funny cozy mystery. It's worth buying just to read the scene in which Gladdy convinces a gang of teenagers to help her break into her car after she locks her keys in it. One of the funniest scenes I've ever read! show less

After their success in catching a serial killer ("Getting Old Is Murder"), 75 year old Gladdy Gold, her sister Evvie, and friends Ida, Bella, and Sophie open the Gladdy Gold Detective Agency. They have plenty of clients, including a woman who thinks her 85 year old husband is cheating on her, plus they'd like to catch the flasher that is targeting their retirement complex. But that's not enough work for Gladdy, when she reads about the deaths of several rich women, she wonders if they were show more murdered. Her boyfriend, ex-cop Jack Langford and his policeman son, Morrie, tell Gladdy she's imaging things. But murder seems to find Gladdy and when she and her friends take a bingo cruise they find themselves on board with a killer.

I liked "Getting Old Is the Best Revenge" even better than the first book in the series. The characters continue to develop and we learn more about how Gladdy's husband died and why she is so hesitant in her relationship with Jack. Having Gladdy open a detective agency is a great move as it will give author Rita Lakin a good plot device to have Gladdy get involved in more murder investigations. Lakin does stretch a bit with Gladdy and the girls ending up on the same cruise ship as a murderer and befriending the intended victim, but the cruise is so much fun that readers will forgive her. The murder is well plotted and readers will have a hard time figuring out who the murderer is. Readers who are easily offended should be aware that there is a sexual overtone throughout the book.

This is an excellent cozy mystery. show less

I was passing the library's book truck and spotted Getting Old is Murder among the books waiting to be reshelved. I'm glad I plucked it off and checked it out. Like Gladys 'Gladdy' Gold, I'm a former librarian and a fan of Misses Marple and Silver. 75-year-old Gladdy is 15 years older than I am, but she and her 'gladiators' (two older and two younger than she is), solve the case. Ms. Lakin sneaks some effective red herrings in her pages.

Gladdy should be reading Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow show more mysteries. She's a lot like an elderly version of Meg -- the sensible, organized one who gets stuck with the responsibility of the moment. Unlike Meg, though, only one of the persons expecting her to take responsibility is a relative. Evvie (Evelyn) is Gladdy's younger sister. Most of the other characters live in the same or one of the other buildings in their condominium complex. Their crazy-making personalities provide humor for readers who don't have to put up with them.

We are thoughtfully provided with a map of buildings P & Q of Lanai Gardens, a cast of characters, and Gladdy's Glossary of the Yiddish that's used in the book. (I wish a pronunciation guide had been included with that last one.)

The prologue and some of the chapters are italicized glimpses into the victims' final minutes, as well as the mind of a suspect. If not for Gladdy, those would have passed off as natural deaths. All of the victims were over 70. Two leave best friends to mourn and one was almost universally beloved, the kind of person who makes his/her bit of the world a little better for those around.

There are plenty of 'characters' among the characters. One of them is a widow who raids the dumpsters and paints or soaps verses that take mean little digs at Lanai Gardens residents. Some of them provide subplots, such as the husband unwilling to admit that his beloved wife's Alzheimer's is worse enough that he can no longer care for her by himself. There's also a survivor of the Holocaust. She and her late husband both lost their entire families in the death camps. Enya is still haunted by the horrors she suffered.

On the brighter side, Gladdy has two friends at her local branch library: Conchetta the head librarian and Barney, one of the employees. Even nicer, unlike Jane Marple and Maud Silver, Gladdy gets to have a possible romance with a handsome widower. His first name is the same as her late husband's. Given her annoyance with her memory failing to yield all the words she wants when she wants them, that's a real plus.

If not for my annotated volumes of Sherlock Holmes, I wouldn't have realized that the phrase about the game being afoot comes from the movies, so I can't fault Gladdy for not clarifying that in chapter 45. However, she is old enough to know that 'the proof is in the pudding' is a corruption of 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating,' so I was annoyed when she used that phrase in chapter 16. (It's a handy thing to know in case some kid asks you why the proof is in the pudding. Sure beats trying to come up with a reason, doesn't it?)

As for the chapter decoration of a fly-swatter over a rolling pin over a plunger, don't worry. It will be explained.

I think I shall have to check out some more Gladdy Gold. show less