April MysteryKIT - Senior Citizen as Detective

What is a senior citizen? According to the internet it can mean almost anything from someone who is over 60 or 65 to someone who is retired, so I'll leave that up to you to decide when picking a book.

Miss Marple is the first person that sprang to mind for this challenge but there are so many other options out there. One of my favorite reads from 2020 was The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman which featured a group of friends in a retirement community solving a murder that hits a bit too close to home.

Some suggestions:

Series

Miss Marple by Agatha Christie
Aunt Bessie by Diana Xarissa
Belchester Chronicles by Andrea Frazer
Jessica Fletcher by Donald Bain
Peculiar Crimes Unit by Christopher Fowler
Buck Schatz by Daniel Friedman
Gladdy Gold by Rita Lakin

Please feel free to add you suggestions as I know I'm just scratching the surface here.

I'll be reading the fourth book in the Belchester Chronicles called Old Moorhen's Shredded Sporran by Andrea Frazer

>1 LittleTaiko: Oh I've been planning to read The Thursday Murder Club for this one. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

I'm going to read Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie. Poirot was already a retiree in his first adventure, which Agatha Christie regretted when she later decided to write a series and so later his age was left indeterminate.

I don't remember the age of the amateur detective/librarian in this series from the first two books that I read, but I remember somewhat older and someone has tagged at least a couple of the books in the series (including this one, next on my tbr for this series) "senior citizen", so I'm planning on this:

File M for Murder / Miranda James

Oh, how serendipitous! I just bought Mord im Auwald on impulse, where a retired teacher investigates a murder.

Will be using this KIT to get in a re-read of The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman.

I will use the month to continue with my series reading of Aunt Bessie, Poirot and Miss Marple. I'm looking forward to it so much!

I'm planning on reading Thirty-three Teeth by Colin Coterill. It takes place in Laos during the late 1970s. Dr. Siri Painborn was assigned by the government to be the country's national coroner though he is in his 70s.

>9 clue: You've reminded me about that series! I will read the next one up for me which is The Curse of the Pogo Stick.

Aha! Sherlock Holmes is in his mid 60s in the latest Mary Russell books, I need to locate a copy of Riviera Gold that's not too expensive.

ETA: the local public library does have a copy available!

I will probably stick with Miss Marple!

I'm another one planning to read The Thursday Murder Club for this KIT. I think I got the book bullet from >1 LittleTaiko:!

>7 rabbitprincess: lol - I would join you if I hadn't reread that whole series not long ago!

>9 clue: Oh, that is on my TBR! Maybe I will join you in that book...

I think I am going to try Before She Was Helen by Caroline Cooney.

>14 leslie.98: That would be great, I think it's perfect for this CAT!

>10 DeltaQueen50: I'm glad I thought of it, I had something else planned but want to keep this series moving.

>13 christina_reads: Add my name to all who plan to read The Thursday Murder Club. My hold at the library just arrived.

I'm looking forward to Miss Marple's Final Cases. It's been too long since I've read a Christie.

Enjoyed my first outing with the Peculiar Crimes Unit. The Victoria Vanishes was an entertaining read.

I just finished Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the plot falls apart a little toward the end, but I was totally charmed by the characters and tone, so I'd definitely read a sequel should one materialize!

Thanks to >9 clue:'s mention of it, I borrowed Thirty-three Teeth from the library the other day and have already finished it! It has been a long time since I read the first book so thanks clue for the reminder of this series.

I read And So to Murder by John Dickson Carr (writing as Carter Dickson) for the AlphaKIT & discovered it works for this KIT too since Sir Henry Merivale is almost 70 years old.

I have a few books with a longer hold wait. The book I chose for this this month is one of them. I'll get to them and report back when I can!

I've been reading Riviera Gold by Laurie R. King for a week. Some nights I am too tired to read more than a chapter, but the book is quite good and will be finished hopefully by the weekend.

I am reading The Whole Cat and Caboodle by Sofie Ryan. A group of senior citizens (with the help of a store owner and her cat). try to prove the innocence of one of their friends. A series I will be continuing to find and read.

I finished Miss Marple's Final Cases yesterday. I liked the majority of the stories and was relieved that MM wasn't killed off here, as Christie had done with Poirot.
MM wasn't even in the final two stories, which had supernatural tones.

My library hold for The Thursday Murder Club arrived last week so add me to the list of those who read this book :)

I agree with >20 christina_reads: about the ending and also about the charm of the characters. I must admit that for a large portion of the book, I was suspecting Joyce of being the killer of either Ian or the unknown man in the cemetary. As Osman led quite a trail of bread crumbs leading to that conclusion, I can only say "well done" to him on his red herrings!

I found the bits about Elizabeth worrying about her husband Stephen quite touching. The setting and ambience of the Coopers Chase Retirement Village reminded me a lot of the place my parents lived during the final years of their lives so the book raised some bittersweet memories for me.

The May thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/331421

I have finished a couple of mysteries that work for this KIT --

The Murder on the Links - Poirot is supposed to be ~70 years old (though Christie had to backpedal on that as the years went on!).

The Attenbury Emeralds - this is borderline as Lord Peter is 60 years old, just a bit young for official classification as a senior citizen here in the U.S.

I read My Foe Outstretch'd beneath the Tree by V. C. Clinton-Baddeley, featuring amateur detective Dr. R. V. Davie, age somewhere in his 60s.

I have finished Tod an der Wien which features a retired teacher and a retired pharmacist and made me nostalgic for Vienna.

>28 leslie.98: woo! Thanks.

And I have also finished the next adventure of Anton and Ernestine, set on a river cruise on the Danube from Vienna and Budapest: Mord auf der Donau. River cruises. How I long to go.

I finished Before She Was Helen by Caroline Cooney. I think I liked reading about young Helen/Clemmie and the cold case more than the current murder at the retirement community. Current day Helen was a bit wishy washy, which was less true of teenage Clemmie. The current day mystery didn't make much sense to me - even when the perpetrator was revealed. It felt a little rushed and I felt like I missed something. Overall, the more I read the book, the more I was drawn in and wanted to know what happened next. But present day Helen did not seem to have the same spunk that young Clemmie had and the resolution of the case did not satisfy me. I think this one suffered from being read so soon after The Thursday Murder Club, which I enjoyed a lot more.

I have completed my read of Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill. As always it was a pleasure to catch up with the 76 year old Dr. Siri.

I read The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie for this

I finally read my first book for this KIT:

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie. My second Miss Marple read and I liked it a lot.

I finished Aunt Bessie Believes by Diana Xarissa, the second book of the Isle of Man Cozy Mystery series.

I listened to Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie for this.

I did finish the Thursday Murder Club which had been on my TBR and brought to the top via this challenge. The delightful quirky characters brought this up in my star rating. Not sure I'll continue the series, but it was a fun read.

I'm a bit late, but still counting this: I finished The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie, another great Poirot novel.

I've read Maigret Goes to School. Entertaining and occasionally surprising language, given that it was published in 1954. Nice twist at the end.
Maigret is implored by the accused schoolmaster to come investigate the murder of of the hated village postmistress, who was shot through the eye while alone in her home. Maigret goes to look around because he suspects the schoolmaster is innocent, but he's really hoping for a few days of oysters and wine by the seaside.

My book finally came in. Finished last night. Unfortunately, he is not quite a senior (he's somewhere in his 50s; I wasn't sure when I picked it out), but it was what I'd planned to read, and 55+ in some places get a seniors' discount, right!? LOL!

File M for Murder / Miranda James
3.5 stars

Archivist and rare book cataloguer Charlie Harris’ adult daughter, Laura, has come “home” for a semester to teach acting at the local college. Unfortunately, the distasteful playwright Connor Lawson is also in town. He just rubs Charlie the wrong way! Not only does Connor happen to be working with Laura, Charlie finds out Laura once dated him, and he does not want to take no for an answer. It’s not long before Laura gets some threatening mail. And a bit later… someone is found murdered.

I do enjoy this series! As a librarian (and a cataloguer), I like the library tidbits included (the author is a library cataloguer). There’s some fun interaction between Charlie, Laura, and Charlie’s son, Sean (and a couple of boarders at Charlie’s house), too. And I have to mention Charlie’s smart Maine Coon cat (all 36 lbs of him!), although I do feel like Diesel wasn’t as much in this one as the others, but it’s been a while, so I might not be remembering. The murder doesn’t actually happen until about 1/3 of the way into the book, as the first bit is introductions to the characters. I really do enjoy this series and will be continuing.

>44 LibraryCin: I need to read the next one in that collection. I rated it slightly lower than you do--and I think part of it was that it took so long to get to the murder.

>45 thornton37814: I've noticed a few recent cozies that I've read took quite a while to get to the murder. I don't remember exactly which the others were, but I do remember there have been a few I've read recently that have done that!

>46 LibraryCin: It's an increasing problem. I think the authors are more concerned with "relationships" than the mystery. I read them for the mystery and wish they'd leave most of the other out.

>46 LibraryCin: >47 thornton37814: I agree. There is at least one series I'm considering giving up on because I'm getting tired of all the soap opera antics by the characters.

>44 LibraryCin: Ha! I'd say that's allowed.

>47 thornton37814: I guess it varies for me. I like both. But 1/3 of the way in is a long way!