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GETTING OLD IS CRIMINAL
by Rita Lakin
Dell, May 2007
384 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0440243866


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Gladdy Gold, 75, is living a fine life in the Lanai Gardens Condominium in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. Gladdy runs a detective agency, the Gladdy Gold and Associates detective agency, and her friends are the detectives. Though they aren't licensed, they have already shown their talent for the job by finding the killers in other cases.

After an urgent message from home cuts short her romantic vacation with her just about to be very serious boyfriend, Gladdy finds herself alone again. She then takes on another client for her agency. The new client's mother, 95-year-old Esther Ferguson, had died from drowning in her hot tub. The authorities say she had been drinking champagne, fell asleep and drowned. But her son thinks that her recent boyfriend, Philip Smyth, a 75-year-old dapper man, was there and killed Esther. Though there's no proof, the son asks Gladdy look into it.

At the same time, the women of the condominium are all aghast. It seems that there have been sightings of a peeping tom looking in their windows! Because it's dark out and the man dresses in black – and that the women don't see so well anymore – no one has any ideas as to who the pervert might be. Gladdy also promises her detectives will get on that job too.

Soon, with the help of other occupants of the condo, Gladdy finds out that Philip Smyth has been going from retirement condo to retirement condo having romances with an elderly, lonely woman in each place – and then leaving when the woman dies. In order to get the evidence on Philip, Gladdy sees that she must go undercover at the next retirement home where he is scheduled to live, in the very exclusive Wilmington House condominium in Palm Beach. But she knows that she needs back-up and takes her sister Evvie along.

While the rest of the girls try to find the peeping tom at home, Gladdy and Evvie live the good life at the fancy condo. But amazingly, when Philip shows up, it's none other than Evvie who captures his attention – and to make things even worse, Evvie becomes so wrapped up in the case that she falls for the dashing Philip! Gladdy is beside herself. Evvie might be waltzing to her death as she dances the night away.

GETTING OLD IS CRIMINAL by Rita Lakin is a first-rate cozy mystery. The people in this book are all realistically portrayed with none of the stereotypes that sometimes show up in lighthearted cozies about the elderly denizens of Florida. Yet, while doing a fine job as an amateur sleuthing story, it also touches on some of the subjects that seniors deal with – bad doctors who prescribe too many medications, the heartache of living alone after your spouse has gone, and the distressing times people who live with Alzheimer's must go through.

The relationships between the women are real, as are the difficulties that suddenly finding love at an advanced age might bring up. In fact the way the people were portrayed was so realistic, I was totally annoyed with Evvie when she fell for Smyth.

And for those who might not be used to reading any Yiddish expressions, there's a page with the definitions of the most used phrases in the book.

This book balances humor with pathos in a masterful way and let the reader in on a fun but complex mystery. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Reviewed by A. L. Katz, March 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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