A band of lovable geriatrics who share a house in the quiet English countryside find themselves swept up in a murder investigation that escalates in The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, a smart, clever cozy mystery by Leonie Swann (translated from the German by Amy Bojang).
The story is set at Sunset Hall, a
dilapidated house in Duck End that belongs to Agnes Sharp, retired from the
police force. Agnes now shares her domicile with five other, eccentric
pensioners—three women and two men. The housemates long to stay independent and
live on their own while battling memory lapses, hearing and vision loss, bad
backs, hips, and more. However, when the body of a resident turns up dead in
their garden shed, and a gun goes missing, their world is turned upside-down.
Before the seniors can retrieve what they believe is the murder weapon, another
aged woman is slain nearby. Can the two deaths be connected? This launches the
housemates--and their pet tortoise--on a conniving,
often madcap quest to find the killer while pitted against a host of obstacles,
including their own limitations.
Swann’s
perceptive storytelling resides amidst the offbeat—as
evidenced in her other cozy, Three Bags Full, where a flock of ingenious
sheep solves the murder of their shepherd. Via The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, Swann once
again perfectly balances playfulness and poignancy. She exposes and celebrates
the elderly and infirm--their predicaments and secrets--delivering a
refreshingly fun crowd-pleaser sure to charm mystery readers of all ages.
The Sunset
Years of Agnes Sharp by
Leonie Swann (translated from the German by Amy Bojang)
Soho Crime, $27.95 hardcover, 9780778387121, 360 pages
Publishing Date: August 29, 2023
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NOTE: This review
is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (September 1, 2023), link HERE