Editorial Content for Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime

Mysteries with senior citizens are jumping out of the woodwork, and many of them are delightful. Add AGNES SHARP AND THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME to that growing list. Leonie Swann does an excellent job balancing the third person narrative from the viewpoints of the many octogenarians and septuagenarians who live together at Sunset Hall in the tiny English hamlet of Duck End. Agnes, the title character, is a retired police officer; while she is a bit scatterbrained, she also is good at happening upon murder victims.

In the first chapter, Agnes sees a dead body at the church but is determined not to deal with the mess and takes the bus home instead of reporting it. She thinks she will be free from more murder investigations (this is a sequel to THE SUNSET YEARS OF AGNES SHARP), but when one of the housemates, Edwina, wins a trip to the coast, things change. It's winter in England, and their home's boiler is broken. The residents are tired of freezing rooms and wearing coats indoors, so they all decide to go to the resort with Edwina.

"The plot is twisty, and while there are a few red herrings, the real culprit is not difficult to identify before the end of the book. The enjoyment isn't necessarily in the unmasking of the murderer, but in the process of watching these elders plot, plan and fumble as they strive to solve the mystery."

Once there, Agnes thinks she sees a murder happen. She spots two raincoat-clad people head up the path on a cliff, but only one returns. What happened to the other person? After she ascertains that there is no other way off the path, she begins to investigate. And the dead bodies start to pile up. When a ferocious storm washes the cliffside road into the sea, everyone at the resort is isolated there with no phone, no internet and no way out. It's up to Agnes and her intrepid team of senior citizens to stop the killer. But when they themselves become suspects, what can they do?

The narration is brilliant. Swann manages to infuse the action with humor and realistic problems that older people might encounter. Sometimes, it's hard to get up off the floor. One member of the group, Bernadette, is blind, yet she makes her way around the resort relatively easily. But she uncharacteristically becomes interested in what she is wearing and how she looks. What can the others make of that? We, of course, know that an old flame has appeared in her life.

There are a number of unique individuals here --- from the well-groomed Charlie with her penchant for liquor and looking chic, to Agnes, who has a hearing aid and a painful hip, and who occasionally gets confused. There is a helpful list of characters at the start of the book, and while at first readers might look at it to keep everyone straight, soon that is unnecessary because of the descriptions and capable writing, which is wry and witty. Here is an example from the beginning: "Any conflict in the village had traditionally always been solved in a civil fashion. People had spread nasty rumours, shaved cats, hammered copper nails into neighbouring apple trees or, at a pinch, written poisonous anonymous letters in to the village rag, but as a rule, murder was frowned upon."

The plot is twisty, and while there are a few red herrings, the real culprit is not difficult to identify before the end of the book. The enjoyment isn't necessarily in the unmasking of the murderer, but in the process of watching these elders plot, plan and fumble as they strive to solve the mystery. While they are working, we learn more about their backgrounds and the secrets they are hiding from each other. While I didn't read the opening installment of the series, I didn't feel lost at all. And I definitely will be reading the next book! I'm hooked on these clever, capable and often cunning senior citizens.