An accident has disabled Detective Marcella Collins and her police chief boss is urging early retirement. Not ready to give up her career that is also her life, she’s determined to prove she can solve crimes from her wheelchair in a senior convalescent center. Since her the accident has left her not only wheelchair bound, but subject to a temporary mental haze, she assembles a team of sharp … senior residents to help.People might think the center is full of docile seniors, but it is packed with as much drama as a middle school locker room. The first case involves a prominent philanthropist whose suspicious death was ruled a suicide-a travesty of justice. Marcy’s out to prove it was murder if it doesn’t get her killed, first.
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This book was fantastic and well written. I loved this book because it was easy to read and I hated to put it down. I laughed so hard I cried.
I highly recommend this book. Will read again. Go by this book and start the series. I did and loved it. I think you’ll love this book.
I truly delighted in this one. LATE FOR DINNER is not only the first book in the Senior Sleuths series by M.K. Scott, it is a spin-off from another series by Scott. Four characters in LATE FOR DINNER — Herman, Gus, Jake, and Eunice — make their print debut in the fantastic Painted Lady Inn Mysteries. Because I enjoyed them a great deal in Scott’s first series, I was excited to find them featured in LATE FOR DINNER.
[A little backstory: The Painted Lady Inn Mysteries are about a North Carolina Victorian Bed and Breakfast (with an alarmingly high murder rate!) and innkeeper Donna. Herman, Donna’s only friendly neighbor, appears in Books 1-5; at the end of Book 5, he moves to Indiana to live in a retirement center with his army buddies Gus and Jake. Eunice is a pushy, nosy guest in Book 2. In Book 7 Herman, accompanied by Gus and Jake, returns to the inn to officiate as Justice of the Peace at Donna’s wedding; Eunice stows away in their car, thus becoming a pushy, nosy wedding guest.]
In LATE FOR DINNER, Herman, Gus, and Jake, now at the Indiana retirement center, team up with ex-Vegas showgirl Lola to help former detective Marcy solve a cold case. They call themselves the Way Over the Hill Gang. They don’t let their age or infirmities stop them from solving their case — two cases, in fact. It’s fun to see the gang sleuthing, and sneaking out of the home so they can go sleuthing — and even more fun to see how they sneak around to keep the pushy, nosy Eunice from sleuthing with them.
LATE FOR DINNER captured my interest right away, with its unusual setting, relatable and realistic characters, and humorous banter. I absolutely love the ending. It’s very cozy, and makes me eager to read the next Senior Sleuth mystery! This is definitely a series I will continue.
Note: I received a complimentary copy of LATE FOR DINNER in exchange for my voluntary honest review. All opinions shared are 100% my own.
A great story to start off a fun series.
Whether referring to this entertaining and energetic group of retired folks as ‘The Way Over the Hill Gang’ or ‘Senior Sleuth Service’ doesn’t really matter, does it? They get the job done. I fell in love with each and every member of the group. They are simply amazing! I want to be just like them when I get to be their age.
This was a clean, fun, and easy read. A wonderful whodunit that I read in one evening. Kudos to the authors!
What fun this was. The characters are wonderful and perfect. Go seniors!!! Ready for some more cold case fun.
What a fun mystery. This story serves as a reminder that older people still have great skills. This is the first book in a new series. A disabled police officer is re-cooperating in a seniors’ convalescent center. To help keep her mind sharp will her body recovers, the officer’s partner brings her cold case files.Soon Marcy, the officer, has recruited several seniors to help her solve the case. This is an interesting premise. The characters are well done and the plot is well crafted. For me it was a page turner I read in one sitting!
Seniors Solving Cold Cases, Cozy Mysteries
What a fun story! I can’t to read more episodes! The plot is very tight and leaves no room to take a breath. The characters are great. I love the witty banter and great humor.
I received this ARC book for free and voluntarily chose to post my honest review.
Herman, the former handy man of the Painted Lady Inn, now lives in an assisted living facility, where he misses his old life in Legacy and wonders about his worth in the world. Then Marcy Collins, a younger resident recovering from a traumatic car crash during a police chase, gathers him and few other spunky residents to help her solve cold cases passed on by her former partner, Lance, since no one in the department has time to reopen them. Lola, the retired Vegas showgirl, and war veterans Jake & Gus round out the team they call The Way Over the Hill Gang as they sift through old evidence to determine if heiress Sue Ellen Makowitz’s death was really suicide, a conclusion Marcy and Lance never believed.
Poring over old papers, they find two suspects — Sue Ellen’s husband, Todd, who remarried soon after her death, and Mabel, the couple’s former maid. The team sets out on various discovery tasks — Marcy interviews Mabel, while Herman and Gus trail Todd and the retired police chief on the local golf course with a parabolic mike. Jake’s niece, Katie, who works in the nursing home office, offers them computer time, and Lola applies all the flattery skills she learned in Vegas to suss out information from Todd’s current wife, Jill, who she befriends on social media. As they plow through evidence and suspects, the motive and killer become clear, and the gang has their hands full capturing the person who ended Sue Ellen’s life.
I really enjoyed this first novel of this new series and look forward to more. Scott portrays all her characters as fully-developed and vibrant individuals, not the sad shells employed by lesser writers, and it’s immensely entertaining to watch the gang progress from restless boredom to savvy crime-solvers who actually start enjoying their life in the assisted living center. The ending clearly sets up more adventures for The Way Over the Hill Gang, and I look forward to following them.
I enjoyed this fun cozy mystery starring senior citizens. I hope I have this much fun if I ever live in a retirement home! Great start to a new series; looking forward to more. I was given this book free and chose to make a voluntary, unbiased review.
This is a truly delightful book — well written, well plotted, touched with humor, and some of the best characters I’ve encountered in quite some time. Set in a nursing home/assisted living facility, the story centers around Marcy (a police officer recovering from a debilitating accident) and several other more permanent residents. All are looking for a way to prove they still have something useful to offer, and they find that something in solving a cold murder case. I hope to see a lot more of these characters.
I requested and received an Advance Reader Copy of this book. My review is completely voluntary and reflects my honest opinion of this wonderful book.
Senior Centers aren’t the ideal living place that brochures make them out to be. In fact it has been discovered that many brochures are full of stock photos and misrepresented fact about the living center. In this case n0t only was all that true, but there was more going on that displeased everyone having to do with the deteriorated quality of food being served. But for a small group living in the center, there was a deep seated resentment of the general treatment of them and the fact that for all their money, it wasn’t a rewarding experience at all. One person convalescing in the center was an under 50 year old policewoman named Marcy. Temporarily wheelchair bound and recovering from a head injury that left her a little foggy at times, Marcy knew she had to get the gray matter working or she would be forced out of the police department despite her young age. She works on the sly with her former partner, Lance, to try and solve some cold cases. For this she recruits a small group of seniors that might remember the town at the time of the original crimes. Their help will help her get her brain functioning better as well as hopefully solve some crimes. Recruits are bridge partners Lola, Herman, and Jake, and Jake’s non-bridge playing friend Gus. Together they take on a 20 year old “suicide” of a well known society lady who was known for efforts in saving rescue animals.
What follows is a fun book about crime solving, Senior Center living, nosey residents, sneaking out and around and general fun poked at seniors and their lives. Chuckles and even full blown laughs (meeting in a cleaning supply closet) move the mystery along in a lighthearted yet successful way. I have a feeling we will see more of this gang and more cold case mysteries to be solved. While I hope Marcy can regain her strength and return to her job, I hope it isn’t too soon! I want to read more Senior Sleuths Books!
With age comes experience…
Marcy Collins is a former police officer who is at the convalescent center, following an accident which left her confined to a wheel chair. To keep her mind active, Marcy asks her former partner, Lance, to allow her to investigate some of the old cold cases. Marcy gathers a group of the seniors at the center to form a team.
Gus and Jake are long time residents of the area and know their way around. Lola was a showgirl in Las Vegas and is very astute in reading people. Herman, who enjoyed helping Donna and Mark solve crimes in Legacy, N.C., still had his car and could come and go as he pleased. As usual, one of their ongoing tasks will be to avoid Eunice Ledbetter, the center’s favorite disrupter.
The first case the team tackles is the death of Sue Ellen Makowski, which occurred twenty-two years earlier. Although suspicious, the death was quickly ruled a suicide and closed without a close examination.
Was Sue Ellen’s death really suicide or murder? If murder, who killed her and why? Can the senior sleuths unravel the clues to solve this 22-year old mystery?
This is a great start to a new series with hilarious characters and plenty of twists and turns. It has a few favorite characters from the Painted Lady Inn series and some new characters that we get to become acquainted with.
An absolutely delightful story, the wisdom of what they had learned on the job, and thru the years. For Marcy being a cop and walking a beat. Lola as a showgirl learned how to sum people up. They all had talent and decided to do something, one the dog food they were given to eat. A cold case to solve, to keep their minds sharp. This was funny, entertaining, and could see more about these senior sleuths. Given ARC for my voluntary review and my honest opinion.