by Alan Cook
Review by A Reader on Amazon
I don't have any trouble sleeping, but I did keep the night light
burning late finishing this unusual mystery. Alan Cook has
concocted an intriguing plot that keeps you turning the pages,
not only to solve the crime (What IS the crime??)but also to
figure out the puzzles he skillfully weaves into the story.
(His heroine is a retired math professor). The setting isn't
the international jet set scene, not is it the courtroom. Cook
instead chooses a posh retirement community where the resident
roster reads like a Who Was Who in America.(Do you recognize
yourself?) Your stereotypes will crash as Cook details with
accuracy and humour the shennanigans among the current
inhabitants of the digs as he leads us down the investigative
path. Besides writing a book that is just a great and easy read,
Cook has achieved a wonderful characterization of the heroine not
so much through description of her but through her dialogue and
its tone. She is a pistol, and reminded me of Miss Marple as she
goes about her dry witted and relentless pursuit of the scoundrel.
You'll like her, and cheer her on even as her more conservative
counterparts try to put the brakes on her activites. Keep an eye
on this budding novelist; he's finding his voice!