Getting Old is Criminal

March 12, 2007
Florida retiree Gladdy Gold; her sister, Evvie; and their outspoken friends at the Gladdy Gold Detective Agency return (after Getting Old Is the Best Revenge
) to tackle a pair of puzzlers: the case of a peeping tom haunting their Fort Lauderdale retirement community, and the case of one Alvin Ferguson, who's hired them to prove that his elderly mother didn't die of natural causes, but was murdered at the hands of her suave lover. The latter investigation sends Gladdy and Evvie, in disguise, to take up temporary residence in the ritzy development that the alleged murdering paramour, Philip Smythe, has made his home. There's no sign that he profited from the death, but some sleuthing uncovers a suspicious pattern of similar entanglements—and similarly "natural" deaths—in his past. When Evvie begins to fall for Smythe, to her sister's dismay, she becomes convinced of his innocence even as she edges closer to danger. Beyond the skillful blend of Yiddish humor, affectionate characters and serious undercurrents—note especially the way Lakin pulls off a tricky, funny-sad scene at a grief therapy session—the simple story picks up speed and flavor with some twists worthy of Agatha Christie's archetypal dame detective, Miss Marple.