Customer Reviews

Getting Old Is Tres Dangereux: A Mystery

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What fun! Rita Lakin and her eccentric cast of young-at-heart, golden agers is just this side of perfect as their harebrained, unexpected antics make you wish you could move in right next door. Though light on mystery, the heavy hand of humor makes following Gladdy and team in this entertaining cozy an outstanding escapade.

Following a hurricane of disastrous proportions, life at Lanai Gardens has finally settled down. Gladdy Gold and her beau, Jack are headed to the altar and their friends and family are all doing as well as can be expected--considering everyone's advanced age. Life is simply perfect until an impulsive trip to a book fair brings a gorgeous Frenchwoman back into Jack's life. Still holding a flame for Jack, this stunning and successful author wants to continue the white-hot relationship where it left off years before. She only has eyes for the "one that got away" and isn't focused on the very real threat to her life that her undercover work and books have brought about. Gladdy, on the other hand, wants the mystery solved and the wannabe home wrecker on the first plane back to Paris so she takes the high ground to logically help solve the case.

Reviewed by Shannon Raab with Suspense Magazine
[...]

I've read all this author's books, and enjoy them. Tho I'm not quite as old as these Seniors, I like the idea that all the characters are still contributing. The ole ladies, and a few ole men, get caught up in murder and mayhem. And work to help solve the mysteries; with the help of the police. Most of the characters reside in the same retirement community in Florida. In this book, there are at least 3 murders; a double wedding, and a Dead Husbands Club. Some of their antics are hilarious and some are heart tugging. And not all live happily ever after. Just like in the real world.

In France, four men worry that bestselling whistle-blowing author Michelle DuBois will write an exposé concerning their winery. One of the concerned males has a nonagenarian uncle who was an assassin before he retired to his yacht on the Riviera. He is willing to come out of retirement to kill Michelle as a favor to his nephew.

Across the ocean in the Lanai Gardens in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, septuagenarians Jack Langford and Gladdy Gold live together with plans to marry. Gladdy, Jack, her Gladiators, and a few yentas attend a local book conference. Jack meets Michelle; they had an affair eight years ago in Paris. To Gladdy's jaundiced vision, the writer is making a grab for her fiancé, who also believes her Jack is too gentle and kind to Michelle. When they learn a French assassin has arrived to kill Michelle and obtain her latest manuscript, she persuades Jack to protect her. The Snake has no compunctions about killing anyone who interferes with his hit and injures Michelle's niece. However, whether it is his age and soft lifestyle intruding on his comeback, he has never had a tougher assignment.

With a tongue in cheek (literally spin), anyone who thinks septuagenarians cannot heat up the sheet obviously has not met Gladdy and Jack, or her sister Evie and Joe. Gladdy plays an active role in Jack's investigation as the "cop's pop" cannot keep his fiancée out of the case. With advice from a dear departed friend (and some bad tasting jokes from octogenarian Hy), readers will enjoy Gladdy's latest case filled with jealousy, the paranormal, and angst as the battling geriatrics take on a killing geriatric.

Harriet Klausner

What can I say about "Getting Old Is Tres Dangereaux?" It was superb, magnifique! Oh la la...the French. Of course, I'm heavily prejudiced having married a Frenchman from Lyon area.

The romantic tension included with the mystery which turned into a murder or two and humor...what more can you want in a book? More, that is what I wanted...I did not want the book to end.

And, the ending? Well, you have to find out for yourselves, however, it was highly, highly, satisfying!

I love Gladdy and the girls. While this certainly is not classic literature, the girls make me laugh, sometimes make me sad, and always entertain me. While not yet in their shoes,(still happily married for 43 years)I can empathize with them. I would like to think that my friends will be near when I am alone. While I don't want to mixed up in murder, I hope to have their strength and camaraderie. But Rita, don't keep it so real that something happens to one of the girls. I would like to think of them always living and enjoying whatever escapades they get into forever and ever.

Another good one from the author. I now have copies of all her books, The Gold Series" and am waiting for the next one to come out.

I hardly recognize the last 2 books from the earlier ones. Too much of Jack. I don't like him as a character (he seems very needy, whiny, etc.) and I wish he would not appear so much. I want more story about the girls finding criminals. Gladdy just seems to constantly obsess over this man lately and the stories are too much about him and not enough about what drew me into this series in the first place. Come on Rita!

a really fun-to-read book, especially for readers who are in the same age range as the main characters in the story. If you are old enough to remember wwII you will probably enjoy this book. I appreciate the fact that writers realize that there are readers who are past the teeny bopper age.

This series is my definition of cozy mystery. I've read them all and will buy her books the minute the come out.

The latest in the Getting Old series. Jack (Goldy's fiancee) happens to meet up with an author of tell-all books (Michelle). However, there is a past between them - they were lovers in Paris 8 years ago. Goldy is of course jealous. Someone is out to kill Michelle and Jack has been picked as her guardian until the killer is caught. Wedding bells are ringing and the girls are off on a secret mission to Jerry's Deli. This is a fun read.