Customer Reviews

Living with Your Kids Is Murder: A Paul Jacobson Geezer-Lit Mystery (Five Star First Edition Mystery)

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Having proven that RETIREMENT HOMES ARE MURDER with the help of a close blind friend Meyer and an Asperger's sufferer Henry, octogenarian Paul Jacobson leaves Hawaii to live with his son Denny, his daughter-in-law Allison and his twelve years old granddaughter Jennifer in Boulder. Paul suffers from a short term memory issue in which he loses all recall of what happened once he falls asleep. Due to Meyer he knows to write down the highlight film in his journal to inform the old geezer what is going on.

On the plane he dozed off before jotting anything down that occurred in flight. When he awakens he pushes his row companion off his shoulder only to realize the man is dead. He is the prime suspect in the martial arts chop to the neck death of Daniel Reynolds, a sales representative for Colorado Mountain Retirement Properties. Paul visits the Centennial Community Center to hear a pitch from another Colorado Mountain Retirement Properties rep Randall Swathes. Afterward, he finds the man dead in his car. Paul is the prime suspect. Soon he becomes accused of several other crimes. With his granddaughter as his lawyer, Paul investigates the two homicides while struggling to remember the identities of the two "young" women in his life.

The second "Geezer-Lit" amateur sleuth is a fun tale as Paul overcomes his handicap and age through his journal and his courage to keep going while wisecracking all the way including taking shots at himself and his lawyer. The story line contains several crimes besides the murder that either Paul or Jennifer resolve as he seems to step in it all the time. Readers will enjoy this fine cozy summarized nicely by overworked Boulder Police Detective Launo who says Paul is a crime wave as the prime suspect in 25% of his case load and that does not include the homicide on the jet (investigated by Detective Hamilton).

Harriet Klausner

First Line: My eyes opened in the dim light.

In this second book in the "Geezer Lit" mystery series, 85-year-old Paul Jacobson has left the nursing home in Hawaii and has flown to Boulder, Colorado, to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and 12-year-old granddaughter. Unfortunately the passenger sitting next to him on the plane is dead by journey's end, and since Paul was seen arguing with him, the folks in law enforcement are looking at him with very narrowed eyes.

It just so happens that Paul has short-term memory loss. Every time he goes to sleep, he wakes up with his mind wiped clean of recent events, so he's not much help when he's questioned-- and it makes him cranky. When he attends a Colorado Mountain Retirement Properties presentation (the company the dead man on the plane worked for), another CMRP employee is killed, and Paul is convinced that the property company is at the bottom of it all. In no time, he and his granddaughter, Jennifer, set out to find a killer.

This series is laced with humor, and at the heart of it is the wisecracking old fart, Paul Jacobson. He's learned to minimize the effects of his memory loss by writing the day's events in a journal each night and then reading it when he gets up in the morning. When he arrives at his son's home, the first thing he does is ask his daughter-in-law Allison what the family's daily routine is, and what chores he can take care of. Allison gives him dog-walking duty, and his walks not only let him get acquainted with the neighborhood and the town, they have a tendency to get him in hot water.

You see, every time Paul turns around, he's being pinned with committing a crime-- theft, chopping down trees, using bad language and gestures around small boys-- the list is long and confirms the fact that he is a crime magnet. Each and every time he's questioned by the police, he can't help making wisecracks, and I can picture the twinkle in his eye as he does it. The police are not amused, but Paul's got a secret weapon on his side: his very bright, very forthright, and very devious granddaughter. The two of them together make quite the team.

The identity of the killer in this book was rather easy for me to deduce, but that's not the focus of Living With Your Kids Is Murder. The real focus is Paul Jacobson himself. Mike Befeler has given us a feisty character with a disability that would make many others in his shoes give up and plant themselves in a chair by the window so they can stare glumly outside day after day feeling sorry for themselves. Paul refuses to do this. He has close and loving relationships with the members of his family, he makes friends easily and helps them as much as he can... he even winds up with two girlfriends, and by book's end is ready for yet another adventure.

Paul Jacobson will not go quietly into that good night, and we readers are the richer for it.

Mike Befeler has brought back Paul Jacobson and his brain that resets his recent memory as he awakens each morning. Paul can remember in minute detail most of his life up to six years ago, but asked him what happened before he closed his eyes and nodded off and he can't remember a thing. This time Paul awakens on a plane, annoyed by a passenger leaning on him he pushes him away then wonders exactly where he is. While he ponders this it becomes apparent to others that the guy Paul pushed is dead. Unbeknownst to Paul, earlier in the flight he had an argument with the deceased which is passed onto the police along with his supposed violence towards that passenger when he woke up. Also unbeknownst to Paul he is flying from Hawaii to live with his son's family for a while, which includes his twelve year old wannabe lawyer grand daughter Jennifer. She reminds him of the crimes they solved together back in Hawaii when she came to visit and of his writing journal to remember the recent past. When he stumbles upon a scam ripping off retirees, Paul is determined to get to the bottom of it. However along the way Paul just seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, time and time again when crimes are occurring. Of course he can't remember if he did any of it or not but reading his journal writing each morning is sure he didn't. Of course the police aren't so sure he's innocent. It's up to Jennifer to remind him, and for Paul to do the legwork in solving each crime to clear Paul's name.

It's not a bad story, has a bit of a cheesy convenient doorbell related happenings at the end which the story probably would have been better without. It also lacks something without the other old age eccentric characters from the Kina Nani, Hawaiian retirement complex in the first novel. We know from this novel his next adventure isn't going to be back there, but lets hope there's plenty of other eccentric elderlys on board for the third novel in the series. They just made that book funnier than this one.

This is one of the worst books I've read in quite a while. I am an avid fan of senior-sleuth cozy mysteries, but this one was full of redundancies and farfetched ideas. Also, the concept of having the main character with a memory that he loses every day when he goes to sleep made for a bad story. The reader has to hear about said memory issues repeatedly. And I mean REPEATEDLY! The writer must think his readers have memory loss as well. The book had little to do with the murder sub-plot and much to do about nothing. I believe this is the second book in the series, but I won't be backtracking to read the first or going on to the third. I'm still struggling through this one. A waste of time.

This is the 2nd in the Paul Jacobson lit and my 2nd book also. I came back for more because I like the main character. Paul's age and experience offers something for me to learn in my own life. Paul doesn't fly off the handle no matter how many murders, bank robberies or kidnappings he's accused of. Paul takes the worst situations a step at a time and attempts to solve everyone of them by himself...or shall I say with a little help from his very accomplished grand-daughter.

I enjoyed the first in the old geezer series, "Retirement Homes are Murder". It was totally refreshing and creative in my opinion. This 2nd in the series is not as much fun or as entertaining. For me there were just too many murders, robberies and kidnappings (for a starter) taking place exactly when Paul was right there. It did become a bit boring. However, the developing relationship between Paul & his grand-daughter is growing in leaps & bounds as far as entertainment and creativity is concerned. I also appreciated the communication between Paul and his friend from the retirement home continuing although at a distance. Hopefully they will take up where they left off in the next book.

I'll continue reading this series because (as I said at the beginning) I like Paul Jacobson. He's such a positive thinking character. Something we can all learn from.
(I did not go through every page of this book as other reviewers already did this.)
Ellen

Paul Jacobsen is a fun character whose realistic outlook and humor survive each day better than his memory, or at least his memory since 2000 A.D. He says pretty much what he thinks to everyone he meets, and if he sees something that needs to be done, he does it, regardless of the consequences to himself. His forthrightness gets him into trouble with the murderer, of course, but also leads to some funny scenes that emphasize the social change between the WW II generation and today.

This is a tightly constructed story where every detail given comes into play later on, even the mention of his granddaughter's tennis lesson. What he says in his granddaughter's classroom, where the teacher assures the students that she was sure nobody really wanted to be in the fighting in WWII, is poignant as well as funny.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan on getting the first in the series, which I have not yet read. According to the title of another review, it is even better than this one.

I picked this up at my library in the "New Books" area because it had a picture of the Flatirons on the cover and was obviously set in nearby Boulder. It also looked like a quality product, attractively bound with a pleasing typeface. I was also curious as to how entertaining an 85-year old geezer with a perpetually re-setting memory could be. Well, curiousity killed the cat and about 2 hours of my life that I wish I had back to read something (anything!) other than this dreck whose inevitable, predictable, very lame conclusion could not come fast enough. This is not one of those so bad it's good books, it's just bad, reading more like a first time effort of the precocious 12-year old (the book's most implausible character in a nest of them) who spends the bulk of the book saying things far above her pay grade whilst assisting her grandfather/geezer central to what there is of this story. I really hate to be so negative, but even more I hate having reason to be. Steal a couple hours of my time, bore me and insult my intelligence all the while though, and I believe I have cause to be a little cross.

Apparently Mr. Jacobson likes writing these things, this being no. 2 (no pun intended, but I won't fight it if you want to infer it) in what apparently is a planned series. No doubt no. 3 is already rattling around in his word processor less than 20 miles from where I live. While we can hope that Mr. Jacobson will hit re-set in his literary endeavors and try to entertain us with other storylines, it is likely that this hope will change nothing and another good looking book with a very bad story will find its way to the "new books" section of my library. Presumably there will be no photo of the Flatirons on the cover and thus no reason to give installment no. 3 a second thought. If you're wise you will also give number 1 (which I haven't read but will have to avoid on principal) and number 2 (this one) a pass as well.

In summary: thoroughly mediocre. Those looking for mystery will be disappointed. Ditto for those looking for humor. Or for good characters. Or for good writing. Don't judge this book by its cover! Yes, those are the same mountains that used to be the backdrop for the opening credits of "Mork and Mindy." No, "Mork and Mindy" has not aged well, but it's still more entertaining than this book (and will only waste a half hour of your time).