Customer Reviews

Retirement Can Be Murder

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Susan Santangelo has spent her life as a feature writer; drama critic; and editor in the New York area, including Cosmopolitan magazine. She is a breast cancer survivor, and was one of the founders of the Breast Cancer Survival Center in Connecticut. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, as well as The Cape Cod Writers' Center.

Most baby boomers haven't had as illustrious a life as Susan Santangelo, but that doesn't stop her from grasping the major source of party conversations; weekend negotiating by husbands and wives; and the nervous perusal of accounts...retirement. It seems that everyone has their "breaking point," and Carol and Jim Andrews have reached theirs. Jim is demoralized by a young and clueless new manager at his public relations firm. He threatens to retire, and wife Carol goes into action. She locates a retirement counselor for her husband, but unfortunately that counselor winds up dead. As the unlucky person who found the body, Jim is high up on the police department's "persons of interest:"

"Jim's face had turned to stone. 'You should have called and told me the police had been there. What's the matter with you?'

'What's the matter with me? What's the matter with you? Why won't you tell me what's going on? I'm your wife, for God's sake,' I shot back.

'Larry said it wasn't necessary to get specific with anyone, including you, about what the police asked me,' Jim answered defensively. 'I did give the police truthful answers to their questions, but I didn't mention my doing some P.R. work for Rhodes, or how I'd come to his office yesterday to confront him. I didn't lie to them. I just didn't offer any additional information..."

Susan Santangelo uses great characters; humor; and sort of a "Desperate Housewives" backdrop to create a hilarious mystery. When we aren't laughing, we're groaning at the absurdity of it all. At the same time, we're relating to many of the nuances to long-suffering married folks coming to a crossroads in their lives. An entertaining and light-hearted read from a real pro. The Baby Boomer mysteries promise to be as germane as Murder She Wrote...it would make a great television series.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

Yes, the relationship between the husband and wife started off bad...he was a jerk and she was, as another reviewer said, 'a doormat'. And she kept referring to him as her beloved...ALOT. I was screaming 'stop the beloved crap' half way thru but as the story unfolded, so did the relationship between them. He was charged with murder after all and that would stress out anyone. The husband lightened up and the wife...well, she stayed the same. Every relationship is different and survives and thrives for different reasons.
It was a great, easy, breezy story with enough suspense to make it a page turner.

Retirement Can Be Murder

For baby boomers in particular, and for all others who have a sense of humor, and a bit of adventure in their souls, Santangelo has hit the nail on the head. The retirement jokes at the top of each chapter are hilarious and honest. The characters are people I'd like to be friends with. The daily woes, and activities, of the 50+ crowd ring true. I loved the protagonist, and her posse of gal pals. I found myself nodding in agreement with her pronouncements about men and admiring her convoluted, by very effective, style of reasoning. Carol may be my new literary heroine. I can't wait for the next book in the series. Go, boomers!

I'm not a picky reader , but I just could not finish this book. The character of Jim was a silly , rude , obnoxious man who acted like a child and belittled his wife who came off as a dingbat doormat. I won't be reading anymore from this series , which is disappointing since it could have wonderful promise if it wasn't for Jim.

This book was an average murder mystery--nothing special at all. If I had to read the term "My Beloved" as a term for the main character's husband one more time, I would have screamed. I will try the second book if I can get it cheap on Kindle. But the first "My Beloved" I come to....delete book from Kindle! Overuse is so annoying.

Susan Santangelo presents a lighthearted mystery romp with fun characters with whom baby boomers can easily identify. The dialogue is snappy and humorous, providing an entertaining read. Would be a good addition for readers' groups. Looking forward to more in the series. NEK

The character Jim needed a laxative and the wife, Carol was a doormat. It was a boring mystery. The relationship of Jim and Carol was terrible. He was a tempermental jerk and she was a doormat. Bad example of marriage and retirement.I gave two points for the mystery part of the book.In one word boring.

I loved this book! The characters are fun and the plot had me guessing to the end. I don't typically enjoy mysteries but this book really entertained me. It reminded me of a funny Woody Allen movie. Perfect book to take on vacation!

Having recently retired and being a voracious mystery reader, it made perfect sense that RETIREMENT CAN BE MURDER was among the first books I loaded onto the Kindle I received as a retirement gift. I was expecting a cozy mystery which would be entertaining and suspenseful, and I was not disappointed. Susan Santangelo's writing allowed me to sense a connection with the characters, making me want to leap from my chair into the scenes so brilliantly described on each page. When I read a book, I like to feel as if I personally know the characters. The more I read this story, the more I wanted to get to know the gang and join them in their crime-solving attempts. I love making connections to characters, as that makes the story so much more vivid. This book easily allowed me to visualize myself as part of the action. I would recommend RETIREMENT CAN BE MURDER to anyone who likes a good mystery story played out by a believable cast of lovable characters. Being a retired mystery lover is not a necessity to become engrossed in this story, but for me, it was a perfect fit.

Good characters that are real and warm and situations not too difficult to believe. This is the second book I have read by this author and both are excellent.