The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann

 

First Line: Hettie felt hot.

 

The residents of the sleepy English village of Duck End are under the impression that the people living in Sunset Hall are a bunch of senile hippies, and that opinion means that those supposed senile hippies are pretty much allowed to live in peace-- which suits them just fine. So imagine the hippies' surprise when they are visited by a police officer informing them that a body has been discovered next door. Everyone is suitably saddened by the news, but they're even more relieved that the body in question is not the one they're hiding in the shed (Lillith, a fellow Sunset Hall resident). 

 

But their problem may be solved. All they have to do is find out who murdered their neighbor so they can pin Lillith's death on the killer. In no time flat, the gang springs into action, even though it means leaving their comfort zone to tangle with inept burglars, broken stairlifts, the local police... and their own dark secrets.

~

Several years ago, I read Leonie Swann's Three Bags Full, and although I enjoyed it, it felt as though some undefinable thing were missing. I've had this happen before with other authors. Every once in a while, I come across a writer who comes up with ideas that delight me and grab my imagination, yet there's something lacking in the finished product. After reading The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, I feel the same way about Leonie Swann; however, in her case, my problem may lie in the fact that humor doesn't always translate well into other languages.

Agnes Sharp has gathered together an interesting group of people with various skill sets that will ultimately help them find the killer of Duck End despite their individual infirmities. (One is blind, another is in a wheelchair, Agnes won't take her meds, etc.) She did this so that they could all be independent yet not die alone, which is an admirable aim indeed. 

 

They find themselves in all sorts of predicaments, including babysitting a grandson, and Agnes herself goes undercover in a nursing home. I think my favorite part of the book was when one of them drugged and locked a police officer in the cellar. I didn't expect that to be so amusing, but it was. 

 

But as the story unfolded, I began to wonder just how reliable Agnes was as a narrator, especially since she refused to take some very important medication. In addition, the story had so many twists and turns that I began to get confused. As I sorted everything out, I began to visualize a tapestry with many loose, tangled, and knotted threads, and that's a reading experience I don't enjoy.

Leonie Swann's The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp has a surprising cast of lively old hippies... and a tortoise named Hettie who likes hands bearing lettuce. I may not want to sit down to tea with them, but I do admire their persistence and inventiveness.

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann

Translated from the German by Amy Bojang

eISBN: 9781641294348

Soho Press © 2023

eBook, 360 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #1 Agnes Sharp mystery

Rating: C-

Source: Net Galley