On Flashback Fridays, I will share with you
the books I was not able to review
when they were first released, that have been screaming at me
from my To-Be-Read bookshelf.
Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody (A Jane Darrowfield Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Massachusetts
Publisher : Kensington
Publication date : June 30, 2020
Paperback
Print length : 272 pages
ISBN-10 : 1496724496
ISBN-13 : 978-1496724496
Kindle
ISBN-13 : 978-1496719959
ASIN : B07W5RTL48
Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she’s already traveled and planted a garden. She’s organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices. The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do . . .
JANE DARROWFIELD, PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY
After Jane helps a friend with a sticky personal problem, word starts to spread around her bridge club—and then around all of West Cambridge, Massachusetts—that she’s the go-to girl for situations that need discreet fixing. Soon she has her first paid assignment—the director of a 55-and-over condo community needs her to de-escalate hostilities among the residents. As Jane discovers after moving in for her undercover assignment, the mature set can be as immature as any high schoolers, and war is breaking out between cliques.
It seems she might make some progress—until one of the aging “popular kids” is bludgeoned to death with a golf club. And though the automatic sprinklers have washed away much of the evidence, Jane’s on course to find out whodunit . . .
Dollycas’s Thoughts
They say retirement is wonderful, but Jane Darrowfield has traveled, gardened, and organized everything she can. Now she needs something other than bridge club to fill her time, especially if she has decades or more of a life she wants to enjoy. She has helped a few friends make their way through tough situations; in fact, she just agreed to help her friend Phyllis reenter the dating scene.
Now Jane has been approached by the executive director of Walden Spring, a community for 55-and-over active adults. He wants her help handling some issues and insight into the social dynamics within the community. It would be her first paid assignment, but she is unsure if she wants to get involved, so she came up with an exorbitant fee, but the man didn’t bat an eye and quickly accepted. Her undercover assignment begins, and she soon moves in and immediately feels like she is back in high school, dealing with the popular people, the outcasts, and the nerds.
Just when Jane thinks she is getting to the bottom of some of the issues, one of the residents is found murdered on the golf course, and the automatic sprinklers sure didn’t preserve the crime scene. Now Jane has a new issue to solve at Walden Spring; hopefully, she can catch the killer before the killer catches her.
As a fan of Barbara Ross’s Maine Clambake Series, I knew the characters in this series would be great, and I wasn’t disappointed. Jane Darrowfield is a fun protagonist, and her friends Helen, Phyllis, and Irma are a hoot! I appreciated that the author took the time to introduce them enough so that I could get attached, while leaving room for them to grow. I don’t know how to play bridge, but I would learn if I could be a member of their club.
Now, the characters living at Walden Spring are an eclectic group; the bad boys in their leather jackets, black jeans, and slicked back hair, the golfers in their plaid pants, the Lily Pulitzer group in their signature bright pinks and greens, the dancers in their spandex, the artists wearing the smocks, and more, all converge in the cafeteria for their meals. The cliques gather at their separate tables as Jane tries to figure out where to start her assignment. When one of their own ends up dead, they all make worthy suspects because everyone has secrets, including some of the staff.
With a plethora of suspects, the new Professional Busybody has her work cut out for her. Detective Fitz was very gruff and by-the-book, but Detective Alvarez was more friendly and open to listening to Jane’s ideas and sharing what he could. Jane was a capable amateur sleuth, making keen observations, treading lightly, but asking intelligent questions, and diligently following the clues where they led. She is very friendly, and most people willingly opened up to her about a variety of things. Some of the secrets revealed were very surprising, as was a character who got very involved in helping Jane. There were twists, turns, and many red herrings as Jane and her helper tried to eliminate people to home in on the killer, all leading up to a scary reveal.
Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody, is a well-plotted, well-written cozy mystery with a delightful senior sleuth, a refreshing theme, plenty of humor, a bit of romance, all set in an interesting community. I solved this one right along with Jane. I love stories that keep me guessing. Book 2, Jane Darrowfield and the Madwoman Next Door, is waiting impatiently on my Kindle Paperwhite. I hope to read it soon.
*This book is from my private collection. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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About the Author
Barbara Ross is the author of twelve Maine Clambake Mystery novels and six novellas. Her books have been nominated for multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and have won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. Barbara lives in Portland, Maine. Readers can visit her website at www.maineclambakemysteries.com
Find all of Barbara Ross’s Books HERE.
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