Death at Paradise Palms (The Retired Detectives Club Book 2)

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Unfortunately, I can't say that I was really impressed by the writing either. Somehow the story never managed to grab me completely, and the plot felt rather slow and repetitive in points. The constant mention of having to hide their secrets I previous mentioned didn't really help either... And if I have to read the word tabula rasa one more time, I think that I'm going to scream. The final twist did come as a surprise at least, because I never guessed who would be behind it all. Complications in the detectives' lives as well as the obvious determination of the kidnappers keep readers' attention. She’s a young woman that is pretty tough and keeps busy with her career working as a bounty hunter in Florida. She’s fearless in the field, which is pretty important because working this job in the Sunshine State is a wild gig. As much as she values her job, she works it to provide for her daughter.

Ich habe letztes Jahr mein erstes Buch von Ms Broadribb gelesen, und das habe ich als ziemlich cool in Erinnerung – die Autorin ist nicht nur als Queen of Crime bekannt, hat einige Preise eingeheimst, sondern sie hat auch selbst schon mal als Kopfgeldjägerin gearbeitet - sie weiss also, wovon sie schreibt, wenn sie Krimis schreibt 😉! Lori is a single mother and Dakota is her daughter. She is nine years old and is dealing with leukemia on top of everything when she should just be able to be a kid. The treatments for her illness are starting to add up, and each one is very expensive. So she’s got to keep on moving and taking gigs and work wherever she can to keep the income flowing.

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This is a pretty good follow up to the first book. Lizzie really irritated me in this one, her reaction to Phillip’s “lie” was so over the to it was juvenile. That she would even refuse to consider counseling with him to try and overcome their issues was 🙄🙄🙄. Phillip surprised me, he started maturing in this book, realizing how much Lizzie hurt, but also opening up and considering counseling without her to deal with his loss. The retired detectives are in fine form and there are a few laugh-out-loud moments interspersed among the more serious issues Broadribb touches deftly on, such as ageing, life after retirement, and relationships.

Personally, I find Phillip quite annoying but I suspect that is intentional. Lizzie is smart and caring but how she puts up with Phillip I'll never know!The retired protagonists are asked by the deceased realtor's parents to investigate. Lizzie, the former forensic specialist, deduces that the trajectory of the body indicates the victim was pushed. The foursome then interviews colleagues at the real estate agency as well as the employees & owners of the building.

Also, Steph Broadribb's writing got in the way of her story some because of how she had British phraseology in play when the characters in a given situation were Americans. Sorry, love, you need to write everything in American English except for what the British characters are saying and/or thinking. (A descriptive sentence about a car by the kerb and several references to "hospital" instead of "the hospital" were particuarly irksome.) That's me saying this as a real Anglophile, too! Knowing what she knows now, Lori will do whatever she can to save him from this situation. She makes a deal to take a job off of the books from the last person she should be dealing with– Alex Monroe, faithful servant to the FBI. Told in alternating POV’s between the four main characters, this cozy mystery struggles to gain its footing for a very long time. Character development is slow and immature. Sure, some key items are clearly being reserved for future volumes but there was barely enough information to manage relationships between the primaries and provide structure. My mind kept wandering and I even fell asleep a few times! In the U.K. with the recent success of The Thursday Murder Club any book sent within a retired community is going to struggle by comparison. However, The Retired Detectives Club within Steph Broadribb’s novel doesn’t struggle due this alone, it fails fundamentally because of the Homestead’s reality which within the text alludes to being Stepford in nature and more in keeping with The Truman Show. The writing is easy to read and like the chapters being a single persons narrative, at the beginning of the series I have found it difficult to get along with but now it’s what makes the series for me.

As a huge fan of Steph Broadribb’s Lori Anderson series, I was excited to see what direction she would go in with The Retired Detectives Club but admittedly also quite worried, as that book description reminded me just a little bit too much of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club. The comparisons between the two are rather inevitable and for me, personally, this one falls a tad short. Death on the beach is the third title in The Retired Detectives Club series and I think it’s the best one yet each book improves on the previous one. The team must put aside their differences and join forces with a former adversary if they’re to solve the case. But in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, can they lure the killer into the open before one of them pays the ultimate price?" Her latest novel is DEATH IN THE SUNSHINE - the first book in her new Retired Detectives Club series featuring four recent retirees living in a luxury 55+ resort community in Florida, USA. This book sees Lori and JT head to the city of Chicago to do a job for FBI Special Agent Monroe but, as always, things don’t go to plan. Here’s the blurb…

DEATH IN THE SUNSHINE will be published in March 2022 by Thomas & Mercer, and I’m currently writing the first draft of the second book in the series. I’m super excited about this new series and can’t wait for it to be out in the world. The case involving the death of the young realtor should never have been ruled a suicide - that was clear from the start. The team questions friends, co-workers, building employees and others to get to the truth but it just isn't adding up. The second death throws a whole new angle on the case and they soon find themselves reluctantly working with someone that has been a thorn in their side in previous cases. Again, excellent plot development, and that this group of friends did a far better job than the police was believably portrayed. With our British friends, however, things have happened to push these problems from hanging over their heads to being front-and-center in their minds. Normally this would be good, they're working on the issues, dealing with the issues. However, when this club is the only one working on this kidnapping—the only outsiders aware of it—dealing with personal stuff becomes a distraction. Potentially a fatal one.Over the next few days I caught up with writer friends old and new, met fabulous editors Leodora Darlington and Victoria Haslam for the first time in person (having joined my publisher in Covid times our meetings have been virtual until now), and met up with my brilliant agent, Oli Munson. I also attended Luca Veste’s book launch for his latest (wonderful) novel You Never Said Goodbye, and the hugely fun Thomas & Mercer party. Other top highlights were seeing the legends that are Michael Connelly and Mark Billingham on stage, and meeting Michael Connelly.