Tag: The Retired Detectives Club

Death at Paradise Palms by Steph Broadribb: The Detectives Show Their Fallibility In This Strong Follow-up

DETAILS:
Series: The Retired Detectives Club, #2
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: October 11, 2022
Format: eBook
Length: 303 pgs.
Read Date: March 16-17, 2023

What’s Death at Paradise Palms About?

After they solved a murder a few months earlier, the Retired Detectives Club has gained a certain amount of notoriety around the Homestead Retirement Community, so it’s not terribly surprising that when a resident has some concerns they call them for help. Particularly when that resident has had bad experiences with the police previously.

This particular resident is a retired movie star, Olivia Hamilton Ziegler. Her husband is missing, and she suspects foul play. They’re having no problems and it’s not like him to just not come home, not call, not pick up his phone, etc.

The Club jumps in, more than willing to help—they find a handful of decent suspects and start to dig into the background of each when a ransom demand shows up. Now they have a pressing deadline and more than a wife’s intuition. It’s time for these retired detectives to get to work.

Distracted Detectives

I’m not sure if this says something about Broadribb’s view of Americans, but in Death in the Sunshine we see that the three British retirees have things from their past that are hovering over them. I like that dynamic, but it’s good that not everyone has some deep, dark secret. Rick, our DEA retiree, seems to be baggage-free and easygoing. Maybe that just means we haven’t seen his baggage, or maybe Broadribb just thinks Americans are shallow.*

* I’m kidding. Probably.

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.

All three of these people make huge mistakes in the course of this investigation, easily observable mistakes (especially to the reader). And it’s not because they’re older, it’s not because their minds are slower, or their bodies aren’t up to what they used to be able to do—it’s because their heads aren’t in the game.

This makes for compelling storytelling, it’s great to see flawed characters battling with their flaws—but it’s a good thing they’re all retired because this is the kind of thing that should hurt a career.

The Series Arc

Ultimately, I think this series going to be telling the story of the shenanigans at the top of the Homestead Retirement Community. In Death in the Sunshine we see pretty clearly that TPTB filter the news and do what they can to prevent anything negative from getting out to the public or into the residents. And if it does show up, it’s quickly erased.

This takes work on the Social Media, old-school media, and possibly even law enforcement fronts—there’s no way that it’s all coincidental, unintentional, or any other excusable motivation. So the questions that need to be answered are why is this being done, who profits, who is hurt by this, and what actions are being taken/pressures applied, to get these various and sundry groups to quash the information.

Some of the residents see that this is going on—but (if you ask me) not enough seem that concerned—Moira sure is and is doing something about it. She’s working with a local reporter, although she has reason to believe that this is not the safest path for either of them to be taking. But that doesn’t seem to deter her.

I really hope that she’s able to get more of the Club on board with this soon—not that I want them distracted from their next big case. But she’s going to need some backup.

So, what did I think about Death at Paradise Palms?

I remember enjoying Death in the Sunshine, but I’d largely forgotten why. It was good to be reminded—this isn’t your typical elderly amateur detective series—this is a grittier take on that trend, full of people who are only amateur now, it wasn’t that long ago they were professionals, and they’ve still got the goods.

I did clock the Main Bad Guy instantly, and can only excuse the Club for not doing the same because of all their distractions (and because they’re not aware that they’re fictional characters, a lot of what tipped me off came from being a reader). So for me, the tension came from wanting to know how long it would take them to get around to discovering the truth—and how they’d use what they learned from the false trails to get there. That was enough for me—the good in this series doesn’t come from the whodunit—but from how they’re caught.

This, like all of Broadribb’s work, is a fast and fun read—it hooks you early and doesn’t let go until it’s good and ready to. Just buckle in and enjoy the ride. I can’t imagine I’ll let the next one of these sit ignored on my Kindle as I did this one.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Death in the Sunshine by Steph Broadribb: Detectives Hitting “Pause” on their Retirement

By HCNewton

On March 21, 2022

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Steph Broadribb/Stephanie Marland

Death in the Sunshine

by Steph Broadribb

DETAILS:
Series: The Retired Detectives Club, #1
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: February 28, 2022
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 319 pg.
Read Date: March 16-18, 2022

Moira takes one last look towards the park and feels a pang of . . . something. She remembers how it felt when she saw the body, and how she switched from retired lady of leisure, Moira Flynn, back into her old, original skin. It’d felt like she was on autopilot– confident, professional, and knowing exactly what to do and what to say– and it had felt good. So good. Like she was useful again. Like there was a point to her. Like she still had purpose.

What’s Death in the Sunshine About?

Moira retired as a DCI doing undercover work, moved into a retirement community in Florida, adopted three dogs, and started on the next stage of her life—and tried to put everything that happened before retirement behind her. That was her goal, she was done with all that. Until early one morning when she finds a murdered woman floating in the swimming pool.

A neighbor and acquaintance—and leader of the community watch—comes upon the crime scene after the police arrive, sees Moira, and brings her back to his house to find out what’s going on. His wife was a CSI officer back in the UK, and Philip was also a DCI—he and Moira never crossed paths in England, just once she moved in. Philips’s friend, Rick, is a retired DEA agent and is also involved in the community watch.

Philip and Rick see this murder as an opportunity to get back into their old lives and bring some peace of mind to their neighbors—there’d been a string of burglaries recently, and now a murder, in their supposedly incredibly safe and secure community. They take it upon themselves to drag Moira and Lizzie into their impromptu investigation into the murder.

The police have no interest in, or patience with, what these four are discovering. They’ve got a quick and easy theory and solution in mind and are pursuing that—no matter how off-base they might be.

In addition to this murder (and possibly the string of burglaries that have gotten more than a few residents on edge), there are other mysteries bubbling under the surface—some involving the retired detectives, and others around their new home. We’re not going to get a resolution to them all in this book, maybe the sequel. Broadribb gives us just enough to get really invested in them without the reader feeling cheated that we didn’t get a resolution while making sure we’re coming back to see if we get to uncover the answer.

Un-likeable Leads

I’m not one who thinks you need to like all the protagonists in a book as people—but it helps if you like them as fictional characters. Death in the Sunshine gives a prime example of how it’s not necessary to like all the protagonists for a book to work.

I’m going to withhold the names, but I only liked two of these four as people—but all four made compelling characters. One of those I didn’t like, I might end up liking, once I decide how much I can trust them. But the fourth just rubbed me the wrong way all the time.

I can’t believe how many times I grumbled about Character X in my notes. I understood a lot of what made X act in the ways that made me dislike them so much, but that doesn’t excuse the choices they make throughout—that could have easily put the kibosh on their whole investigation.

Is it possible that Broadribb will change my mind about X in the next book? Absolutely. But I kind of hope she doesn’t, as long as I can keep liking the other two.

Pet Peeve

It’s been a bit since I’ve grumbled about this, but if a UK-based writer is going to write American characters, they really should get an American Beta reader to focus solely on making sure they sound like people who grew up and live here. I assume the experience for me is similar to someone from London listening to Dick Van Dyke’s Mary Poppins accent.

Now, I will say that it’s not that bad in this book, it’d take me only a little browsing through my archives to find worse offenders. But I expect a bit more out of Broadribb. She did make a wise move, I think, by having three of her four leads be from the UK, though.

So, what did I think about Death in the Sunshine?

Is that what this investigation is about? Is he trying to rekindle his old life? He misses it bad; misses it like a piece of him was amputated on the day he retired. If he’s honest about it he misses it as much, and maybe even a bit more, than he does his own children.

You start this thing having read the description, and you think this is going to be The Thursday Murder Club with different accents and a less amatuer-ish feel. This assumption lasts maybe two chapters before crashing headlong into the sharp rocks of reality.

It’s a wholly different setup, wholly different tone, with wholly different kinds of characters, and a wholly different relationship to the local police. This is a grittier kind of feel, with characters that feel like they could’ve stepped from the pages of other series right into this one.

Broadribb does a pretty good job of balancing the point-of-view characters, but I thought we could’ve gotten a little more of Rick, the ex-DEA agent, but that might just be me. Some of the supporting characters were a lot of fun, too—hopefully, they’re around in the sequel(s).

I particularly enjoyed the way Broadribb had these four reflect on what got them into investigating this case, and what it brought back for them. I’m years away from having to think about what life’ll be like when I leave the workforce, but there’s something about their reactions that spoke to me.

Strong characters and settings that we don’t see a lot of in Crime/Detective Fiction, some voices/perspectives that we could use more of, neck-deep in a case that should satisfy most genre fans. Now that Broadribb has established this world and characters, I’m expecting things to get better from here (and they’re pretty good where they are).

Jump on board this train while you can, readers.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.