Rosie’s #BookReview Of THE DILAPIDATED DETECTIVES by Paul Weinberger

THE DILAPIDATED DETECTIVES by Paul Weinberger

3.5 stars

The Dilapidated Detectives contains three mystery stories, each one solved by semi-amateur sleuthing duo Claude and Marjorie.

The first story is set in a retirement home and involves the suspicious death of one of the residents, while the second story concerns sex trafficking and the third involves a suspected serial killer. There is some humour as well as some good detective work from this pair of octogenarian investigators.

The actual investigations were the best part of this book, even if some of the action and events were rather convenient at times. However, I didn’t feel that choice of narrative style supported the solid mystery base. There tended to be a lot of ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’ of the story from an all seeing omnipotent narrator which led to some confusing head hopping in places, while the quantity of cliches used took away the opportunity for the author to impress the reader with his own writing skills. 

I liked the idea of this book, but I really think it could benefit from the help of a good editor to lift  the way the story was told to the higher standard of the detective work.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

When an elderly lady is found dead in her bed at the Fern Lea retirement home, nobody suspects foul play. Nobody except two fellow residents, Claude Simmons and Marjorie Watson. Since no-one will listen to them, they form a detective duo and begin their own investigation – each at the age of eighty. They infuriate the retirement home manager, aggravate the local police force and along the way place themselves in considerable jeopardy. Against all the odds they solve the murder, leaving behind them a trail of considerable mayhem.

But they don’t stop there. Given their success, Claude and Marjorie are asked to investigate two more cases. They continue to develop their trademark technique of placing themselves in harm’s way and continue to create mayhem wherever they go. The perfect way to solve five more grisly murders.

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