5 stars. Yes, 5.

Perhaps I’m getting softer and more easily touched by stories concerning the human condition, but this book was to me as a cup of warm tea radiates a warm inner embrace that isn’t too sudden, but helps your body and mind take a deep settling breath and prepare for the next mental or physical plunge that life too often and too unexpectedly drops us into (what a messy sentence, and capping it off by ending with a preposition of all words. Well, I do have an English degree, after all, so I suppose I’m allowed some latitude and deference in these matters, but who’s to say anything with any certainty anymore? Grammarian rules are merely guideposts, and change at the whim of our collective experiences.)

A bunch of pensioners investigating a handful of murders in a countryside English retirement village? It sounds more like the plot to a swan song movie for a cast of aging actors and actresses than the premise of a delightful and witty book, but perhaps my error is always looking at it from the wrong direction. Perhaps the swan song movies are chosen because those older actors and actresses understand the condition laid out in these stories, and want to pay homage to the accuracy with which they depict the ups, downs, and around of growing older.

I can’t wait to continue this series as a respite from heavier or more literary prose. Escape is necessary, sometimes even from other stories, and there is no shame or harm in escaping the real or imagined horrors of the world with a story that captures the desired simplicity and optimism of the world we want to be in.

Oh my, I fear this review is teetering into a sermon. Let’s correct course, shall we? Read this book. It will do a heavy heart some good.