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

Product Information

The building's schematics and access points are kept secret from the quartet (proprietary info), but they have outside resources to assist, including the junior investigating officer. Florida may be known as the ‘sunshine state’ but it’s also by far the most popular destination for retirement communities. I’m happy to see an author capitalize on that fact and craft a great cozy mystery with mature protagonists. I’m looking forward to book 3. With so much going on in the world, it’s nice to escape to a sunny climate where justice is done, villains are conquered and all ends up well. When Lori and her daughter are ambushed out of nowhere, things suddenly take a drastic turn for the worse. What will they do and how can this bounty hunter figure out how to put things right? You will have to read Steph Broadribb’s debut, Deep Down Dead, to find out! The ending concludes this episode while providing the set up for the next, but I probably won't be returning for more.

I thought this was a good mystery. I wasn't sure who the killer was until pretty close to the reveal so good on the author. These folks are not private investigators but still investigate crimes. Not sure how much that would actually work in the real world, but this is fiction, right? The mix of character's lives stories and them working the case was a good balance. Each character has their own stuff going on in life (except maybe Lizzie, her thing is Philip's thing). We did get a setup for another book especially with Moira's character's storyline. 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.There are four different points of view, which is understandable, since we have four main characters, but I think, this constant switch of perspectives loses the momentum of the story sometimes. And, while it really holds the interest throughout, the ending is quite anticlimactic, to be honest. I would expect something more. The pace of the story is quite slow, as well. Death in the Sunshine is a terrific cozy filled with murder, mayhem and mystery. Enough so that I am sure book two will continue to give us more information about the retirees’ past lives as they continue to try and enjoy The Homestead. I’m really looking forward to Death At Paradise Palms, Retired Detectives Club #2, when it’s published on November 29, 2022. 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. For some reason, Steph Broadribb decided to write 'Death In The Sunshine' in the third person present tense. I found this very distracting. I kept translating it in my head to third person past tense, which seems a more natural way of describing things. I've seen third person present tense used in short stories to increase a sense of immediacy and or intimacy but this story doesn't deliver either of those things. The story feels like it's being told at arm's length. Even though each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the main characters, you don't get inside their heads. It reads like a screenplay with added notes for the actors.

Suitable for teen - adult, but adults would probably enjoy it more because of the ages of the characters.has also been the first year for five years that I’ve not had a new book published which has felt quite odd but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy. The person that she’s being paid to hunt is someone that she knows, too. That makes it all the more difficult. JT was a mentor to Lori and he was the one who showed her the ropes in the first place. He taught her how to be a bounty hunter– and also knows quite a bit about her clouded past. JT taught her how to bounty hunt– and now he’s a fugitive and her next target. As is common in a first book setting up a series, it struggles to juggle pace & interest with the development of their world. 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. Luxury retirement condos in Florida - a realtor falls off a penthouse balcony in advance of an open house. Or was she pushed?

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. 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.

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. Did she jump—or was she pushed? The Retired Detectives have a theory. Now they just need the evidence… Published earlier this month, this modern cosy mystery sees best mates and amateur sleuths Adam and Colin investigating the death of a homeless man. Although the police have written the man’s death off as an accident, Adam and Colin think foul play is involved. Undeterred by a warning from the cops to stay out of it, they leap into action and soon find themselves getting much closer to the killer than they’d ever imagined. This is a fun, jaunty-paced read with lots of clever classic and modern Christmas references. You can find out more HERE. My main criticism probably stems from the fact that I had not read the first two books in the series, but jumped straight to the third book. I normally like cozy crime, but here I missed some base for the story. It is mentioned several times that they don't have a PI license, so why does everyone talk to them? If my family member had been murdered, I wouldn't have spoken to anyone without credentials. Also, what evidence could they find that would stand up in court? I know that this is fiction, but I would have needed more justification for the investigation to seem realistic to me. If you're an avid reader of the series, you might disagree with my point though, The first piece of the puzzle falls into place when they discover there have been a rash of burglaries at the property which seem to have been squashed by the higher ups at the retirement community, perhaps because they fear it will not look too good to potential residence. The question becomes are the two crimes connected and what evidence can they gleam from the stolen property which could tie into the murder.

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. 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.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

There is some exciting development in the mystery behind the Homestead's management team - and this piqued my curiosity. In the previous book, the Retired Detectives team had found out that, the management has been purposely hiding all negative news about the community. Moira and Philip decided to look into it. In this book, we have an investigative journalist from Boston wanting to dig deeper into the case. I am curious to learn how this particular development will be explored further. Along with other crime fiction authors, she provides coaching for new crime writers via www.crimefictioncoach.com. 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…