Herman, the former handy man of the Painted Lady Inn, now lives in an assisted living facility, where he misses his old life in Legacy and wonders about his worth in the world. Then Marcy Collins, a younger resident recovering from a traumatic car crash during a police chase, gathers him and few other spunky residents to help her solve cold cases passed on by her former partner, Lance, since no one in the department has time to reopen them. Lola, the retired Vegas showgirl, and war veterans Jake & Gus round out the team they call The Way Over the Hill Gang as they sift through old evidence to determine if heiress Sue Ellen Makowitz’s death was really suicide, a conclusion Marcy and Lance never believed.
Poring over old papers, they find two suspects — Sue Ellen’s husband, Todd, who remarried soon after her death, and Mabel, the couple’s former maid. The team sets out on various discovery tasks — Marcy interviews Mabel, while Herman and Gus trail Todd and the retired police chief on the local golf course with a parabolic mike. Jake’s niece, Katie, who works in the nursing home office, offers them computer time, and Lola applies all the flattery skills she learned in Vegas to suss out information from Todd’s current wife, Jill, who she befriends on social media. As they plow through evidence and suspects, the motive and killer become clear, and the gang has their hands full capturing the person who ended Sue Ellen’s life.
I really enjoyed this first novel of this new series and look forward to more. Scott portrays all her characters as fully-developed and vibrant individuals, not the sad shells employed by lesser writers, and it’s immensely entertaining to watch the gang progress from restless boredom to savvy crime-solvers who actually start enjoying their life in the assisted living center. The ending clearly sets up more adventures for The Way Over the Hill Gang, and I look forward to following them.