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A Queer Death at Secret Pearl
There’s never a dull moment at the Secret Pearl, Florida’s wildest lesbian retirement community.
Retired veterinarian Judith Fletcher moves into this modern-day trailer park with her coterie of cats and a potty-mouthed parrot, only to find her first social gathering interrupted by the suspicious death of long-time resident and master baker Betty Black.
All fingers point to Wheezer, the Pearl’s favorite curmudgeon, as the killer. The investigation, complicated by bumbling cops, the rumor grapevine, and drug-addled speculation, falls to the women of the Secret Pearl to solve.
Pack your bags and move in with the Secret Pearl gang as they solve the mystery of Betty’s untimely passing. Along the way, their lives are jam-packed with non-stop mayhem, madcap adventures, and a surprising amount of wanton post-menopausal sex.
This quirky lighthearted lesbian caper is a reminder that old age should never be an impediment to fun.
Retired veterinarian Judith Fletcher moves into this modern-day trailer park with her coterie of cats and a potty-mouthed parrot, only to find her first social gathering interrupted by the suspicious death of long-time resident and master baker Betty Black.
All fingers point to Wheezer, the Pearl’s favorite curmudgeon, as the killer. The investigation, complicated by bumbling cops, the rumor grapevine, and drug-addled speculation, falls to the women of the Secret Pearl to solve.
Pack your bags and move in with the Secret Pearl gang as they solve the mystery of Betty’s untimely passing. Along the way, their lives are jam-packed with non-stop mayhem, madcap adventures, and a surprising amount of wanton post-menopausal sex.
This quirky lighthearted lesbian caper is a reminder that old age should never be an impediment to fun.
145 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 27, 2021
9 people are currently reading
315 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 17, 2022
Kindle Unlimited. A riotous story of 'mostly' lesbian retirees in Florida, and their erotic shenanigans.
Not your Granny's retirement community, that's for sure. These women live their lives out loud and proud. Outrageous personalities and antics ensue, as we follow Judith who just moved in to the Secret Pearl. We follow her making friends, attending parties and becoming interested in a special lady and love interest.
We meet the mad residents including an old hippie stoner, a hypochondriac, and female lothario trying to make up for 50 years of celibacy.
Its wild, it's whacky, but I freaking loved it. I can only hope to be a percentage of fun, cool and awesome of these ladies now, let alone when I'm at their age. A great fun read.
Not your Granny's retirement community, that's for sure. These women live their lives out loud and proud. Outrageous personalities and antics ensue, as we follow Judith who just moved in to the Secret Pearl. We follow her making friends, attending parties and becoming interested in a special lady and love interest.
We meet the mad residents including an old hippie stoner, a hypochondriac, and female lothario trying to make up for 50 years of celibacy.
Its wild, it's whacky, but I freaking loved it. I can only hope to be a percentage of fun, cool and awesome of these ladies now, let alone when I'm at their age. A great fun read.
October 10, 2021
I have to admit, "cozy mystery set at a lesbian retirement community" was a tagline I could not resist. A Queer Death at Secret Pearl begins with Judith moving into Secret Pearl and immediately meeting an aggressively welcoming Cynthia, who attempts to take her on a tour, but is so high that she gets them lost until the golf cart battery runs out. The chapters rotate between different point of view characters, most of whom are as eccentric as Cynthia. There's the "resident slut" whose purpose in retirement is to get all the sex she missed out in her closeted youth, a hypochondriac lamenting her inevitable demise (despite being fit enough to fight off an intruder with a shovel), a grouchy butch who goes by "Wheezer," and more. Judith is a subdued, bookish retired veterinarian with a collection of abandoned animals she's taken in--including a vulgar parrot named Hannibird Lector--who is reluctantly pulled into this community's adventures, and surprises herself by enjoying them.
While there is a mystery element to this, I wouldn't say it's the focus. This story is much more about the shenanigans this wacky group gets into, including naked therapy, swimming with manatees, and playing with a ouija board. Oh, and a lot of sex. With the amount of sex talk and sex scenes included, you'd think it would be erotica, but they're handled in a matter-of-fact way for the most part, not lingered on.
Of course, as the title suggests, there is a death at the beginning of the novella. While a wine and cheese tasting party was underway (which most of the residents found much too fancy and brought beer to instead), Betty was found dead in the bathroom, naked and sitting on a toilet. While this is a retirement community, she was relatively young and healthy, so the women begin to gossip about the possibility of murder, and immediately the taciturn Wheezer is the main suspect--mostly just because she doesn't get along well with the people accusing her.
I expected this to be a mystery, with Judith investigating, but the death is mostly taken in stride. The coroner's report is delayed, so no one knows for sure if there is anything suspicious about her death. It's mostly just a recurring piece of juicy gossip, with people taking stands for or against Wheezer. There are occasional scenes of looking for evidence or puzzling things out, but they aren't the focus.
This is a short, entertaining read with a lot of humor. It sometimes feels over-the-top in its goofiness (the police especially are cartoonishly incompetent), and there isn't a lot of space to give most of the characters depth, but it's light and silly, and I appreciate a story like this because there are so few books about older lesbians, especially ones that embrace sex.
There are two points that grated on me and I think were unnecessary: two characters talk about their "spirit animals," and another character calls herself a "part time lesbian" and "a little bisexual." It seems weird to me that the community (especially since it apparently includes hundreds of women, though we just meet a handful) wouldn't exclude bisexuals or that Brenda wouldn't just call herself bisexual.
Despite some minor issues I had with it, I really enjoyed reading it, and I'd like to see more stories set at Secret Pearl! I can imagine these characters stumbling into a lot more sticky situations in the future.
(Review originally posted at the Lesbrary)
While there is a mystery element to this, I wouldn't say it's the focus. This story is much more about the shenanigans this wacky group gets into, including naked therapy, swimming with manatees, and playing with a ouija board. Oh, and a lot of sex. With the amount of sex talk and sex scenes included, you'd think it would be erotica, but they're handled in a matter-of-fact way for the most part, not lingered on.
Of course, as the title suggests, there is a death at the beginning of the novella. While a wine and cheese tasting party was underway (which most of the residents found much too fancy and brought beer to instead), Betty was found dead in the bathroom, naked and sitting on a toilet. While this is a retirement community, she was relatively young and healthy, so the women begin to gossip about the possibility of murder, and immediately the taciturn Wheezer is the main suspect--mostly just because she doesn't get along well with the people accusing her.
I expected this to be a mystery, with Judith investigating, but the death is mostly taken in stride. The coroner's report is delayed, so no one knows for sure if there is anything suspicious about her death. It's mostly just a recurring piece of juicy gossip, with people taking stands for or against Wheezer. There are occasional scenes of looking for evidence or puzzling things out, but they aren't the focus.
This is a short, entertaining read with a lot of humor. It sometimes feels over-the-top in its goofiness (the police especially are cartoonishly incompetent), and there isn't a lot of space to give most of the characters depth, but it's light and silly, and I appreciate a story like this because there are so few books about older lesbians, especially ones that embrace sex.
There are two points that grated on me and I think were unnecessary: two characters talk about their "spirit animals," and another character calls herself a "part time lesbian" and "a little bisexual." It seems weird to me that the community (especially since it apparently includes hundreds of women, though we just meet a handful) wouldn't exclude bisexuals or that Brenda wouldn't just call herself bisexual.
Despite some minor issues I had with it, I really enjoyed reading it, and I'd like to see more stories set at Secret Pearl! I can imagine these characters stumbling into a lot more sticky situations in the future.
(Review originally posted at the Lesbrary)
March 22, 2022
Sadly, I didn't particularly enjoy this, which is a shame, because I thought a romantic cosy mystery surrounding a lesbian retirement community sounded like a treat. Maybe it's because I took so long to read it? Most of what I read these days I read via audiobook, and I kept finding myself putting down this ebook for days and days at a time. But I did read the bulk of it in one stretch, and though it did give me a few hearty laughs, I'm mostly underwhelmed. I'm tagging this as a mystery because nothing else fits the bill, but although there's a murder in this story, extremely little time is given over to investigating/amateur sleuthing/detecting. It's more of a slice of life following a bunch of wacky old gays in the community, with a bunch of different POVs. All cosy, no mystery. And that's a cute premise, and I liked most of the women a lot, but the book just mostly felt like it had no direction, like nothing was happening. I was a bit bored, and the ending was very flat. And the way Brenda's bisexuality was written about was so weird and unnecessary. At first I thought the author was going to make a point about how sometimes other queer people can make bisexual women feel ashamed of their attraction to men, but that whole plot thread had no resolution. A lot of things ended up like that: hugely anticlimactic.
Cute premise, but sadly a miss.
Cute premise, but sadly a miss.
May 11, 2023
"mystery novel" is sort of a misnomer, this is just a really sweet & raunchy book about old dykes and their dyke drama where someone happens to die. nobody really puts any effort into "solving" the mystery, because they're all too busy watching gentleman jack and having orgies. this is all to say, damn this was delightful and fluffy i laughed out loud and i kind of really hope this isn't the only lesbian retirement community mystery/erotic novel by this author!
June 5, 2023
won and started this book in a goodreads giveaway years ago and only just now got to reading it. some pros: it can be read in a day, it doesn’t take itself seriously at all, all old lesbian representation, somewhat funny. cons: the writing+dialogue felt very disjointed and not quite right, lots of character POVs lead to most everyone staying as surface level caricatures/archetypes, some events really toed the line between camp and just bad. the “murder mystery” is absolutely not the central plot (there is no plot just old lesbian vibes) and in fact, i never felt convinced there was a mystery surrounding her death. its a retirement home and she was found naked on the toilet at a party … like, the answer is right there.
this book is for someone who wants to read about old lesbians being silly crazy in a community and can make do w vibes only (the feeling, not the toys)
this book is for someone who wants to read about old lesbians being silly crazy in a community and can make do w vibes only (the feeling, not the toys)
September 26, 2021
Quick & cute - Golden Girls meets a Cozy Mystery meets The L Word.
March 2, 2022
I really wanted to like this one as I love mysteries but there really isn’t much of a mystery here. What is there just didn’t capture my interest. Any time I put the book down, I completely forgot about it. That’s why it took over 6 months to actually complete a book that could be read in an afternoon. I am sure I’m just not the right audience for it.
February 6, 2022
This book is about women in a lesbian retirement community in Florida. It's a sexual romp of a book.
The characters are interesting but I found most of them and their antics to be a bit unbelievable for their generation. I too am from their generation. In all fairness, I don't think the author was aiming for truism and just wanted to write a light-hearted fun book. All in all an enjoyable read. I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
The characters are interesting but I found most of them and their antics to be a bit unbelievable for their generation. I too am from their generation. In all fairness, I don't think the author was aiming for truism and just wanted to write a light-hearted fun book. All in all an enjoyable read. I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
November 25, 2024
This was an engaging and fun read the whole way through! The characters were well constructed and I really enjoyed the journey to get to know them from their banter to their secrets and everything in between.
September 21, 2021
This is a great light weight mystery with a lot of love along the way. Hot steamy and fun.
I received this as a Goodreads giveaway.
I received this as a Goodreads giveaway.
October 9, 2021
Truly righteous!
was a truly uplifting story! I loved it but the characters are priceless by themselves. Highly recommended! Given a copy in exchange for an honest review.
was a truly uplifting story! I loved it but the characters are priceless by themselves. Highly recommended! Given a copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 16, 2023
silly fun old lesbians having orgies… who could ask for more. more slice-of-life than anything else. quick easy read!
dnf
April 17, 2023April 2023, 11%: The narrative is great but the dialogue doesn't quite do it for me.
June 11, 2023
Lesbian Golden Girls
I wish to spend my golden years in a place like Secret Pearl.
Hilarious look into a very lively retirement community.
I wish to spend my golden years in a place like Secret Pearl.
Hilarious look into a very lively retirement community.
February 27, 2024
I won this through a Goodreads giveaway
This is a laugh out loud book. I enjoyed the characters, their antics and the foul mouthed bird.
This is a laugh out loud book. I enjoyed the characters, their antics and the foul mouthed bird.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews