Death in Sunset Grove: The Lavender Ladies Detective Agency 1 in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 04, 2023 Nina ( picturetalk321 ) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: europe, author-woman, author-white, europe-finland, genre-fiction, transl-finnish, zchallenge-2023-52bookclub, theme-olderwoman-man, z-read-gelesen-2023, zchallenge-eu

What a surprise of a book! A delight, charming, funny, also unexpectedly dark (for something marketed as a cosy murder mystery) and above all, brilliant about old people. And by old, I mean properly old: all protagonists are over ninety and they are all individuals -- quirky or respectable or cautious or fun-loving or doddery or intellectual. This is (alas) a rarity in fiction by certain youngsters where all too often 'old' means 'over fifty' and is reduced to a) sweet, cute and full of worldly What a surprise of a book! A delight, charming, funny, also unexpectedly dark (for something marketed as a cosy murder mystery) and above all, brilliant about old people. And by old, I mean properly old: all protagonists are over ninety and they are all individuals -- quirky or respectable or cautious or fun-loving or doddery or intellectual. This is (alas) a rarity in fiction by certain youngsters where all too often 'old' means 'over fifty' and is reduced to a) sweet, cute and full of worldly wisdom, or b) set in their ways, absurd and incapable of handling modern life (I'm looking at you, What Happens in Dubai: The unputdownable laugh-out-loud bestseller of 2022! and Das kleine Cafe der Bücherträume).

This novel does not gloss over the tribulations of old age. There is no cheery "you're only as old as you feel!". People have canes; people have Zimmer frames; people have dizzy spells and dementia. People also have uncaring (or dead) relatives. And speaking of death: once people are over ninety, they are realistic about death or döden, döden, döden (an oft-repeated catchphrase by one of the main characters). The ire of the book is all directed at the health care system and society in general which in this case is Finland but I'm suspecting, is applicable to all countries in Europe and beyond. The main characters wrily note that they are being inconveniently parked somewhere until they can conveniently die. And they are extremely wry about any advice about not smoking, not drinking, taking care of their health in case of death. Some of the disillusioned overworked health workers agree and sigh, other overworked health workers are evil manipulators.

The pov of main character Siiri is frequently on the unreliable narrator side but we, the readers, understand immediately what she is not understanding. Her friendships with Anna-Liisa, the Ambassador and especially with zest-for-life Irma are utterly warm and wonderful. The sense of place (Helsinki) is rich and unusual, with much referencing of (many to me) obscure architects and tram lines.

The English translation includes an incongruous prologue: don't bother reading it. It does not appear in the German translation, so I'm suspecting it to be absent from the Finnish original. It strikes quite a different note from the rest of the book. The series title 'Lavender Ladies Detective-Agency' is a great marketing ploy but totally unrelated to what is going on between the covers. Ignore it and read anyway.

The author was fifty when this was originally published. I rate her highly for having also penned a libretto for the 2020 opera 'Covid fan tutte'.

Off to buy the other two (or get them on KU for free!).

Bought some time ago at a charity shop. Used for the #the52bookclub 2023 reading challenge 'published by Macmillan'. Looking forward to use number 3 for the same reading challenge's prompt 'third in a series'.

P.S. Why it lost a star: I really, really wanted more of the mysteries to be solved in more of a satisfying manner, and for the old-people-exploiting evils to be punished more roundly. But maybe they will be in books 2 and 3?

P.P.S. The English translation by Lola Rogers is exceedingly good. ...more

Like · see review

Nov 30, 2018 Nancy H rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I thought I would really like this book, but it wasn't as good as I was expecting. I liked the characters, especially the main lady, but I thought the plot was somewhat meandering and I didn't feel like the crimes were resolved well enough (I like those all-threads-neatly-tied-up endings). ...more

Like · see review

Jul 26, 2016 Polly-Alida is currently reading it · review of another edition

Like

Jul 20, 2020 T.ScottReviews marked it as 3maybe-fiction

Like

Jul 22, 2022 Marianne rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Like

From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

What Members Thought

Around the World in 80 Books