Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Whack ‘n’ Roll-Gail Oust

Whack ‘n’ Roll
Gail Oust
Obsidian, Aug 2009, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451227690

Serenity Cove Estates in South Carolina is a senior citizens housing development and home to the Bunco Babes, retirees who play Bunco twice a month. They are good friends and keep active. While playing golf, Kate McCall’s ball rolls into a rough patch filled with bushes. When she goes to retrieve her errant shot, she finds a Wal-Mart bag with a severed arm inside.

They call the sheriff who takes over the investigation, but Kate snoops around trying to help the law catch the perpetrator. Kate notices that her neighbor Rosalie Brubaker has not been seen in a while. Her husband Earl who grows orchids like a hippie says they had a fight and she left to see their children. Other body parts are found in the state park and at the recreation center. An anonymous phone caller to the sheriff insists that Earl is the killer and the murder weapon is in his house. Kate believes Earl is not the killer and has quite a few alternative suspects with motives to murder Rosalie, but finding proof could prove deadly.

This is a delightful amateur sleuth starring a protagonist who advises the sheriff giving him clues while hoping he will share his findings with her. She and the Bunco Babes are a close knit group who has each other’s back like the Musketeers so Kate has a powerful geriatric support group. The spunky Kate and her BFFs are filled with so much energy that people half their age will admire them. Gail Oust provides a complex whodunit starring a cast of eccentric sexagenarians.

Harriet Klausner

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