I was a First Read Winner of this book and I really liked it. So often when a character that is over 50, or my goodness even older, appears in books that I have read they are all grouped together in not having much of a life at all, or even a personality, so I was really excited to see a book about a retirement community with a murder mystery combined. It took me a bit to warm up to Jim but he slowly won me over and I really liked the comical interaction with him and Mike as the book progressed, which had me laughing out loud in many places. There could have been more of a mystery, however there was a lot of romancing going on, who knew, but overall I found it very entertaining and actually hope that there will be many more books to come featuring the people from Shady Place.

Terrific novel. I'd read the first chapter of this book when the author made the finals of The Tracking Board Launchpad competition and I was completely intrigued, waiting eagerly for the novel to be released. I wasn't disappointed. The novel is smart, well paced and much funnier than I'd expected. Although the mystery itself wasn't particularly mysterious the real enjoyment of this book comes from the well developed characters and the relationship between Jim and Mike. Dark humour, male bonding and a sympathetic cast make for a captivating story which cracks along and is difficult to put down. I’m looking foward to future stories from Shady Place.