Being always curious, I search out various things to pursue - and books to read. One such recent search led me to a trio of books purportedly set in a Retirement Center. The author, John Miles, is billed as being the best-selling author of suspense/thrillers under his own name. I found the books (published in the early 90s) at my library and set out to read them.

I really wanted to like this mini-series, but honestly, I just could not quite get a handle on it and would be very hesitant to recommend it to anyone. So why mention it at all? Well, someone else might stumble over it, too, and think it could be a fun read. They’re so-so. Most of the older characters are stereotypes, which is surprising, given the author’s age when he wrote these books. (Unless for whatever reason, they were written when he was much younger, and then sort of updated. Always a possibility, I suppose.) The books are dated, that’s for sure, and while I’d never tell anyone ‘not to bother,’ I think that in this case a bit of advance knowledge might be a good thing.

The author used his own home-town of Norman, Oklahoma as the location for the three books. The Timberdale Retirement Center is a combination - sort of - of senior apartment house and an assisted living facility. I think the major problem is the book was published in 1992, which means it was most likely written in 1990 or early 91, when such facilities were first becoming very popular and getting the kinks out of established notions concerning the wants and wishes of older residents.

The first book is A Permanent Retirement, and one positive thing I can say is that the author (who is now deceased, by the way) never talks down to the reader or outright laughs at any of the oldsters portrayed here. He seems genuinely concerned for and caring about them. There are a good many references to OU college football and the Dallas Cowboys - and their cheerleaders - and glimpses of the topography and weather conditions in Norman during the early to middle fall. The solution to the mystery sort-of came out of left field, however, and try as I might, I don’t remember any clues pointing in that direction.

The second book, Murder in Retirement, is wrapped around the concept of a somewhat shop-worn acting troupe brought in to put on a Murder Mystery Weekend. The plays are quite elaborate with hints dropped here and there for several days in advance of the actual ‘murder.’ Unfortunately, the leader of the troupe is not a very ethical person, and he is the one who ends up dead. Murdered, to be exact. The author really reaches for a conclusion, which I didn’t think was all that believable.

A Most Deadly Retirement is the finale and would have been much better for a bit more editing. It’s about 50 pages too long, and although the who is a pretty much forgone conclusion, the why isn’t determined until the very last page.

In my opinion, there are many much better mysteries set among spry oldsters: books by Nora Charles, Rita Lakin and a traveling elderhostel series by Peter Abresch, among others. But having not yet read all of them, I’ll wait until I do for further discussion. In the meantime – Happy Reading!