Description
An outrageous blend of cosy crime and biting social satire for fans of Richard Osman, Mick Herron, and Marina Lewycka.
Janus Lodge isn’t your typical retirement community. Sylvia Abercrombie and her knitting-obsessed gang of octogenarians are feisty, foul- mouthed, and fiercely protective of their home. So when a shady developer plots to evict them and build a ‘gentlemen’s club’, they hatch an audacious plan to save their sanctuary – by starting a secret knitwear empire with a scandalous twist. As sales skyrocket, secrets unravel, and Sylvia’s ex-husband lurks in the shadows, the gang must pull off the ultimate heist to protect their beloved Lodge.
Hilarious and heartfelt, Knit One, Heist One is a riotous romp proving that age is no barrier to action.
My Review
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this novel and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for organising this blog tour.
This novel is set in a retirement community, Janus Lodge, in the countryside outside Glasgow. A local gangster, Grinder Lamont, wants to buy the property to knock it down and build a ‘gentleman’s club’ there. His property manager, Fergus Lamont, who manages Grinder’s bookies and bingo halls, also happens to own Janus Lodge. Easy, right? Grinder buys the land at a knock down price, throws out the old people, and builds his brothel.
Except, the residents refuse to be evicted and the sale can’t go through without the sign off from Fergus’ parents, who live at Janus Lodge. Thus starts the campaign by the residents, lead by Sylvia, Harriet, Francine, and Nettie, ably assisted by various husbands, ex-husbands, friend, and Sylvia’s grandson Jake, to raise the funds to buy Janus Lodge before Grinder Lamont can, and deal with Fergus’ terrible disrespect for his parents. They make use of their knitting and crochet skills, and branch out into some interesting territory. As a bonus, they take down a criminal organisation with the help of a biker gang in baby blue balaclavas.
The characters are fun. The initial feeling of Janus Lodge would be familiar to anyone who lives in or has relatives in retirement communities and sheltered housing – there’s individual flats and a meeting room, where the manager tries to organise events for almost every day, but it gets a bit samey after a while, the residents form cliques and internecine warfare starts over who gets to park their mobility scooter where and who gets the next two-bedroom flat to come free (after someone dies). Opening with ‘death bingo’ with a single sachet of powdered custard as the prize was hilarious. We’re introduced to Sylvia, a foul-mouthed and stubborn resident in a wheelchair, Lydia the anxious manager, and Gregor, Sylvia’s dour ex-husband, who demands to be first on the list for the deceased tenant’s flat. The reader is immediately dropped into this little community and gets a feeling for the characters. I really liked Sylvia; she’s fun, loving, and inventive. Her changing relationship with her ex-husband (divorced 40 years) and her strong relationship with her grandson, Jake, make up the emotional heart of the story.
There are several main characters and I got confused slightly at times. Harriet, the tech genius and former women’s baseball star stands out, as does martial artist and highly skilled crocheter, Francine. They are pivotal characters in the story, and their skills are essential to events.
One thing that stood out was the sentiment that just because they’re elderly doesn’t mean they’re dead or daft. And just because they’re retired doesn’t mean they weren’t educated and skilled in various professions and trades, and they need to remember who they are. People too often forget that their grandparents and parents had entire lives before retirement. And they are still living and learning.
For my M.A. I started writing a novel set in sheltered housing in a village outside Lincoln, where the murderer was an elderly lady. The main character was an autistic police detective, but I was going to have her assisted by a group of older characters who, a trio of ladies who sit in the lounge knitting and nattering. Old ladies see everything! The tradition in crime fiction of older women who are embedded in their communities and solve crimes is alive and well a century after Agatha Christie started being published.
This book is short, just over 200 pages, and took me about 3 hours to read. The chapters are short and punchy, and deliver the meat of the story without waffle.
Highly enjoyable read, entertaining way to spend a Sunday evening.
AUTHOR DETAILS
Donna Moore was born in 1962 and led a sheltered childhood in a small English village. A crime fiction fan from a young age, Donna wanted to be one of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and fight crime with the aid of only a basket of cucumber sandwiches and a bottle of ginger beer. She spent her spare time following mysterious strangers around the village – especially those with cockney accents and a couple of days’ growth of stubble – until a complaint from the new local vicar put a stop to her sleuthing career
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