Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing on this lovely Wednesday? It’s the last Wednesday of August, so you know what that means. Book review time! This month, I opted for a cozyish mystery. The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann was released on the 29th by Soho Press. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing.

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp follows Agnes (duh) and her housemates as they try to solve a series of murders while keeping the police from looking too closely at the death of their friend. Sunset Hall is a place where elderly people go to have companionship without pity in their declining years. Their eclectic backgrounds make for an interesting group of sleuths. Throw a newbie and a grandson into the mix and things can get dramatic. Can Agnes and her friends solve the murders? Iffy memories and stiff joints don’t help, but they’re determined.

The plot started off strong. It’s pretty standard stuff: multiple murders, inept police, nosy people. There are even two sets of twins to confuse things. It’s also fairly predictable, which is fine. But as the story progresses, it becomes choppy and jarring. I understand the why, but it doesn’t make it any easier to read. The beginning flows nice and is pretty linear, but the end jumps around and timelines overlap and it’s just not cleanly done, so it gets confusing. It all comes together in the end. I just feel like the ride could’ve been smoother.

The POV changed a lot without warning. I’m sure usually a fan of jumping characters mid-chapter, but it was handled pretty well in this book. There were a couple of times where I knew the POV had changed, but I wasn’t sure whose it was until a paragraph or so in. That was annoying. But I enjoyed getting closer to the characters (including Hettie the tortoise), so a little confusion here and there was okay.

I loved the characters. Most of them have backgrounds like police detective (Agnes) or military (Marshall) or some kind of spy (Edwina) or possible gangster (Bernadette) or whatever. They may be old, but if you’re a criminal, they aren’t the right senior citizens to mess with. They’re well written and mostly fleshed out. And they have very distinct personalities, so they’re fun to read about. The only one I was hoping for more out of was the baddie. It’s really hard to flesh out a character like that without spoiling things, though.

The writing was nice. It was a pretty quick read that I had no trouble picking back up after I put it down for the day. I had no trouble putting it down either. Take from that what you will.

Ultimately, I thought The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp was fun. It’s probably not something I’ll remember a year from now, but I enjoyed it while reading it.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. If you’re into murder mysteries and like older characters, check it out. If not, give it a miss.