CULTURE CLUB
CAMBRIDGE EDITION Book Club Settle into the longer nights with an engrossing new novel – this month, we showcase Scandi short stories, Cambridge crime and gumptious geriatrics
WORDS BY CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp
BY LEONIE SWANN
Sunset Hall is a grand old countryside house, providing rebellious independent living for its defiant elderly inhabitants while they rage against the dying of the light. The residents have discovered the body of Lilith, one of their housemates, and are worried they’ll be accused of her demise. But when the police do knock on Sunset Hall’s door, it’s regarding a murder next door, rather than the one they feared took place in the potting shed – so the housemates set about solving this new crime in the hope of pinning Lilith’s death on the murderer, absolving themselves. The characters are superbly drawn, complex and colourful, each with their own quirks and traits which make this multi-perspective mystery a fast-paced adventure, even when riding the unreliable stairlift to the first floor of the property. And although the events are presented in a madcap light, there’s a dark undercurrent: Agnes, the titular resident of Sunset Hall, is struck by memories alluding to sinister events in her past: a gun – plausibly the murder weapon – keeps appearing and reappearing – and throughout, the inhabitants despair at the effects of ageing in a touching and hugely sympathetic manner. ‘Quirky OAP
sleuths’ is starting to become a subgenre of its own, and this book will no doubt find a warm reception within an existing fanbase, but it’s well worth a read even if this is your first foray into twilight- aged detectives. The hardback edition in particular is a real thing of beauty, with a decorated fore-edge showing Hettie the tortoise’s bloody footprints making their way around the pages. Will the housemates solve the mysteries, plural? There’s only one way to find out… YOUNG AT HEART This twisting, turning mystery is punctuated with splashes of humour and tension
It’s a fast-paced adventure, even when riding the unreliable stairlift to the first floor of the property
26 NOVEMBER 2023 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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