William Morrow
Published March 3, 2026
Reviewed by Barbara Fister
Lila Shaw and her ten-year-old daughter Bea desperately need a place to live after her husband is indicted for fraud and goes on the run. Her comfortable suburban existence has been demolished, with their assets seized and her friends all suddenly giving her the cold shoulder. She reluctantly takes up her mother-in-law’s offer to temporarily move into a deceased relative’s apartment at the Primrose, a luxury senior residence, if she will clear out the jam-packed rooms and get it ready for sale. When the owner of the building’s penthouse apartment announces a contest to solve a decades old mystery – the murder of his granddaughter – Bea is eager to investigate. She’s obsessed with true crime, the gorier the better.
Lila reluctantly joins in, tempted by the monetary prize and trying to build a connection to her troubled daughter who has been hostile and disruptive ever since her father disappeared. Surely it won’t be too dangerous, Lila thinks – but then there’s another murder, and the police suspect her. Anxious about being separated from Bea, she joins with two neighbors, crotchety socialite Evelyn and Jasper, a shy retired detective, to explore the possible connections between the long-ago disappearance and the murder that might put her in prison.
This mystery follows the trend of featuring communities of elders who join together as amateur detectives made popular by The Thursday Murder Club. What it brings to the familiar formula is the evolution of Lila as a mother and her efforts to reach her daughter. At the beginning of the novel Lila is both concerned and clueless. She has been lying to Bea about her father’s absence, and she dithers about the problems the child is having at school. The investigation proves to be an opportunity to get closer and to eventually understand one another.
The other characters, and there are many residents at the Primrose, are less developed, with many providing comical effect as they gossip and drink lots of wine. The police investigation is less sophisticated than the plots of Bea’s favorite TV show, Murder, She Wrote, and the plot sometimes hinges on lucky coincidences. But it’s a fun, fast read that will appeal to cozy lovers.