Too Old for This

Seventy-five-year-old Lottie Jones is a serial killer living a quiet life under a new name. She was once accused of three murders in Spokane in 1985, but the police could never find enough evidence to charge her. However, she still suffered a very public trial by media, losing her job, friends, and family—her young son, Archie, had an especially hard time, facing relentless bullying at school.

After her name was cleared, she sued the city, and the payout allowed her and Archie to move and start fresh in a small town in Oregon. Now, she’s just another quiet little old lady, living in a small town, going to church and bingo, with a small group of friends.

That is, until the past comes back to haunt her in the form of a young woman named Plum Dixon, who is planning to record a series of podcasts about people wrongfully accused of crimes. The last thing Lottie wants is for the past to resurface and destroy the lives she and Archie have built. She decides the only way to make this go away is to ensure that Plum disappears for good.

This is so much fun, as Downing has injected plenty of wry humor into this cat-and-mouse novel. Lottie is a cracker of a character and a real card. Even at her age, she’s a very dangerous person to cross—smart and a lot sharper than people think. She is never to be underestimated, especially when she answers the door smiling and invites you in for tea and cookies.

Lottie might be a loving mother and grandmother, but her inner thoughts about what she’d like to do to people who annoy her are scarily dark. The only problem? She’s getting older, and getting away with murder takes a lot out of her. She also worries about how times have changed, with modern forensic techniques and technological advances that weren’t around forty years ago.

Unfortunately, Plum’s disappearance triggers a veritable tsunami of people looking for her, including the local police, her boyfriend, her mother, and someone who has been hunting for Lottie for a long time. How Lottie deals with all of this is hugely entertaining.

You might need to suspend disbelief and just go with the flow to enjoy this gripping and totally addictive thriller—especially if you appreciate black humor and a likable but cold-blooded killer who feels no sympathy for her victims.

With thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for a copy to read. Expected publication: August 12.