The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs

 

The Retirement Plan is hilarious!  I'm pretty stingy with my five stars and this one got ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.  It fits with my cozy mystery vibe that I've been on and it made me laugh out loud.  I absolutely loved it!  

There are four couple friends that have all been best friends for over 30 years.  A few years ago one of the guys led the others to invest all their retirement money and lost it all and life hasn't been the same since.  This isn't what any of them envisioned retirement to be.  They all had pretty good marriages before they lost the retirement money but now the guys feel bad and the girls can barely look at their husbands.

But the husbands have a plan that will more than make up for the missing retirement money and win their wives back.  The wives also have a plan to make some money that definitely doesn't include their husbands.

This whole week I haven't stopped talking to people about The Retirement Plan.  This is the first novel for Sue Hincenbergs but after listening to her chat at a local library there are more books in the works.  This is definitely my favourite read so far this year - and I've read some great books.  Indigo has it on sale right now for 30% off because it's one of their best sellers.  I highly recommend you pick it up and read it this summer.

Beach Reads and Deadly Deads by Allison Brennan

I recently learned the term cozy mysteries and I think it might be my new favourite genre for the next little bit.  Beach Reads and Deadly Deads certainly fits into that cozy mystery.  I'm not sure the true definition but for me it means murder and mystery without the blood and guts and maybe a love story on the side.

Beach Deads and Deadly Deads follows the story of Mia.  She's just arrived on the island of St Clair for a much needed vacation - mandated by her boss.  Just shy of her 30th birthday and she doesn't remember the last time she took time off.  She's also about to commit to becoming an owner of the accounting firm she works for and once she does that there will be no vacations ever.  So with a promise to relax and enjoy she steps on to the island of St Clair with the news a previous resort guest has gone missing.

Mia has read enough mystery novels that she figures herself part sleuth.  Also, it's hard to relax until she knows what happened to the woman who went missing - maybe she was murdered.  Intent to solve the mystery and also have a one night stand, Mia engages in conversation with everyone she crosses and there sure are a lot of mysterious people staying at the resort.

I really enjoyed this novel.  My first read by Allison Brennan even though she already has many titles.  I gave it 4 stars but I think I could move that to 4.5 if Goodreads would only allow half stars.  I would recommend this to anyone who thinks they only like romance novels and are ready for a change.  I will also note that I saw someone's comment on Goodreads that they didn't finish the book because of profanity and I would say that I barely noticed any profanity.  

Insidious by Catherine Coulter

I enjoy a good murder mystery now and then but it can't be too gruesome and gory and it can't have kids.  That can be tough to find.  I was a bit sceptical when I received a copy of Insidious but all was good.

Insidious was a good clean murder mystery.  A real page turner without a ton of blood and guts and harming small children.  There is a serial killer though and someone is trying to kill an 87 year old grandmotherly business tycoon.  At first it seemed like so many characters to keep straight and try and figure out how they all fit together but it all came together quickly.

Someone has been trying to poison Venus the 87 year old grandmother.  But who?  And why?  Surely, she can't have that much longer to rule the business empire.  Can't they just wait to die naturally?  And which one of her children or grandchildren is so anxious to see her gone?  They are all quick to point fingers.

In Hollywood it's a pretty competitive world.  Everyone is trying to be a star.  After the third murdered starlett the FBI realize they have a serial killer on their hands but how many more up and coming stars need to be brutally murdered before they catch the killer?