Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody cover art

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody

Jane Darrowfield Series, Book 1

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About this listen

Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she's already traveled and planted a garden. She's organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices. The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do....

After Jane helps a friend with a sticky personal problem, word starts to spread around her bridge club - and then around all of West Cambridge, Massachusetts - that she's the go-to girl for situations that need discreet fixing. Soon she has her first paid assignment - the director of a 55-and-over condo community needs her to de-escalate hostilities among the residents. As Jane discovers after moving in for her undercover assignment, the mature set can be as immature as any high schoolers, and war is breaking out between cliques.

It seems she might make some progress - until one of the aging "popular kids" is bludgeoned to death with a golf club. And though the automatic sprinklers have washed away much of the evidence, Jane's on course to find out whodunit....

©2019 Barbara Ross (P)2020 Tantor Amateur Sleuths Cosy Detective Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Sports
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While I enjoyed this book, somehow it was missing the wow factor for me and I can't really say why. The characters were like able enough but they could have been anybody living anyway. I never really got the sense that they were part of the older generation, yes I know there was a unit for Alzheimer's but it never really felt connected. I guess I was expecting there to be more humour and quirky personalities (especially with the title and cover) but it was a more serious book, even with the high school behaviour, which I guess was the problem. The mystery was the main focus of the book which is normally what I like but as everybody was keeping secrets it almost seemed as if it had too much going on.
Jane likes helping her friends with situations that aren't serious enough to go to the police about. So when one of her bridge club members asks her to help and get paid for it she jumps at the chance. Jane just has to go under cover in a 55 plus community and discover the trouble makers before things escalate. When one of the ring leaders body is discovered on the golf course, Jane finds her case isn't so simple. With the residents weary of the police, Jane is in the best position to find the killer but can being a professional busybody help her uncover the truth? Especially as her reason for being there is the worst kept secret in the world.
The narrator was good and gave each character there own voice.

Murder on the golf course

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I enjoyed this one. It is not a particularly memorable story, but it is easy to listen to while crafting and relaxing. I would recommend it.

Enjoyable

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Jane Darrowfield is an interesting, well-rounded character with a history of intervening to resolve social issues that fall outside of the remit of the police. One such assignment leads to her involvement in a murder investigation. Great characters, storyline and narration.

Very enjoyable

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