Armed and Outrageous (Book 1, Agnes Barton Senior Sleuth Mystery) ~ by Madison Johns, 2011, 2014, cozy mystery, 269 pages
This cozy mystery was a USA Today Bestseller in 2013. Senior sleuth Agnes Barton is not your typical senior citizen living in Tadium, MI, on the shores of Lake Huron. She drives a red hot Mustang, shops at Victoria's Secret, rankles local police officials, and has a knack for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong.
What does a murder that happened forty-three years ago have to do with missing tourist Jennifer Martin? Agnes makes it her personal mission to find out, and she's not letting the fact she's seventy-two get in the way. Butting heads with Sheriff Clem Peterson is something she's accustomed to, but lately Clem seems to be acting even more strange, making Agnes wonder what he may be hiding about the Martin disappearance.
Agnes' partner in crime, Eleanor Mason tags along, the Watson to her Sherlock Holmes. Together, they unearth clues. If only Eleanor would behave; although lovable, she has a knack for getting into trouble by tangling with her rival, Dorothy Alton, or flirting with anyone — male or female — and gossiping! She's incorrigible, but she does carry a Pink Lady revolver in her purse, one that has proved useful at times.
Life for Agnes and Eleanor is shaken up when Agnes' former boss and secret crush comes to Tadium. Before long, the lady sleuths have more on their hands to contend with as goons roll into town and bullets begin to fly.
Hilarious sleuths Agnes Barton and Eleanor Mason head to Florida for the winter. True to his words, Sheriff Clem Peterson sends Agnes Barton and Eleanor Mason packing to Florida via a Cessna, but things go haywire when during a fuel stop, two men shoot the pilot. Agnes springs into action slamming the door just as shots are fired while Frank Alton jumps into the cockpit flying them out of there.
When they land in Florida, they’re asked tough questions by Putner and Palmer from Homeland Security. They keep asking if they found a packet on board the plane, a packet that Agnes has tucked in her purse, but they never mention what’s in the packet. She decides to hold onto it; after all, it contains twenty-five thousand in cash.
Sheriff Calvin Peterson, Sheriff Clem Peterson’s brother, picks them up from the airport in Florida, but tells them the bad news. His brother Clem made arrangements for them to stay at Sunny Brooke Retirement Village and work as the hired help to pay for their room and board. They go unwillingly, but discover in town that two maids have disappeared at Sunny Brooke.
It’s a race against the clock; will Agnes and Eleanor solve the case of the missing maids and finally figure out what happened to their pilot before they also show up on a milk carton?
I do like this trend (I say trend even though these books are older) of older sleuths. They are pithy and fun as well as good mysteries.
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