Date: June 5, 2025
Author: Kate Galley
Title: Old Girls Behaving Badly
This book tells the tale of one old lady (age71) being hired as a ‘companion,’ a nice way to say caretaker to another old lady, to be now known in this review as the oldest old lady. (age 89) The reason for need of a caretaker was the oldest old lady had a recent fall and her daughter-in-law was stepping in to take steps to ensure her safety. The younger old lady was hired for a week-long trial as they galavanted off to a manor deep in the English countryside for an extravagant wedding week.
The oldest old lady went into this excursion not only to enjoy a week of pampering followed up with some ‘I do’s,’ but, more importantly, she was there on a secret mission. The mission, should the caretaker care to accept this challenge, is to step in where the oldest old lady wasn’t capable of doing so for herself, (for obvious reasons, such as she’s 89 years old) to assist in catching a thief and a killer, also known as their host for the week.
The oldest old ladies’ husband’s recent and untimely demise was an unfortunate side effect of trying to catch a burglar in the middle of the night stealing a painting that host and hubby had both vied to win in a super serious competition. It wasn’t even that great of a portrait, but it was about the principal of the thing.
How convenient that the oldest old ladies’ stars aligned and shone down with an invitation into the den of the thief. For a whole week. Now the old ladies come together and join forces as partners in crime. Or should we say, partners in crime-busting.
Where it lost me was that the old ladies were starting to expand on their mission to search not only for the original missing painting but also for other stolen art the host had most likely squirreled away as well. What didn’t make sense was; how were they supposed to know a stolen piece of art from a not stolen piece of art? Shirley that would be impossible.