What's Beind the Rise of Senior Sleuths

By Chester Campbell

The subject of senior sleuths has grown in popularity in recent years. Being a certified senior writer who now has five books about a detective couple far from being spring chickens, I was tapped for a panel at the 2010 Killer Nashville conference titled "Grow Old Along With Me: The Aging of Crime Fiction Protagonists." It got me to thinking about what prompted this new fascination with old age.

Perhaps it stems from the fact that everybody is headed in that direction, and we find it comforting to read about people who do a great job of dealing with the problems older generations face. Some writers go for the caricature approach, painting old-timers as slow and bumbling, perhaps in an effort at comic effect. I'm more interested in showing them as productive citizens whose views are enhanced  by years of experience. These are the seniors I know.

I have nothing against using a muddling character when the plot calls for it, but not as an example of elderly people. In my new book I used a character who is shabby and shiftless but there is nothing to suggest that he is particularly old.

Sleuths in the senior ranks, commonly thought of as over sixty, bring many years of experience to the job. They don't see a lot that surprises them. When they face a problem, they can usually relate it to something they have encountered in the past.

Older detectives do encounter problems, but they're aware of their shortcomings and know how to compensate for them. They're no match for a younger guy in a foot race. When it comes to physical struggles, their timing is a little off, and unless they work out regularly they won't have the stamina of years past.  If they're smart, and that's the only kind of people I write about, they use their brains to outsmart their opponents.

Younger investigators tend to be tough guys, ready to use their fists and quick to drasw their guns. Older detectives use persuasion and logic and depend on their weapons only when there's no other way. I think readers live vicariously with the slam-bam types but feel admiration for the older protagonists who tend to be more like people they know.

How do you feel about seniors as sleuths?

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A Village Shattered’s Logan & Cafferty Interview

By Jean Henry Mead

Today I’m interviewing Dana Logan and Sarah Cafferty, two main characters from A Village Shattered, my latest senior sleuth mystery/suspense novel. My 60-year-old senior sleuths aren’t too pleased with me at the moment:

Dana, having a serial killer lurking in the San Joaquin Valley fog must have put a damper on your Christmas festivities?

It did, and we received some strange gifts. A friend in Arizona sent me a helmet to protect me from a possible attack. She also sent a neck brace in case the killer tries to strangle me, like he did to two of our club members.

Sarah, did you also receive some weird presents?

My kids sent me a baseball bat and a paint ball gun. The sheriff won’t allow us real guns, I guess he thinks we’ll shoot ourselves in the foot, or each other.”

Guns are dangerous if you don’t know how to use them.

Dana’s late husband taught her to use all kinds of guns. And our friend Micki shot all the game meat for her freezer. Everyone thought her late husband shot the deer, but Micki says he couldn’t hit a barn at five paces. You won’t tell anyone, will you?

I’m afraid I already did. Whoever reads the book will know why you and your surviving club members are being killed alphabetically.

We were doing just fine until you brought that serial killer into our midst. Our So and Sew Club Members were happily meeting each week to do needlework and swap retirement village gossip. Why’d you have to ruin it?

Sarah, you don’t write a mystery/suspense novel without at least one body.

One sure, but your serial killer is trying to send us all to the happy hunting ground. Why so many victims?

I guess it’s because I give my characters free rein and the killer wasn’t satisfied with just one body. . . By the way, Dana, how are you coming along with your sleuthing? Found any clues?

You planted plenty of red herrings but we’re sifting through them. I really think you have a mean streak because you planted us all in the fog. Thank goodness my daughter Kerrie arrived in time to help with the investigation. She’s a journalist, you know, and thanks to you she’s also on the killer’s list.

Which scenes were the most frightening for you, Dana?

When the killer locked us in the closet. He was planning to turn the old farmhouse into a crematorium, with us in it. It was even worse when he kidnapped Kerrie.

What about you, Sarah?

I was nearly scared to death when Dana and Kerri were lost in the fog and had to steal a police car. I didn’t know about it until later. I just knew they were missing.

Well, ladies, are you looking forward to a happy new year?

Fat chance. You’re gonna put us in a motorhome in the middle of a Rocky Mountain blizzard in the next novel, Diary of Murder. Why can’t you leave well enough alone?

Sorry, Sarah. I just can’t help myself . . . It’s time to tell everyone, “Happy New Year.”