This book is a saga of the strange people who live together in Sunset Hall. While all those old birds are trying to keep their noses out of other people's business, someone is determined to frame them for murder. And that sets in motion the trail of events that follows them trying to solve this case.

I developed
a gradual fondness for books like these, which are more quirky and character-driven than anything else. It is shocking to see how well the author has described the challenges of old age among the characters. Reading this book was like watching back road scenes. It's not too serious, but it does offer good content and some insight into the real challenges that come with age. But even in the face of that, a good spirit and a little motivation is what it takes to keep going.
Thank you netagalley for the opportunity to read this book.

#thesunsetyearsofagnesharp, #LeonieSwanns, #mystery #womenfiction

I was expecting this one to be a lighthearted, banter-filled book, as I’d expect from a European cozy mystery. While it did deliver on whimsy, such as chapters told from the perspective of Hettie the House Tortoise, and bubbly side characters, this was much darker than I expected. It dealt with a lot of hard issues including: ageism, dealing with chronic pain, the impacts of getting older, and what it means to choose, to direct the life you want. Which was good, but maybe not exactly what I was looking for as a mood reader.

That being said, overall, I liked this one, and I would recommend this book to read who enjoy
Darker cozy mysteries
A large cast of characters
Grumpy, curmudgeonly main characters
Unreliable narrators
The Thursday Murder Club series

A note on the format: I did listen to this one on audio and very much enjoyed the narrator, Moira Quirk, especially with the distinct voice choices during scenes of dialogue. Also, this book was translated to English from its original German, and had a narrator with an English accent, so I had to keep reminding myself that this is set in Germany, not the UK.

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for this advanced listening copy. I’m not sure that I’ll continue on with the series, but I did enjoy my experience with this audiobook.

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann

Agnes Sharp and her fellow roommates live together in Agnes’s family home in a quaint English village. They are in their declining years and are helping take care of each other, not wanting to be a burden to their families or be put into some kind of retirement facility without their consent.

However, at the opening of the book they have a dead body in their shed. They are deciding how to solve this problem, when a policeman comes to their door and says that their neighbor has been murdered. They agree amongst themselves that this may be helpful to them. Maybe they can blame their neighbor’s murderer for the death of the person in their shed! But will this really work? And who murdered the neighbor?

You’ll just have to read this humorous book that includes lots of situations where these persons of maturing age and bodies forget -- well, almost everything! Reading glasses can never be found when needed, keys always seem to be hiding, and almost anything they are looking for seems to disappear. But…these old-age pensioners haven’t forgotten everything. They seem to be able to remember the things they need to know to solve this murder mystery pretty handily.

This is an intriguing, interesting, and humorous story all at the same time! The characters are fascinating, each with his/her own special quirks. And they all work together to get to the final outcome. This is a fun one!

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Leonie Swann, and RB Media for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

I only got about 12 percent through this book before deciding to DNF it. There was too much happening and it was all over the place and hard to follow. Maybe it would be better if I read it instead of listening to the audiobook.

This book was too cozy and too quirky for my taste, but I know the kind of reader I would sell it to and who would love it! I don’t love when narrators give different voices to every character and this one did that. Overall I can sell this book but I wouldn’t recommend the audio.

This book was so wonderful and funny! I really enjoyed dynamic between the housemates. Very well written!

2 ⭐

I learned something from this book; There is a thing as too much quirk. That being said, if you are starting your book in quirk overload you should try to at least keep it that way through the entire book.

I felt The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp was the beginning of one book put together with the end of another. The first part of the book doesn’t take itself too seriously but it seems by the time you get to the second part of the book you are supposed to take everything seriously. For me, it was just not a transition I could make.

Try as I might to get interested in this book I just couldn’t get there.

What would you do as you age and don't want to go to a traditional retirement home, but also can't live alone? Create your own house of interesting seniors who all used to be in some sort of police or secret service career in their pre-retired life, obviously. For real I would love to live in this house, minus the dying elderly people in your neighborhood.

I wanted to read this book 100% because it sounds like something I haven't read before. I mead muder mystery...yes I've read those. Murder mystery with an 87 year old woman and her house mates calling people in their 60s whippersnappers, trying to solve said murders? No I haven't read that. I am not going to lie, the opening of this book was super confusing. I mean you have someone biting feet. That's weird, but my favorite POVs were in fact the tortoise. I mean how often do you have scene breaks with the POV of the family pet tortoise? Brilliant! The rest of the story is pretty entertaining. We have these retired folks who banned together to keep each other company, and their lives are interrupted by everyone dying. These poor people don't necessarily have all their short term memories, and watching them try to figure out who the bad guy is is like trying to herd cats. Cute, but it can be a bit frustrating. Overall the concept is a cute one, you still have the mystery aspect an trying to follow along with the clues Agnes is finding along the way, but it is a bit muddled in her own mind. There are some more intense scenes for these characters and it is entertaining. Could a huge chunk been edited out? Yes, there was a lot in here that didn't really add much to the story and so much repetition. With that said it is worth the read mostly because it is different.

The narrator did a fantastic job embracing all the characters and bringing each of their personalities out in force. She definitely gave the story an extra touch of something special. I've only listened to one of her other books which was Etiquette and Espionage, but it has been a while.

A cozy mystery staring a group of senior citizens that would feel right at home in a Fedrick Backman?? Yes please! I removed one star for the fact that this novel started out a bit slow on the plot, but it was otherwise my ideal novel. Swann's character development is literally secondary only to Fredrick Backman's in my eyes. By the end of the novel, you truly feel like you want to move into Agnes' home along with her motley crew. Swann's characters had more nuance than is usually found in a cozy mystery and themes outside of the central mystery (such as how one deals with aging) are given great depth. Swann also has that perfect writing style that is lyrical and beautiful without feeling pretentious. I was overjoyed to see that this was the start of a series and I can't wait to get to know Agnes and her friends better!

Added bonus: I consumed this book via audio and Moira Quirk provided the best single person narration of a book I think I have ever read. I am going to actively search out other books narrated by her.

Content warnings: murder, gun violence, assisted suicide, kidnaping, endangerment of a minor, elder abuse in assisted living

This might be the first novel I've read that had chapters told from the point of view of a tortoise. Agnes Sharp and the other inhabitants of Sunset Hall are all whiling away their senior years dealing with failing eyesight, hearing, and other health problems (which are constantly at the front of conversations and inner monologues)... but Agnes and the rest end up being swept up in a murder investigation while trying to hide the truth of the death of a Sunset Hall resident.

THE SUNSET YEARS OF AGNES SHARP is quirky, the pacing gets a little clunky at times (but I wonder if that's due to it being a translation more than from Swann's writing), but overall this was an enjoyable read with a mystery that I didn't fully figure out on my own. I feel like with the right casting and some editing, this would make for an excellent mini-series.

Moira Quirk does a great job with the audiobook narration.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, RB Media, and Recorded Books in exchange for an honest review.

Books about the elderly are always good. I haven’t read one yet that I didn’t enjoy. This story follows a group of elderly people that live together in a house instead of going to a retirement home. They made a pact, the tenets at Agnes’s house, and they stick to it. When there are multiple murders, Agnes pulls on her training with the police and starts investigating herself. The only problem is she randomly loses her hearing and words don’t come out as she would like.

It was interesting to see the struggles each elderly person had to deal with and how they relied on each other. The truth about Alice I didn’t start to suspect until a little before it was revealed. The killer surprised me too!

This was well written and had plenty twist and turns.

This was a fun story that was more than just a murder mystery, but also makes you think about your ties to people.

The synopsis is: a group of seniors attempt to use a murder to cover up another, but with lots of twists and turns along the way. This living situation is what groups of friends dream of; living in a house with people you love and care about while in your elder years.

How would you cope with things as you get older? That’s a key thought I had while listening to this book. Each member in this house has such a different background and mindset that it makes you turn your thought process internally and wonder how you will cope with things as you get older (the difficulty moving, seeing, hearing and remembering).

You do get to get different points of view throughout the book, so it flowed very smoothly as you tried to pin your finger on the culprit. One of the fun bits was the perspective of the tortoise. It was very easy to picture different scenes in the story; also makes you want to eat some sweet treats while reading.

One thing to appreciate was the humor. If you can’t laugh at a situation sometimes it can be difficult to continue on; you shouldn’t always take yourself so seriously. It’s in those little shared moments that we get to hold such dear memories with us.

I can only hope that my friends and I will be as actively socially as this group when I’m older! Now just to think up a fun name we could call our lodging.

Thank you to the author, Leonie Swann, RB Media and NetGalley for the arc audiobook of The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp in exchange for my review!

A group of senior citizens work together to solve a mystery. Each of them has their secrets, and everyone is a suspect. Fans of The Thursday Murder Club will enjoy this charmingly narrated tale.

Book Title: The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp
Author: Leonie Swann
Narrator: Moira Quirk
Publisher: RB Media – Recorded Books
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: August 29, 2023
My Rating: 3.4
Pages: 363

When I read the blurb on this, my first thought was this sounds a bit like “The Thursday Murder Club” which was a series I enjoyed!

In this story we have Agnes Sharp, three women, two men, Brexit the dog, and Hettie the house tortoise living in Sunset Hall. Agnes is an ex-police office and she owns the house. ‘Sunset House’ originally was named ‘Morning Cottage’ however Sunset House seems more appropriate.

There have been a series of murders including sweet Lilith, a former resident who is actually hidden in their backyard shed.
When the grandson of Agnes goes missing our group decided they need to become sleuths and find out who is at fault. There is fear one of them could be next!

I read a few reviews on this so was aware that it might be a bit slow but Narrator Moira Quirk did a great job performing these characters so she kept me listening to the story.

Want to thank NetGalley and RB Media –High Bridge Audio for granting me this early audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for June 27, 2023.

The description of The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp sounded completely charming, if multiple murders can be considered charming, and I found most of it delightful, including Hettie, the tortoise. My quibble is that it might be a little heavy on trying to be charming while also being a little too reticent in giving you a payoff on what's happening in the mystery since most of the characters keep forgetting what's going on. When we do finally get around to the heart of the mystery, it's interesting, even if it sometimes felt like a chore getting there in spite of the great narrator. Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for the early listen in return for my honest opinion. 3.5 stars.

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp is an easy reading cosy mystery perfect if you want something a bit slow going and you can dip in and out of. I didn't feel myself being dully devoted to the plot of characters but I did enjoy this and thought it made a fun read overall especially with the quirky older characters.

I love this sweet little mystery book. It has murder and mystery and a cast of colorful characters.
The narration and the story are perfect.
I can't wait for more.

I found this really hard to get into. I spent the first half of the book not really caring about the characters.

I did find that the second half of the book was better and the ending wasn’t bad.

Rating: 3.1 leaves out of 5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 5/5
Story: 2.5/5
Writing: 5/5
Genre: Mystery
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Eh, if it is your cup of tea

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

This book reminds me a lot of the books that are mysteries and the titles have food names. It is a good old people kind of mystery though that being said I don't think these are the reads for me. It was slow paced, too slow for me, and I was finding myself bored a lot of the time.

All that being said, I really did love the different personalities of each character. I read a comment that said it could be a good movie or even a show and I agree. I think it would do better on a screen than on a page. Also the whodoneit was pretty darn good but the road to get there was long

This was a fun little murder mystery to break up my usual reading of horror and thrillers. Thank you for the ARC copy.