I love Mrs Plasky. She reminded me of an amazing spunky, independent woman who I adore and miss. This was a fun way to feel like I had my friend back. I was entertained

3.5 stars

Seventy-one year old Loretta Plansky is having a pleasant retirement in Punta D'Oro, Florida. Years ago, Loretta and her husband Norm made millions of dollars with their patented 'Plansky Toaster Knife', which slices and toasts bread simultaneously. After Norm passed, Loretta moved into a pretty little condo, and though Loretta misses Norm terribly, she's enjoying her life - shopping, playing tennis, seeing her friends, etc.

Loretta is comfortable financially, and her family seems to view her as something like an ATM machine. Loretta's daughter Nina and son Jack request hundreds-of-thousands of dollars for sure-to-fail business ventures; and Loretta spends nearly $10,000 a month for her cranky, 98-year-old father's upscale retirement home.

Thus Loretta doesn't give it a second thought when she gets a middle-of-the-night phone call from her grandson Will. The line is fuzzy, but Loretta can hear Will say he needs $9,000+ to bail himself out for a DUI, and to get his car out of impound. Loretta sends the money to 'Safemo' - which Will says is the best - and which requires Loretta's banking password. Unfortunately, the call is not from Will at all. The call is from a scammer, and by the following morning Loretta finds out she's been bilked out of all her money - nearly $4,000,000.

Loretta has a meeting with bankers and FBI agents, who say they'll investigate the theft. However, the FBI cautions Loretta that these scams originate in Eastern Europe, and Loretta is unlikely to get her money back.

Loretta is no shrinking violet and she's angry. Thus, when Loretta learns the cyberthieves are in Romania, she makes her way to the American Embassy in Bucharest, and then to a Romanian town known to harbor cyberscammers. The Romanian townsfolk assume Loretta is an American tourist as she goes about her investigation. Loretta's skills - like driving a stick shift, riding a motorcycle, and befriending people - serve her well in her quest.

In the Romanian town, Loretta happens to make the acquaintance of two teenage boys, Dinu and Romeo, who - unknown to Loretta - are involved in the cyberthief scam. The boys work for Dinu's Uncle Dragomir, a thug who runs the operation, bullies the boys, and pays them a pittance.

As the story unfolds, Loretta's serendipitous discoveries lead to danger and adventure. On the upside, Loretta meets some helpful people, and gets to enjoy Romanian specialties like Țuică (plum brandy) and plum jam.

Loretta is a plucky heroine with a good sense of humor, and it's great to see her hold her own in this 'cozy thriller.'

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Petrea Burchard, who does an excellent job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Spencer Quinn, and Macmillan Audio for a copy of the book.

This was my fist novel by Spencer Quinn and it was an absolute delight. We meet widowed and retired
entrepreneur Mrs. Loretta Plansky. She is waken up in the middle of the night by a call she thinks is her grandson who is in jail and needs money. Sadly this is a phishing scam, and Mrs. Lansky is determined to get her money back.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and all of the side characters we meet in it. I listened to the advanced listener copy and the narrator Petrea Burchard was wonderful especially with all the accents she had to do. There was one small issue I had with this book, the main character is always referred to as Mrs. Plansky. This made me giggle at first, but at the end it started to annoy me. Still it a fun audiobook to listen to. 4.5 stars.

Loretta Plansky, she of a certain age, is thrown into a Romanian adventure after a late night phone call turns her world upside down. I enjoyed cheering for Mrs. Plansky as she unraveled the mystery of her missing fortune and made friends along the way.

Loretta Plansky is a widowed millionaire in her seventies struggling with aging, settling into her retirement home in Florida, and her family. She's constantly fielding requests for money from her children and grandchildren, so it was no surprise when a phone call from her grandson Will comes through in the middle of the night in desperate need of money. By the next morning Loretta had lost everything. Her lifesavings are gone, and law enforcement is not hopeful in it being recovered. Getting past her humiliation, Loretta takes matters into her own hands and follows a lead to a small village in Romania. As she embarks on a wild adventure, Loretta discovers a new outlook on life and her family.

Patrea Burchard is an Earphones award-winning audiobook narrator. Patrea has a believable Romanian accent which brings the thrilling story to life. This audio recording enhanced the experience and story.

Thanks to MacMillan Audio & NetGalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am vaguely familiar with Spencer Quinn through his dog-themed mysteries, which I have to assume are Not For Me, but I'm a sucker for a feisty old lady mystery, so I took a chance on this one.

What a delight! Mrs. Loretta Plansky is a 71 year old widow in Florida, living the life. Her kids are grown, but still need her (financial) assistance, and since she has a very healthy nest egg, she is very generous with them. Everything is swimming along nicely in her life until the night she gets a call from her grandson, Will. He's in trouble for a DUI and doesn't want his mom to know. Can grandma send him a bail payment via this really great app, Safemo?
Well, you see where this is headed, but Mrs. Plansky does not, and she is in acute turmoil when she discovers the extent of what has befallen her. Next thing you know, she's on a plane to Bucharest to discuss matters with the US Embassy there, and from thereon out it's basically a fun spy novel.

Is it believable? Kind of? It depends on how much you want to believe in the power and resourcefulness of elderly ladies. It turns out I want to believe in that a lot (as a soon-to-be elderly lady).

Even if it's not exactly realistic (Mrs. Plansky's magical effect on the males of the Romanian populace in particular, but I'm not mad about it), it's a damn good time. Petrea Burchard is a gifted voice actor, and she imbues Mrs. Plansky with lots of pluck and level headedness without making her sound too ... young.

Fun!

I enjoyed Mrs. Plansky's Revenge audiobook, written by Spencer Quinn and narrated by Petrea Burchard. The narrator was pleasant to listen to, and voices/accents were believable and easily differentiated between characters.

I have enjoyed the Chet and Bernie mysteries, and was excited to have access to an advanced copy of Mr. Quinn's new series featuring Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her 70's who has plenty of spunk. The book was a fairly typical mystery, with Loretta falling victim of a scam and seeking to recover her life's savings. There are quite a few humorous moments, particularly with Mrs. Plansky's 98-year-old father, and I liked the characters immensely. The crime itself made me very uncomfortable, as I kept wanting to warn Loretta about what was happening to her. The "revenge" unfortunately was a bit of a let down, and left me feeling a bit underwhelmed at the end.

Overall, I liked the book, found it entertaining and will be reading the next book in the series as it is released.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reader copy of the audiobook, Mrs. Plansky's Revenge. The opinions in this review are my own.

Loretta Plansky never expected to spend retirement without her husband, but here she is, 72 and a widow. Her two children don't live nearby, but keep in touch and call frequently and think of her as a bank. Loretta is also dealing with her 98-year-old ornery father. She's paying for his care in a nice nursing home were they want her father on the floor that provides some more care and she's already paying a large amount of money to them. Then she receives a call in the middle of the night. Her grandson Will is calling to bail him out of jail. He's apparently been arrested for DUI and wants his grandmother to help him. He doesn't want his mother to known so he convinces her to give him her banking info so he can get out of jail. Loretta does and is relieved when a few minutes later Will calls back thanking her and saying he's been released from jail. Loretta goes back to sleep and receives yet another phone call the next day. It's her bank telling her that her accounts were emptied overnight. That's the least of her problems. Nobody seems to want to help. Even the FBI says you'll never catch who did this. It seems as though the bank traced the scammers to another country. Trying to cut down on the money expenses, she moves her father in with her and out of the nursing home. After learning that this scam was traced to Romania, and learning the name of the town where the scammers are based, Loretta heads off and starts her own investigation to get her money back.

I found her adventures to be very interesting, and I was rooting for her every step of the way. If you want to find out what happens and you're just going to have to read the book or listen to the audiobook for yourself!

Thanks to NetGalley and McMillan Audio or the advanced copy an exchange for an honest review.

I selected this book because I love revenge books and was intrigued by this book's premise:

A 72-year-old widow is scammed for $10K by a telemarketer pretending to be her grandson.

After discovering that the scammers have depleted her entire life savings from her bank account, the widow fights back and sets out to recapture her funds.

Let the record show that I was on TEAM PLANSKY even before I started the book.

With such a brilliant premise, what went wrong?

1. I listened to the audiobook read by Petrea Burchard. The narration was good but not great.

The book unfolded from multiple POVs and would have benefited from multiple narrators.

2) Throughout the entire book, the widow was referred to as Mrs. Plansky. In the Mrs. Plansky POV chapters, the widow referred to herself in the third person as Mrs. Plansky. I found this very awkward and disconcerting.

3) The book had a very, very, very slow start.

It took the author waaay too long to set up the storyline and even when this happened, the book dragged.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Mrs Plansky's Revenge" and all opinions expressed are my own. My first book by this author. I listened to the audio book and finished in one day. I found the story and characters interesting. The story was a bit far fetched but fun as Mrs Plansky becomes a detective to find her money. The ending was a bit abrupt and I felt it could have went into more detail. This actually sort of happened to my mother-in-law. She got a phone call that she thought was from my son asking for money because of an accident or something. She didn't give any money, she called us right away to find out what happened to my son in his accident. But he wasn't in an accident.

Thank you NetGalley for this audio ARC! This book has many of my favorite things I look for in a book; however, I just lost steam. This book was dragged on for way to long that I lost interest.

This was epic fun. The Romanian setting was fun, and I appreciated the quirkiness of the plot.


Review copy provided by publisher.

A fun read with all the ingredients of a charming, cozy mystery that has a subtle wit about it, a terrific cast of characters, some with endearing character traits, others infuriating, and a fulfilling final act.

Mrs. Plansky's Revenge features a strong-willed and spirited FMC, Loretta aka Mrs. Plansky, who is newly retired and is soon set on a quest for justice.

I found this to be a great genre mix-up for my reading list and was left very satisfied with how it was written and the resolution of the story.

It seems this year is the golden age of kickass retiree-aged protagonists. Pick this up if you are a fan of The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (both excellent books as well).

This was excellent as an audiobook. Petrea Burchard is a fantastic narrator and brings each character to life. I especially appreciated how she modified Duni's, a Romanian teenager learning English, accent throughout the book as his English improved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy of this audiobook.

I'm a huge fan of Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie Mystery series, so I've been hearing about this new character he's created and couldn't wait for this book's release.

Mrs. Loretta Plansky falls victim to a unfortunately common scam among older people. She is conned into thinking her grandson is in trouble and needs money. She sends the money, which opens up an even bigger problem for her - all of her money is taken. Loretta takes it upon herself to get her money back.

Overall, this was a well-written and thought out book. I liked that the author took what's become a short news segment and gave it a life of its own. The ending seemed kind of abrupt, but I still enjoyed the book. I mostly liked the characters. The one thing that bothered me was Mrs. Plansky herself. One moment she would be a determined and fearless person and opponent, the next she would consider herself senile. She is 71 years old so it is possible that she could be having memory issues, but I just wish it would've been more consistent.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Stars. I received this charming, delightful audiobook from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio. The early copy was much appreciated, and I enjoyed the narration. It features a resourceful, fearless woman in her 70s. Loretta Plansky has had hip replacement surgery but still plays an active game of tennis. She has short periods of forgetfulness. She lives a comfortable life in Florida. She is a widow after a long and happy marriage. She retired after a successful business venture with her late husband, Norm, and still channels thoughts of her deceased husband for guidance. She is wealthy and generously provides funds when her family requests them. What could go wrong?

Late one night, she is awakened by a phone call from someone who identifies himself as her grandson, Will. He seems upset and tells her he is in jail on a DUI charge. He needs almost $10,000 for bail and to have his car released from impound. She is happy to hear from him, even if it is an emergency, and he has never acknowledged receiving her Christmas gift. Loretta has no hesitation in sending him the $10,000 requested.

The next day she receives a call from her bank manager asking why she closed her account of tens of thousands of dollars. Worse, she learns a separate and larger investment account has disappeared, and she has lost almost 4 million dollars. Ever the optimist, she tells herself the loss is due to a computer glitch that will soon be rectified. After calling Will, who denies making the call, she rationalizes that, like young people today, he might have been on drugs and has probably forgotten.

A meeting is called with the bank and investment officials and the FBI. Loretta learns she was the victim of fraud perpetrated by scammers, and it is highly unlikely that her money will ever be recovered. Now Loretta is profoundly embarrassed and shamed by her gullibility. She wants to keep it a secret from her family. Clues lead her to believe the scam likely originated in Romania, and she plans to travel there alone to recover her stolen money.

As a senior citizen, I am very concerned about phone and internet scams. They are nothing new. Years ago, my widowed mother was the victim of fraudulent phone calls. She had only her old age pension, no bank account, and lived with relatives. She refused to believe that anyone could be deceitful and always gave them her credit card number, not realizing that her card had long expired.

Loretta has an argumentive, troublesome 98-year-old father in an expensive upscale nursing home. They plan to move him into a unit that offers more care, and the cost will almost double. She no longer has the means to afford this, so she is forced to move him into her home. She sells a valuable ring to cover her daily expenses and plane fare to Romania. She does not know their culture, language, or laws. On her arrival, she visits the American Embassy and asks to see the man in charge of cybercrime. After telling her story and demanding help, she is escorted to the airport the same day with a ticket home. Instead of boarding her flight, she proceeds to a small Romanian town where she believes the scammers originated. She is oblivious to dangers, and if she gets near the scammers, she could be murdered.

She meets the young man, Dinu, and his friend, Romeo, involved in the phone scams. Dinu has received English lessons. Both are controlled and bullied by their uncle, who reaps the rewards from the illegally taken money.

Adventure, excitement, and hilarity ensue, and even romantic encounters with a reporter investigating internet fraud for a book. Will Loretta be safe? Will she recover her money? Will the young man who made the phone call be punished?

I was entertained by this heartwarming adventure/mystery and by Loretta Plansky. I would love to see more books featuring this fascinating character.