Are you a fan of older sleuths? If you like Rita Lakin’s Gladdy Gold mysteries or J.C. Eaton’s Sophie Kimball ones, you might want to try Poppy Harmon Investigates by Lee Hollis.

When Poppy Harmon’s fourth husband, Chester, dies, the retired actress is stunned to learn he left her penniless. She has no practical skills. Once, though, she did assist a private investigator turned screenwriter with some of his plot ideas. Maybe that qualifies her to be a PI?

Poppy gets her California license, and together with her best friends, Iris and Violet, she opens The Desert Flowers Detective Agency. Then they discover no one wants to hire three sixty-year-old women as PIs. But, Poppy’s daughter is dating an actor, and she asks him if they can put his face on the website. However, Matt wants to be more than the face of the agency. He becomes “Matt Flowers” detective, which only enrages Poppy’s daughter.

With Matt’s face as the face of the agency, though, business starts to boom. An aging actress hires the team to investigate when her jewelry is stolen from her house at the Palm Leaf Retirement Village. The women are sure they can handle the case, and Matt’s willing to be their front man. Then, Poppy finds the body of the actress’ old rival, a woman whose tell-all memoir promises scandal. Is The Desert Flowers Detective Agency up to finding a burglar and a killer?

Hollis (Death of a Country Fried Redneck) is actually Rick Copp, a screenwriter who uses his Hollywood knowledge of 1980s television for this slightly amusing cozy mystery. The trio of friends are likable sleuths. There’s a surprising twist that I never saw coming, and it’s really a shock in a cozy mystery.

Rick Copp’s website is www.rickcopp.com

Poppy Harmon Investigates by Lee Hollis. Kensington. ISBN 9781496713889 (hardcover), 320p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure – I received the book to review for a journal.