Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For by Leonie Swann
Leonie Swann, a pseudonym for a stellar German crime writer, with translations from the adroit Amy Bojang, first introduced quirky, elderly sleuth Agnes Sharp in 2020. According to the author, Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For concludes the series, and just as tears are often shed at weddings, many fans may whimper or mourn not having the anticipation of her further adventures.
The Origin of Agnes Sharp
Retired policewoman Agnes Sharp owns her comfortable childhood family home located in the small English village of Duck End. Not wishing to waste her final years languishing in “the living hell” of a retirement or assisted living facility yet finding the upkeep of a large house and garden cost-prohibitive, she arrived at a feasible and in many ways quite fulfilling solution. Select friends were invited to become expense-sharing housemates who retained their independent lives and gifted local gossipmongers substantial titillation. Her home was christened “Sunset Hall” by derisive villagers who imagined all sorts of untoward activities among the elderly residents. Embracing and thereby defusing the mockery, the residents commissioned a fine sign of that name for their entrance.
Life at Sunset Hall
Marginalized by a society that essentially renders the elderly invisible, the self-reliant Sunset Hill residents, nevertheless, enjoy the harmonious, self-contained community they created. They hold weekly meetings, dine together, garden, share cooking chores and employ a cleaner. There is a well-maintained stairlift to transport those with mobility issues up and down stairs. Although dismissed by the locals, they shared similar backgrounds in intelligence operations and were excellent marksmen, possessing keen powers of observation capable of solving a spate of baffling murders in the village and later while on holiday.
The residents include homeowner Agnes; wheelchair-bound but ever-observant Winston; and impeccably groomed, highly decorated, former military officer and computer-savvy Marshall, who functions as quartermaster, ordering in groceries, living essentials and restaurant meals. Bernadette is blind, astute, intuitive and secretly in a witness protection program as a result of her previous life as a police informant. Edwina is a fit, slender yoga practitioner and instructor whose occasional forgetfulness is attributed to wartime torture behind enemy lines. She tends Hettie, a large box tortoise, and Oberon, a sizeable and still growing lemon-yellow boa constrictor, acquired during their recent vacation when his exotic dancer owner was murdered. These sentient beasts whisper their thoughts to readers.
New Additions and Complications
The still lovely, glamorous, flamboyant and affluent Charlie, survivor of four husbands, and her large, hairy wolfhound Brexit were the most recent additions to the residents. On their group holiday to Cornwall, Bernadette and Jack were reunited and promptly fell in love. Jack was a skilled professional assassin for an international organized crime syndicate. Instead of eliminating her to avenge a past betrayal, he moved into Sunset Hall, newly affianced. Charlie’s recent forays into online dating and as a vlogger of the moderately successful “Charlie’s Wacky World of Wonders” have attracted some potential gentlemen callers but not without some unexpected perils.
Thanks to the installation of a replacement gas furnace, the elderly revelers returned from “the trip of a lifetime” to a cozily warm house, but there was some unfinished business. Before they left, Agnes had discovered the church verger tangled and strangled in one of the bell tower ropes but had neglected to report this item to the police and now feels obliged to solve the crime. Wedding planning is underway. It appears that fortune has smiled when the exclusive and usually fully booked Foxglove Manor had a cancellation and can now host the nuptials in two weeks! To book a catered reception complete with a champagne fountain, the facility requires a minimum of twenty guests. Since the pensioners, with the possible exception of Charlie, are all into or past their 8th decade, most of their old acquaintances have shuffled off this mortal coil. Inviting the handful of relatives remaining, their plumber, housekeeper, a private investigator and some of Charlie’s online admirers, the seven residents are able to meet the twenty-guest requirement.
Disturbingly, poison-pen letters begin to arrive along with RSVPs. Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For progresses swiftly and merrily to an unanticipated conclusion. Leonie Swann has created a world slightly askew, enriched by a cast of now-beloved characters who clearly demonstrate that despite physical limitations and infirmities, it is to your own detriment to dismiss or underestimate senior citizens. Agnes Sharp is an exceptionally fine series to read, remember and share.
About Leonie Swann:
Leonie Swann grew up near Munich and earned degrees in philosophy, communications and psychology from Munich University and the Munich School of Philosophy. Soon to be a major motion picture, her debut novel, Three Bags Full, was published in 2005 and became an instant hit, leading the German bestseller charts for months. It has since been translated into twenty-six languages and won the prestigious Glauser Prize for crime fiction in the debut category, as well as the PETA Award. She has now published seven books and lives and works in the English countryside near Cambridge.
About Amy Bojang:
Amy Bojang is a translator of German-language literature. She has an MA in Modern and Contemporary German Studies from the University of Nottingham. In 2017, she was selected by the journal New Books in German for their Emerging Translators Programme. She lives in England.
