Tuesday 22 February 2022

ROBIN MERRILL - GERTRUDE, GUMSHOE: AND THE VARDSALE VILLAIN (2017)

 


Synopsis/blurb....

A young woman is missing, and her boyfriend is desperate to find her.

Desperate enough to hire Gertrude, Gumshoe.

Thrilled to have her first real client, Gertrude gets right to work. But is she ready for a real case? Can she catch a kidnapper without getting snatched up herself?

A bit of a cozy mystery and not my usual cup of tea, but I enjoyed it upto a point and at no time were my ears ever in danger of bleeding.

Gertrude - a geriatric busybody with a walker, an improbable, implausible, unlikely investigator - looks for a missing woman with the assistance of Calvin, a near neighbour. The missing woman didn't return home after arranging a meeting to settle an online Vardsale purchase. Gertrude sets up a fake profile and starts arranging local meets to question site users and hopefully snare a kidnapper. 

Needless to say she does and after a low speed car chase and another meet, gets kidnapped herself. It all ends how you'd expect.

Unbelievable, improbable, a real stretch and more, but somewhat surprisingly I was mildly amused and entertained. It did what it was supposed to do.

3 from 5

A couple of earlier books in the series have been enjoyed on Audible before - Introducing Gertrude, Gumshoe and Gertrude, Gumshoe: Murder at Goodwill

Read - (listened to) February, 2022
Published - 2017
Page count - 104 (3 hrs 16 mins)
Source - Audible purchase
Format - Audible 

2 comments:

  1. Maybe this one didn't blow you away, Col, but I have to say, I like Gertrude as the sleuth. Sometimes it's nice when the protagonist is a 'person of a certain age;' not all of us are twenty-something... At any rate, the story does sound entertaining. Glad you found good in it.

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    Replies
    1. Margot, thanks. It shouldn't really work, the character and the plot,but somehow it does!

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