I’m trying the Alphabet Challenge of mystery writers on the 4-Mystery Addicts Reading Group again this year.  I’ve done pretty well with only 2 months gone, but I thought I’d get an “X” author I found stashed for the letter “X” stashed. Besides,  I sometimes enjoy rather gentle mysteries about seniors.  

Aunt Bessie Assumes
By Diana Xarissa (2014)
Read by Rosalind Ashford 7h 47m
Rating: B / cozy
(1st in Isle of Man series)

Aunt Bessie assumes that she’ll have the beach all to herself on a cold, wet, and windy March morning just after sunrise, then she stumbles (almost literally) over a dead body. 

From the publisher via Audible: 

“Elizabeth (Bessie) Cubbon, aged somewhere between free bus pass (60) and telegram from the Queen (100), has lived her entire adult life in a small cottage on Laxey Beach. For most of those years, she’s been in the habit of taking a brisk morning walk along the beach. Dead men have never been part of the scenery before. Aunt Bessie assumes that the dead man died of natural causes, then the police find the knife in his chest. Try as she might, Bessie just can’t find anything to like about the young widow that she provides tea and sympathy to in the immediate aftermath of finding the body. There isn’t much to like about the rest of the victim’s family either.

“Aunt Bessie assumes that the police will have the case wrapped up in no time at all, then she finds a second body. Can Bessie and her friends find the killer before she ends up as the next victim?” 

I guess this book was pretty fun after I got used to it.  The protagonist is an elderly woman who really resents anyone calling her “older” but enjoys sleuthing – “like Miss Marple.” Her friends are of varying ages and enjoy getting together to drink tea, eat biscuits and analyze the situation to make plans which almost get to the level of thriller.  The Isle itself is nondescript but it’s a small touristy community in the off season.