Bear in Mind

by Linda B. Myers

IT TAKES A SAVVY GANG OF SENIOR SLEUTHS TO SOLVE SOME CRIMES.
Retired P.I. Bear Jacobs is a curmudgeon, but he hates injustice more than he hates being old. He has the time to help Washington State law enforcement tackle complex crimes. Bear, his case note-keeping sidekick Lily Gilbert, and the rest of his quirky gang of seniors stand tall on their canes, walkers and wheels.

In Bear in Mind, the first of the PI Bear Jacobs series, Bear and Lily hunt for a missing wife. At first they think she’s just a heart breaking bitch who abandons her hubby. But Bear soon learns that older women in the community are disappearing at an alarming rate. It appears a madman is murdering them, a la the Boston Strangler...but then men start to disappear. Are body parts being harvested? Is a local crematory burning up the evidence? It’s a dangerous and twisted trail that Bear follows toward a surprising conclusion.

Genres: Mystery

214 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2014

About the author

I won my first creative contest in the sixth grade for my Clean Up Fix Up Paint Up Week poster. After a career in advertising in Chicago, I traded in my snow boots for rain boots and moved to the Pacific Northwest. I am a coffee addict and am pushed around by my Maltese, Dotty. I write a monthly humor column for a home town paper, Sequim Gazette.

My newest novel is historical fiction set on the 1890s Oregon coast. In FOG COAST RUNAWAY, a young girl finds hardened loggers, sailors and wagtails less formidable than the family she must outrun.

LESSONS OF EVIL was my first novel and will soon be edited and updated as CREATION OF MADNESS. If I can figure out how to delete the old version I will!

FUN HOUSE CHRONICLES introduces a group of quirky characters who meet in a nursing home. It led to my mystery series about PI Bear Jacobs and gang. Yes they are old but they are smart, engaged, solve dark crimes and stand tall on their canes and walkers. I call these series cozies with bite. I am working on a fourth in the series.

In SECRETS OF THE BIG ISLAND, a cold case erupts in a tranquil Hawaiian village. This leads to chilling suspense amid hot tropical nights.

THE SLIGHTLY ALTERED HISTORY OF CASCADIA is a fantasy in which a spirit must figure out how the gods screwed up in the creation of humans and fix it. This is a funny quest, a fantasy for grown ups.

As long as you keep liking my stories, I'll keep telling them. Thanks for stopping by. Linda

Reviews

[Shari Ring Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something to look forward to

Thanks to this series I can look forward to reading the next book about the baby boomers as elders. Getting older doesn't seem so negative. This is a new genre. The book is funny, thoughtful, and the mystery part is pretty good too.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick read, great characters perfect pace. A little predictable, but enough suspense and humor to compensate. I look forward to the next in the series.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a handful of nicely made characters and a mystery for them to address, this is an enjoyable meander into sleuthing at AARP pace, with Bear’s being the detective, quad cane and all, and Lily’s being his associate, missing leg and all. Lily’s case notes really help develop her cranky, caring, independent-thinking character, a good foil for Bear, a large-size man returning to detection to help out a fellow resident of the home where he and Lily live. At a nice pace, the story unfolds of a number of relatively healthy seniors, including that fellow resident’s wife, who have disappeared. Has there been foul play? Why would someone wish to do such if there is? Bear and Lily get some help from surprising sources and antagonists from unlikely corners, too. The relationships between the residents and their caregivers and families and a romantic entanglement or two come out to one degree or another. This is one to read for the characters and pace more than for deductive crime solving, but it meets its apparent goal of good entertainment. There is an earlier Myers book with some of the same characters even though this is supposedly the first of a series. I will be reading that earlier one and look forward to “#2” which is due out soon.

[Karen B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a real surprise in that I expected it to be another Senior Cozy but this was a whole lot more than a cozy. The seniors in this book are not just seniors who knit and play scrabble but real people who think. They don't let the senior status or their infirmities get in the way of solving the mystery of why "young" senior citizens in the area are disappearing. Bear, a retired PI, makes it his business to figure out what is going on and gets the police involved. He is aided by his assistant, Lily and each of the other seniors living at Latin's Ranch are involved as well. Each senior has a physical infirmity which is why they are living at the ranch. But their brains are sharp and their courage to get involved stands out.

[Laura Cushing · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the idea of senior citizens in an retirement home being detectives. The author does really well at showing their physical limitations as a real challenge, and having the seniors cleverly work around them with their still-sharp minds.

The first part of the book dragged a little for me because I wasn't familiar with the characters- if I had read The Funhouse Chronicles first, I would've likely enjpoyed part one more. But as I got into knowing who the characters were, I really loved the book.

I am reading Funhouse Cronicles now and will be continuing on with the Bear mysteries.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of oldsters have found a comfortable retirement home including a retired PI and when the wife of one of the residents turns up missing the PI and the other residents start doing some investigating and turn up way more than one missing wife. Light and humorous this escapade of seniors makes for some easy and light reading.

[Judy A. Ptacek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bear in Mind

An interesting cozy mystery where seniors figure out what is happening to missing seniors. Bear's friends get involved and even though they have physical disabilities they are clever and are able to put the prices together and see what the missing persons have in common and take steps to solve it.

[Gar Wiggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old Timer's Joy!

As an 85 year old avid mystery reader, I especially enjoyed Ms. Myers giving us old timers credit or having brains, guts and stick to it stuff to make good things happen to good people ... and some bad things happen to those who deserved it. Right on for us old timers!

[Anita Mott]

This was an interesting story -- a group of people in assisted living trying to solve a crime. Sadly, the ebook version was missing 24 pages near the beginning. One of the ladies is keeping a diary of the events as they proceed. If you know anything about old people living in assisted living, you will enjoy this book.

[Marsha L. Butterfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Senior detectives

Plenty of oddly lovable people with character (or just characters!). Old doesn't mean worthless. These senior detectives prove they still have what it takes.

[kathleen m novotny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

Especially if you are a senior. Easy and light and pretty funny as well. I very definitely. Recommend this one