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Hannah Garvey Mystery #1
East of Peculiar
Hannah Garvey is a burned-out ad executive who chucks her career to become the resident manager of Valhalla Springs, a planned community for healthy, wealthy seniors. But when one of the members is murdered she soon discovers she's taken on far more than she bargained for -- including widower Delbert Bisbee, and IdaClare Clancy, the developer's mother. And then there is Sheriff David Hendrickson. Their relationship starts when he gives her a speeding ticket, and although he is very attracted to Hannah, he would like her to stay out of police business.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Suzann Ledbetter
25 books18 followersFifteen or twenty minutes of intense Website surfing suggests that biographical segments are usually devoted to former vocations, titles published and awards won. The latter two categories seem redundant to additional electronic buttonry labeled Book List, to homepages advertising current tomes, and mentions elsewhere of honors bestowed, humbly received and treasured in perpetuity.
As for the former, having not been gainfully employed in return for weekly paychecks since 1976, I assume a brief, intervening stint as a water-filled shoe insole salesperson doesn't rank right up there with the legions of doctors-, lawyers-, educators-, captains of industry-, or CIA operatives-turned-scribes.
Second to vocational pursuits are avocations, which for others range from gardening, needle-arts, molecular biology and NASCAR fanatacism to scuba-diving, astronomy, world travel, and running for miles absent a pack of rabid wolves snapping at one's heels.
The fiction writer in me yearns to invent hobbies of that ilk, as one would attribute to a novel's protagonist to make him or her interesting. The nonfiction side advises the truth, or an interpretation of it based on available research. My inner humorist struggles to keep a straight face.
Henry David Thoreau disparaged the unexamined life as unworthy of sustained respiration. Valid or not, I'll give it a whirl . . ..
When I'm not writing or speaking about writing, I'm either reading, or asleep. I adore my husband and most of the time, our children. Our basic 3bd./2 ba. home is shared with two greyhounds, two fat, hirsute cats and thousands of books--the majority shelved and probably having a scoliotic effect on the floor joists and foundation.
At work or during recess, I drink too much coffee, alternating with room-temperature Cokes slugged straight from the bottles. Caffeine, for me, is its own food group and when focused on what I'm writing, suffices for the chewable variety I'm too distracted or lazy to prepare. Habitual meal-skipping isn't recommended, but in theory, should be a literal lean cuisine. Alas, it is not.
Finishing a book, fiction or non-, induces a compulsion to rearrange the furniture. Or move. Why, I'll leave to mental health professionals. I suspect it seems easier to Dumpster the crap accumulated over the longish haul and transport items dear to my heart somewhere new and unsullied, than to clean what months of neglect hath wrought.
All in all, I suppose sedate is a nice term for this life as lived and breathed. From an exterior perspective, boring might be more appropos. An observer couldn't comprehend any better than I can explain what it is to ply a keyboard and metamorphose into whomever I want--real or imagined--residing wherever I so desire, in whatever era I choose. For richer, for poorer, for better, worse and downright tragic, until deadlines do us part.
If life and a livelihood get any better than that, I'm not aware of it. Nor, upon fleet examination, would I trade a minute of mine for someone else's better paid, cooler, infinitely more exciting and nutritious one.
In many respects, being a writer is a job, like any other. Except it isn't what I do. It's who I am.
As for the former, having not been gainfully employed in return for weekly paychecks since 1976, I assume a brief, intervening stint as a water-filled shoe insole salesperson doesn't rank right up there with the legions of doctors-, lawyers-, educators-, captains of industry-, or CIA operatives-turned-scribes.
Second to vocational pursuits are avocations, which for others range from gardening, needle-arts, molecular biology and NASCAR fanatacism to scuba-diving, astronomy, world travel, and running for miles absent a pack of rabid wolves snapping at one's heels.
The fiction writer in me yearns to invent hobbies of that ilk, as one would attribute to a novel's protagonist to make him or her interesting. The nonfiction side advises the truth, or an interpretation of it based on available research. My inner humorist struggles to keep a straight face.
Henry David Thoreau disparaged the unexamined life as unworthy of sustained respiration. Valid or not, I'll give it a whirl . . ..
When I'm not writing or speaking about writing, I'm either reading, or asleep. I adore my husband and most of the time, our children. Our basic 3bd./2 ba. home is shared with two greyhounds, two fat, hirsute cats and thousands of books--the majority shelved and probably having a scoliotic effect on the floor joists and foundation.
At work or during recess, I drink too much coffee, alternating with room-temperature Cokes slugged straight from the bottles. Caffeine, for me, is its own food group and when focused on what I'm writing, suffices for the chewable variety I'm too distracted or lazy to prepare. Habitual meal-skipping isn't recommended, but in theory, should be a literal lean cuisine. Alas, it is not.
Finishing a book, fiction or non-, induces a compulsion to rearrange the furniture. Or move. Why, I'll leave to mental health professionals. I suspect it seems easier to Dumpster the crap accumulated over the longish haul and transport items dear to my heart somewhere new and unsullied, than to clean what months of neglect hath wrought.
All in all, I suppose sedate is a nice term for this life as lived and breathed. From an exterior perspective, boring might be more appropos. An observer couldn't comprehend any better than I can explain what it is to ply a keyboard and metamorphose into whomever I want--real or imagined--residing wherever I so desire, in whatever era I choose. For richer, for poorer, for better, worse and downright tragic, until deadlines do us part.
If life and a livelihood get any better than that, I'm not aware of it. Nor, upon fleet examination, would I trade a minute of mine for someone else's better paid, cooler, infinitely more exciting and nutritious one.
In many respects, being a writer is a job, like any other. Except it isn't what I do. It's who I am.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
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January 16, 2016Forgive me, Lyuda, for choosing this story. :(( We both noticed the story was published in 2000 but it read like a story from the 1980s. That would not have been bad except.....
Three chapters in and I found myself suffering. Cliches, a surfeit of adjectives and too many secondary characters minimized the mystery and start-up of a romance. I had to stop reading.
Three chapters in and I found myself suffering. Cliches, a surfeit of adjectives and too many secondary characters minimized the mystery and start-up of a romance. I had to stop reading.
Read
January 16, 2016Same sentiments as in my GR friend Linda's review.
Read
August 10, 2011 Although I enjoyed reading this story, I have a mixed review for this book. While I liked the character of Hannah, I felt like I couldn't really get a good handle on who she was. I think my favorite character was David, the sheriff - I kept picturing the actor who plays Ray's brother on Everyone Loves Raymond in this "role"! - this character seemed the most realistic to me. I thought that quite a few of the characters were under-developed. Also, I thought the book seemed long and drawn out in spots and might have benefited from additional editing. Despite all these flaws, the plot, along with some minor sub-plots kept me reading and I would probably try another book by this author. :)
May 11, 2018
Burned-out ad executive Hannah accepts a job in the Ozarks as manager of a retirement community (she used to write their ad copy). She meets handsome sheriff David. She thinks she's too old for him and that he's like all the other disappointing men she's known; he realizes that he's never met a woman like her, but fears that she'll be reluctant to get involved with a cop once she knows what the job involves, just like his ex-wife. Then a retired schoolteacher is murdered, and they're thrown together as a crew of over-enthusiastic seniors decides to help find who killed their friend (and add some spice to their lives), with Hannah trailing them and trying to steer them into safer pursuits.
March 15, 2018
It wasn't bad, I wasn't convinced by the "senior" characters as ths part seems really fake. Although "romance" of the main character was not realistic at all. But it was more or less OK, although ending wasn't satisfying either.
June 29, 2023
Cute read. Hannah is leaving her advertising job and moving to Valhalla Springs to become the resident manager at a retirement community for wealthy seniors. Only a day or two into her new job and one of her residents is murdered...leaving her thinking that this really might not be the job for her. The cast of crazy characters living in the retirement village is probably worth the read, I really enjoyed them. They were all about doing whatever they could to help solve the mystery of the death. I'll probably try to get to the next book in the series eventually to see how that goes.
January 15, 2025
I never thought I would love my girl and her "old friends" so much as I love sheriff hotcakes. I didn't realize how a 2000s copy of Suzann Ledbetter's book gave me so much joy in understanding the simplicity of reading second-hand books. I absolutely love this story. The drama, the humor, the plot, and also the hot love interest. A solid 4 out of 5 since I just love the ending of the story.
May 8, 2020
It was ok, found it difficult to get into until halfway through,my mind kept drifting. Felt as though it was set in the 80s or deep in the country. It was different take on a murder story as seen from someone else’s perspective.
August 17, 2021
Another new series to me. I like it! It's about a retirement community with some very active, very feisty elders, and a few youngster with gumption too. (Young to me gets older every day.) You never know what someone else has hiding in their past. And sometimes it's none of our business.
August 12, 2023
This was an eventful mystery. Many things happening for Hannah. Young woman working in a new state with senior citizens retirement community. I would of liked more about some of the seniors that were in the book.
October 22, 2018
I truly enjoyed this story and I'm very much looking forward to reading the next in the series. The author did a lovely job handling some sticky areas that occur in cozies with grace and style.
September 15, 2022
The whole book was well done. Plot, characters. I feel I just lived at Vallaha.
July 3, 2012
Un cruce entre Los Años Dorados y Amas de Casa Desesperadas...
Hanna Garvey quiere un cambio de vida, y cuando renuncia a su trabajo en Chicago como ejecutiva en una empresa de publicidad, acepta el puesto como administradora de una comunidad para pudientes de la tercera edad llamada "Valhalla Springs" al lado de el pueblo llamado "Peculiar". Al segundo dia de llegar encuentran muerta a una de las ancianas residentes, y asi empieza la historia.
Hanna tiene constantemente de esos diálogos internos a la Brigdget Jones, dudando acerca de sus capacidades, decisiones y la diferencia de edad que tiene con el Sheriff David Hendrickson. Los residentes son todos del tipo curioso y que no se detienen por nada, con intervenciones a lo más sitcom . Me descubrí saltándome párrafos de descripciones queriendo llegar a alguna parte jugosa, pero hay bien pocas, y el asesinato en sí, pues sorry pero bostezo. Aun asi tal vez le dé una oportunidad al segundo libro aunque sea por aburrimiento de querer cambiar de género literario de vez en cuando.
Creo que la escritora queriendo hacerse la chistosa se pasa de la raya, pasando de largo el momento y abrumandonos en cambio con demasia.
Hanna Garvey quiere un cambio de vida, y cuando renuncia a su trabajo en Chicago como ejecutiva en una empresa de publicidad, acepta el puesto como administradora de una comunidad para pudientes de la tercera edad llamada "Valhalla Springs" al lado de el pueblo llamado "Peculiar". Al segundo dia de llegar encuentran muerta a una de las ancianas residentes, y asi empieza la historia.
Hanna tiene constantemente de esos diálogos internos a la Brigdget Jones, dudando acerca de sus capacidades, decisiones y la diferencia de edad que tiene con el Sheriff David Hendrickson. Los residentes son todos del tipo curioso y que no se detienen por nada, con intervenciones a lo más sitcom . Me descubrí saltándome párrafos de descripciones queriendo llegar a alguna parte jugosa, pero hay bien pocas, y el asesinato en sí, pues sorry pero bostezo. Aun asi tal vez le dé una oportunidad al segundo libro aunque sea por aburrimiento de querer cambiar de género literario de vez en cuando.
Creo que la escritora queriendo hacerse la chistosa se pasa de la raya, pasando de largo el momento y abrumandonos en cambio con demasia.
January 30, 2010
I picked this up used at a local resale store that supports various community projects. It caught my interest when I saw it was set here in the Ozarks where I live. Hannah Garvey has left here high stress job in Chicago to manage Valhalla Springs, a retirement village in the Missouri Ozarks. David Hendrickson stops her for speeding on her first day on the job. Sparks fly at first but a murder at Valhalla Springs forces them to work together. A good start to a mystery series.
June 16, 2009
Once again, I loved the dry, sarcastic sense of humor the author peppered in this book. A little more romantic rendevous couldn't hurt, though.
September 25, 2009
Modern
Read
March 1, 2010incomplete. won't finish.
April 2, 2016
11th: EAST OF PECULIAR - Suzann Ledbetter
Chosen By: Sandy
Trivia Winner - Darlene
~COVE OPINION: C, Okay story
Chosen By: Sandy
Trivia Winner - Darlene
~COVE OPINION: C, Okay story
February 17, 2017
Good, loved the romance mixed with mystery.
August 6, 2012
Hannah is a delight, the seniors are laugh-out-loud funny, and the rest of the story is pretty good too. If you like your mysteries on the lighter side, you should definitely try this book!
April 11, 2014
Enjoyed this series SO much ! :)
March 29, 2015
Murder and Mayhem but spoofy. A rather enjoyable departure from the novels that I usually read.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews