Never Too Old to Lie

by Neal Sanders

The members of the Garden Club Gang don’t set out to get into trouble; but it seems as though they find it in the most unlikely places. Jean Sullivan is 67 and she want to get back into the dating pool. She had a loveless marriage for 42 years and, even after the death of her husband (it’s no spoiler alert to say she waited a hour to call the paramedics after she found him dead in his recliner), she was bound for a further five years by a punitive trust that kept her in near poverty. Now, though, she’s free and surprisingly well off. She ready to meet someone and, to that end, she uses a website called ‘Me&YouAfter62’ that seemed tailored the task. All it takes is an essay, which she crafts with the help of her friends. And, together, they sift through the responses. They pick out the ones that seem promising. There’s his wife left him… for another woman. And there’s his wife died of cancer last year and he’s making a new start of things in Boston, where he brought his wife for medical treatment. There are other dates that don’t go so well, but these two are the winners. “It’s raining men!” says Jean’s friend, Alice. Michael, though, is up to no good. He and his brothers travel the country, landing in the places where well-to-do widows and divorcees gather. He’s handsome, thoughtful, and a perfect gentleman. Best of all, he doesn’t want anything except to find a soul-mate after the sad loss of his long-time spouse. Michael and his three brothers have come up with the perfect con; one so good you don’t realize you’ve been taken even after the brothers have left town. In fact, you may want to keep on giving. But even the best woven tales have loose threads. The Gang figures it out and, when they do, it’s only natural they’ll come after the Miller brothers. These guys, though, won’t be taken easily. They’re resourceful, they’ve done nothing illegal, and… oh, one of them has a vicious streak. Never Too Old to Lie is the Garden Club Gang at their best. These are strong, independent women who know how to take care of themselves. Better still, they’ve accumulated some interesting friends along the way (including the resourceful insurance investigator, Samantha Ayers) who can pull strings on their behalf. Be prepared to laugh, be ready to hang on for a wild ride. This is a fun story that zigs and zags toward an unpredictable finish line.

247 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 19, 2019

About the author

Back in 2005, I helped sell the company that had been my long-time employer. When the sale was done, I had two ‘sensible’ offers that would have kept me in the corporate world. To make a long story short, neither option appealed.

There was something else I wanted to do, something that had been on my mind for a couple of decades: I wanted to see if I could write fiction.

Not the Great American Novel. Not poetry. Not some thinly disguised autobiographical cathartic work. I wanted to see if I could tell a rousing good story using believable characters people would root for. I wanted to write stories with satisfying conclusions that sprinkled enough clues about the outcome throughout the story to make a reader say, ‘why didn’t I see that coming?’ Oh, and I wanted to write stuff that people would actually go out and buy. In short, I wanted to write mysteries, suspense, and thrillers.

Since then, I’ve published 15 books. Apart from being mysteries, what they all have in common is that their central characters are strong, independent women. Some of these women solve crimes. Some commit them. But they're all memorable.

Five of my books are stand-alone titles. The others are part of two series featuring recurring characters. But if your next question is 'where do I start?', the answer is, 'anywhere'. My pet peeve about most authors is their lack of charity toward new readers; unless you've read everything else in the series, you're at sea three pages into the book. My stories are deliberately designed to stand on their own.

My books are also, well, humorous. For example, if four 'women of a certain age' are going to take a giant step outside of their comfort zone and rob the daily gate of a large New England fair (as happens in 'The Garden Club Gang'), you can count on a rash of unexpected complications.

I invite you to hop over to my website and sample the wares. You'll find the first few thousand words of each book and a handy guide to which books belong to which series.

Reviews

[Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining, hated ro see it end.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

[Dorothy MacKeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy Neal Sanders garden club mysteries and I especially enjoyed this one. It deals with a family of con men who are taking advantage of older women who are looking for companionship on-line. The ending was my favorite.