Nursing a Grudge

Earl Walker #1

by Chris Well

What's a grouchy old man to do when two attractive women drag him from his assisted-living apartment to join a clandestine chili party? He almost has fun--until someone ends up dead. Now Earl Walker seems to be the only person suspicious of the way the partygoer met his demise. Can he solve the puzzle--and figure out his relationship with his new lady friend--before the home is closed down by state inspectors and all the suspects move away?

Genres: Mystery, Christian, Cozy Mystery, Christian Fiction

249 pages, Paperback

First published June 18, 2010

About the author

Here's the deal: When I was in the first grade, my life goal was that I would grow up to be Batman. Because I thought it was a vocation—you know, policeman, fireman, Batman. Once my first grade teacher crushed the dreams of that little boy, I guess I decided I would do the next best thing and make up stories about Batman. And then somewhere after that I learned about things like "intellectual property" and "copyright law" and "cease and desist" and decided I would have to make up stories about my own characters.

So today, I do just that: Write stories about my own characters— whether it's a doomed hitman named Solomon Long or a grumpy old amateur sleuth named Earl Walker or an out-of-work smart alec crime reporter named Truman.

Reviews

[Kira Simion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have given a review on another site so....uhhhh....I'm sorry. I'm too lazy.

If you like mystery, you have to know a bit and some about medicine, but, overall it does have mystery and I liked it. A lot.

4.5/5

EDIT:

The characters are really likable. Earl, for example, is humorous with his attitude and I really love the fact that he doesn't let his age affect who he is as a person.

The mystery to it all was actually really really good. As I said above, you do have to know a bit about medicine but, only when they reveal how the killer killed. Not for the whole story (lol).

The plot was well paced and I couldn't find anything wrong with this book.

Read it if you want. I really liked it and I hope you will too. :)

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable & irascible main character, pleasant plot. Love this guy! Reminds me of my dad. Read others in series first and liked them, too. No graphics, gore or cussing. Will read more of series. TTS-enabled eBook.

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The back cover blurb captured my attention, and while it was an accurate description of the book, the blurb was more interesting that the book itself.

The concept was a lot of fun -- a college volunteer who takes a wheelchair-bound retiree to a secret chili dinner. The execution, however, fell a bit short. Earl gets dragged around the retirement home by Jenny, the college student. The home is full of old people on medication, yet when one of them dies in front of Earl he jumps to the conclusion that it was murder. He spends the rest of the book jumping to more conclusions, and the reader doesn't really have the chance to figure out what's going on because we don't get to see any of the clues. Earl also spends a lot of time thinking about and describing his day-to-day life, which slows down the story.

Overall, it's an okay read, but nothing I'll pick up again.

[Drasko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great characters, good plot but relatively poor execution.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nursing a Grudge
~Thorndike Press
(14)
Wonderful new series, August 27, 2012
By Ellen Rappaport (Florida)
This review is from: Nursing a Grudge (Thorndike Press Large Print Christian Mystery) (Hardcover)
Earl Walker lives in a retirement community or, in my opinion,an ALF. (an assisted living facility) It appears that the residents at Candlewick are independent and can care for themselves on a limited basis.

Earl has been living a solitairy life since his wife Barbara passed away many years ago. Earl stayed alone in his room barely conversing with anyone while watching TV from his wheelchair. Earl had been a bus driver for decades until that shot that took away his freedom to walk. Now life for Earl consisted of the four walls in his room...and that was just the way he liked it.

One day Jenny, a church girl, knocks on Earl's door. Is Jenny just another maid coming to clean up as Earl thinks she is? Jenny is in fact coming to open another door that may enable Earl to rejoin society. Rejoin a step at a time. Earl is quite hesitant at first but in a while they develop a relationship. Earl needs to know his way around the facility and Jenny wants to help Earl in anyway she can.

They begin to meet other residents and soon find Gloria Logan to be an outgoing sort of person. But Earl is not ready to open his heart to another woman. How could there ever be another woman in Earl's life after Barbara. Earl realizes that many of the residents enjoy activities together in the rec. room. Activities like parties that could throw some of the residents off their allowed food indulgences are not tolerated at Candlewick. That's where Mark Conroy comes into the picture. Conroy and other residents get together at his apartment and throw parties. Parties that can throw some of the residents way off their specific diets.
Enter George Kent. Kent is the odd ball of the community who bullies his way into any and every otherwise fun activity. There are so many of the residents that may hold a grudge against Kent for his bullying that what happens next is par for the course. Or is it?

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for lovers of cozies. Yes, it is believer specific. For me (and Earl)it opened another door that most mysteries never offer. I thank the author for this well written mystery.

[Wendy Hines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earl Walker is a grouchy old man. He drove a metro bus for years until someone put a bullet into his legs. Now, he lives alone at the Candlewick Retirement Community since his wife passed away. Earl spends his time watching TV and prefers to be alone. So, he is a bit put out when a young woman abruptly arrives at his apartment.

Jenny Hutton is a college student and a firm believe in God. She is bound and determined to help Earl and what better way then to get him out of his apartment and meet new people; make new friends. Earl really doesn't want to, but Jenny is determined to have her way.

When the two of them meet some folks in the recreation room, they are immediately invited to a secret chili party. Secret because they can't let on to the nurses what they are eating or drinking; it's against their special dietary needs. Earl takes an immediate shine to Gloria Logan, but he acts like he doesn't care for anything.

But one of the men has an attack of some sort at the party and sometime later that night, dies. Earl knows someone murdered him, but it's been listed as natural causes. After all, it is a retirement community. But Earl is determined to get to the bottom of it, and with Gloria and Jenny's help, he starts his own investigation.

Nursing a Grudge is an entertaining mystery. I really enjoyed the antics of the folks in the retirement home and I really liked the character of Earl. The mystery itself was pretty easy to figure out, but not to the characters. To watch them try and figure it out was enjoyable and at times laugh out funny. The author has a great talent and I look forward to reading more.

[Bookventures Book Club · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nursing a Grudge is a light murder mystery that in some ways pays homage to the likes of some of our favorite elderly detectives like Matlock and Murder She Wrote. It has all the right ingredients; a solid cast of characters, an unlikely setting and a great plot. However somewhere along the lines, the story lost me.

I expected more intrigue from the story but instead I found that some of the clues were too obvious to the reader and were unfortunately not taken very serious by the main character Earl. Also the story sometimes got a bit too slow for one that falls under the murder mystery category. At one point you feel like Earl is about to solve the murder and wrap up the case but soon after the rationale falls apart and Earl finds himself starting all over again. This happened at least three times throughout the entire story.

In addition, I found that the characters were forgetting facts that were already revealed to the reader and how this might have played a vital role in solving the murder. Perhaps after a while I got pretty impatient with the story since the clues and rationales all seem to be going around in circles. I would never want to disrespect the author by not completing the book. I wanted to give the book the benefit of the doubt and at least complete it to see how the story would turn out. Thankfully, the big reveal was convincing enough and lent itself to a well thought out plot.

Though I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this story, I am hoping that you might find it entertaining. If you happen to read it, then let me know your thoughts on the story.

[CC. Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Earl Walker is depressed. He sits in a nursing home, in a wheelchair, and watches TV in a nursing home facility. He is awakened from his depression by the well-meaning intentions of a college student who seems to want to jolt his from his depressive state. While attending a dinner party, Earl is witness to a death that turns into a murder investigation.

Notice how I’ve used the word ‘depress’ a couple of times. That’s because this is the feeling the book left me with. Depressed and sad. Earl and his friends in the nursing home just seem to be pitiful creatures acting out a thinly written play.

Earl and his colleague (I’ve forgotten her name which is just as well because, as a character, she was forgettable), stumble about the whole book attempting to solve the mystery. Their investigative skills involve racing down hallways in the nursing home and accusing everyone within earshot of some sort of crime, hoping that something might stick.

The clues were largely absent or glaringly obvious; the characters weren’t likable or realistic; the dialogue was stilted; the sleuthing was haphazard and amateurish. I also didn’t like the ‘religiousy’ tone the book had. I would like to say it was a Christian mystery, but apart from some vague references to a bible and a couple of scripture referrals, Earl’s tepid conversion to Christianity was confusing.

Definitely not that cozy mystery you want to dive into this summer!

[Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, an interesting read. I read this through Net Galley, so it was nice to read something on the computer - mixed things up a bit.

It was a very good story, but it had some interesting moments. I would say this story, although short in page length was very long in its building moments. I felt like it took forever for the story to get underway and then awhile for it to wrap up.

The other challenging aspect for the story was the weird random Christian inserts. Let me explain - the story would be going along and then all of the sudden the characters would be talking about praying or needing God. It was just random and I think what made it more random is that it wasn't really dealt with in the end of the story. The concepts were introduced sporatically, but weren't finished in the end.

[Jeannie and Louis Rigod · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book began slowly but managed to keep my interest. The dialog is fun when the two characters begin imagining how the person was killed, if he was. I do not know if this is going to be a stand alone mystery or perhaps, as in the cozy genre, a series. What ever is chosen, I would suggest to the Author, that he not make Seniors so addled and show that in a community of seniors, there are all types of personalities and he could form a group of pals to become their sleuth teams.

All in all a good book.

[David Lovell · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of mysteries, this is a great book. It's about a man named Earl Wlker who lives in a retirement home. Earl is pretty much a recluse until a young girl who starts vounteering at the old folks home encourages Earl to meet people. Earl's first time out lands him at a chili party where a man keels over and dies. Most people in the home think it was old age that the man died from. Earl suspects otherwise. Twists, turns and many other portions of Earl's story keep you thinking and turning pages. This is the first of three novels about Earl and I look forward to the second.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, light, read.

[Joann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A low key mystery in a retirement community...

[D.H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read! Looking forward to reading more from Chris Well.

[Sukaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a nice short murder mystery...

[Lori Inouye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lacked believability and substance.