Retirement. This word brings out different reactions from different people. Some young people I know think retirement is a stepping stone to dying. Please! When visiting me at the Honey Hills Retirement Home, my daughter often says she thinks it would be nice to be retired to have an abundance of leisure time. For me, retirement hasn’t filled me with thoughts of mortality or leisure time. In fact, just the opposite has occurred.

During my stay at the Honey Hills, I’ve experienced a rebirth of my investigative instincts. The same instincts that served me well when I was the only female police officer in my hometown of Venton. Instincts that used to help me as a police officer to read people and use what I learn to solve crimes. When I married, and quit the police to raise my daughter, those instincts vanished. However, with an abundance of time that comes with retirement, those same instincts have rekindled themselves.

A day in the Honey Hills Center usually begins by joining my fellow residents for breakfast in the center’s Dining Room. Sometimes, when I’m sitting in the Dining Hall, I look around at their faces and feel envious. They chat. They laugh. They stare into thin air and ponder their thoughts. Oh, how I wish my mind were built that way. How I wish I could ignore the little details I observe in people. Instead, I find myself tethered to my instincts. My brain is always looking for curious people to focus on. The interesting things that people say and do are hard for me to ignore. In fact, I have solved so many mysteries that fellow residents have begun to seek me out to help them with their own little mysteries.

Why just the other morning over breakfast, I saw a fellow resident who once needed my help. Her name is Anita Mackley. Anita is the only resident I know who owns five diamond rings. Unlucky in love, Anita has had five different marriages…and five diamond rings to show for it. So it was quite alarming when Anita told me she suspected her rings were stolen. After considering contacting the police, and observing many suspects, I quickly deduced a more personal culprit for the theft. As I told Anita, sometimes the most likely resolution to a mystery can be right under your nose.

During the summer, gardening is another passion I enjoy. I have two plots in the backyard of my independent living home on the grounds of the Honey Hills. While I enjoy gardening my husband, Chet, likes to indulge in a good crossword puzzle. He also likes dancing and is a founding member of the Honey Hills Waltzing Club. Another activity I enjoy every week is Bridge Club. Three of my closest friends, Alma Crisp, Flo Morganstern and Rose Grumbine meet with me once a week to discuss the happenings around our retirement home. They also like to hear about my latest investigations and actually help me to solve some of them.

A friend of mine once told me that they enjoy reading mystery books about retirement homes because someone always gets murdered. I smile when I hear things like that and then remind them that if that were true, the police would shut down such a retirement home right away. What I find more interesting than a murder in a retirement home are the many little mysteries that come from human nature.

One example that comes to mind involves a very talented chef hired to cook at our retirement home. While the other residents were thrilled by his cooking, I was the only one curious enough to look into his motivation for choosing to work at a retirement home instead of a restaurant. Then there was the time we had a retirement home yard sale, and I spotted one one resident who was obsessed with tracking down a stuffed fox his wife had sold. Why would anyone care about an old stuffed fox? I had to find out.

A day at the Honey Hills can fly by for me. At the end of most days, I enjoy watching the sunset. It gives me time to reflect on my day and whatever case I am working on. I’ve often thought that there are some people who would deem a retirement home a boring place. On one level, they may be right. There are no people chasing bad guys down our halls. No police officers are firing their guns. No high-speed car chases on the grounds of my retirement home. However, there is excitement on a different level. To find it, take human nature, stir in a curious behavior and add a small dose of mystery. What you get are little mysteries that will engage the mind and the heart.

You can read more about Bess in Discreet in the Heat, the sixth book in the “Bess Bullock Retirement Home” mystery series, released March 6, 2019.

What is a home? It’s a question Bess Bullock ponders when she and her husband are temporarily moved from their home on Dogwood Lane and into the main building of the Honey Hills Retirement Center. She adjusts to her new surroundings the only way she knows how, by finding little mysteries to solve. A pickleball player whose personality seems to change with his sleeping habits. A wayward diary with passages so disturbing it has Bess questioning the nature of her fellow residents. Yet, her most challenging case centers on missing diamonds and the many suspects that she must consider in finding a culprit. With a summer heat wave lingering, will too many mysteries prove difficult for Bess? Rest assured she will do her best not to sweat over her investigations. She’ll do her best to remain Discreet in the Heat.

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Meet the author
Allen B. Boyer lives near Hershey, Pa with his wife and three children. He also lives near a retirement home that he visits with his children and his dog, Buster. If you enjoyed Gumshoe Granny Investigates, please check out Bess in her second book, Clues Over Croissants, as well as Married To Mysteries, Whispers In Winter and Suspicions at Sunset.

Visit Allen on Facebook.

All comments are welcomed.