Leonie SwannRecensioni

Shaun the Sheep meets Midsomer Murders. Absolutely delightful. This is told from the point of view of a flock of very clever sheep. They find their beloved shepherd murdered, and are determined to find the culprit, despite a less-than-complete understanding of humans. The book has a silly premise, but is very cleverly executed. The sheep are delightful characters, and it is fun observing humans through their eyes and understanding more than the sheep do about what they are watching.

Audiobook version. I chose this book based on recommendations I read on Good Reads. The premise sounded intersting, and I think the story has promise. I might even try again sometime with the print version. The audio version was so badly performed that I gave up after about half an hour. Perhaps the reader was attempting to emulate the bleating of sheep or something. I'm not sure, only that I was sorry I wasted one of my Audible credits on it.

A flock of sheep investigates the circumstances around the death of their shepherd.

Good book, but difficult to get into. The sheepy point-of-view doesn't give us a clear picture of what's going on, which sets up an interesting "unreliable narrator" puzzle.

Somehow I read two similar books very close together. A Thursday Murder Club book and this one, The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp. Both involve senior citizens living together solving mysteries. The Thursday Murder Club’s seniors still are “with it.” The senior citizens in The Sunset Years had a lot of maladies. It was very difficult to read about, although I feel probably realistic. Together as a group they functioned as one. Overall, the book was okay, I just prefer the Thursday Murder Club.

Agnes Sharp lives in her families home with a handful of similarly retired not far from death adults of a similar background. They cover for each other's disabilities, mostly mental lapses. The story starts with one of their number in a shed, dead from a bullet wound and no mystery at all. But another shooting death at a house within walking distance is unexplained.
This book spends time inside the clouded, sometimes confused, and frequently forgetful minds of the household members as they try to maintain control over their own lives - and deaths.½

I'm not a fan of cozy mysteries and I would not have read this one except that the description was so odd. I'm glad I took the plunge. The book is more Agatha Christie (if Dame A could be silly) than a cozy. A TV producer would say "zany!". Anyway, the important thing to understand from the beginning is that all of the persons of advanced years who live in this sprawling old house, were once cops or spies. They may not be fully compos mentis, but but they definitely have skills. And there is a tortoise.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGally.com.

It has been an eventful morning for Agnes Sharp and the other inhabitants of Sunset Hall, a house share for the old and unruly in the sleepy English countryside. Although they have had some issues (misplaced reading glasses, conflicting culinary tastes, decreasing mobility, and unruly grandsons), nothing prepares them for an unexpected visit from a police officer with some shocking news. A body has been discovered next door. Everyone puts on a long face for show, but they are secretly relieved the body in question is not the one they’re currently hiding in the shed (sorry, Lillith).

It seems the answer to their little problem with Lillith may have fallen right into their lap. All they have to do is find out who murdered their neighbor, so they can pin Lillith’s death on them, thus killing two (old) birds with one stone (cold killer).

With their plan sorted, Agnes and her geriatric gang spring into action. After all, everybody likes a good mystery. Besides, the more suspicion they can cast about, surely the less will land on them. To investigate, they will step out of their comfort zone, into the not-so-idyllic village of Duck End and tangle with sinister bakers, broken stairlifts, inept criminals, the local authorities, and their own dark secrets.

Sunset Hall is the home of some rather unusual senior citizens. When the story opens, they are wondering what do with the dead body in their shed and wondering what became of the gun. Luckily, they find a way to blame the body on another killer, and gun mysteriously reappears later in their kitchen. Yes, this is a rather quirky and twisty mystery as are the characters. Told from different points of view, it is at times a bit disjointed, especially when Hettie the lovable tortoise appears. But you have to love a group of seniors who, when confronted by a burglar, not only overpower him, but when he faints, revives him with tea and offers to help him in the future. This is my idea of a great group of seniors! There is, however, a bad apple in their midst, and that person must be eliminated. There are plenty of twists and other unusual occurrences in this rather strange tale to keep readers interested in what will happen next.

I struggled through this book. This is the 3rd series where older people are trying to solve a crime. In this one, a few people have been found dead, and the housemates of Sunset Hill, along with a tortoise, attempt to find the killer.
The group falters in many ways, kidnapping a police officer, pulling off wigs of people and accusing them of crimes, and more. One of the residents has a mental health issue, and the murderer turns out to be someone that may surprise you.
I thought it was longer than it needed to be, and I am not sure I will read more in this series.

I've discovered I have a newly found affinity for mysteries with seniors as the protagonists. Why? Maybe because I'm getting closer to that age group!

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann is one of those books.

Swann opens the book with Hettie perusing a curious set of shoes. Hettie just happens to be a tortoise! But she's one of a group of characters that populate Sunset Hall. The Hall is home to a group of seniors that live as a family. They're determined to not be sent to a institutional care home. They're a quirky bunch, all with some health issues, with memory loss being one of them. Swann alludes to their past employments, but I'll let you discover what those might be.

A body is found in their greenhouse (classic) and then another next door. There's no doubt about it - these are both murders and it's definitely too close to home! And of course, they start their own investigation. Given that memory loss is at the top of the list, we have more than one unreliable narrator.

The past and present collide many times. What's now and what's then? As a reader we don't know and the path to the final aha moment doubles back on itself more than once.

I quite enjoyed this book, the characters, the premise and the plot. I do think it could be shortened up a wee bit though.½

3.5⭐️


A group of eccentric seniors embark on a “mission” to solve the murder of an invalid senior in their neighborhood while trying to hide the death ( by gunshot) of one of their own friends. Agnes Sharp and her fellow residents of Sunset Hall have hidden their deceased friend’s body from the police but when another murder is committed in their neighborhood, Agnes and her gang are happy to mislead the police is believing that the murders were committed by the same person. How did Lilith die and why do the residents of Sunset Hall want to hide the cause of death? Who killed Agnes’ neighbor and former friend Mildred? How and why does the murder weapon suddenly appear in their home?

Agnes’ house share arrangement had raised more than a few eyebrows in her village and investigating the murder isn’t going to be easy. But neither the disdain of the village nor their own age-related ailments and challenges will prevent Agnes and her gang from pursuing the truth. In fact, Agnes and her friends have plenty of experience in the field!

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann ( translated by Amy Bojang) is a fun read. I enjoyed getting to know the residents of Sunset Hall (including Hettie the tortoise and Brexit the dog)! I liked how the author chose to portray a group of seniors who choose to live on their own terms, the challenges of aging, loneliness and the need for community and kindness in one’s senior years. The core mystery was quite well crafted. However, the narrative was a tad slow and long-winded. I also thought that the plot got a tad convoluted with so many sub-plots in the mix, which distracted me from the central plot and thus detracted from the overall reading experience.

Many thanks to Soho Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.


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Several years ago, I read Leonie Swann's Three Bags Full, and although I enjoyed it, it felt as though some undefinable thing were missing. I've had this happen before with other authors. Every once in a while, I come across a writer who comes up with ideas that delight me and grab my imagination, yet there's something lacking in the finished product. After reading The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, I feel the same way about Leonie Swann; however, in her case, my problem may lie in the fact that humor doesn't always translate well into other languages.

Agnes Sharp has gathered together an interesting group of people with various skill sets that will ultimately help them find the killer of Duck End despite their individual infirmities. (One is blind, another is in a wheelchair, Agnes won't take her meds, etc.) She did this so that they could all be independent yet not die alone, which is an admirable aim indeed.

They find themselves in all sorts of predicaments, including babysitting a grandson, and Agnes herself goes undercover in a nursing home. I think my favorite part of the book was when one of them drugged and locked a police officer in the cellar. I didn't expect that to be so amusing, but it was.

But as the story unfolded, I began to wonder just how reliable Agnes was as a narrator, especially since she refused to take some very important medication. In addition, the story had so many twists and turns that I began to get confused. As I sorted everything out, I began to visualize a tapestry with many loose, tangled, and knotted threads, and that's a reading experience I don't enjoy.

Leonie Swann's The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp has a surprising cast of lively old hippies... and a tortoise named Hettie who likes hands bearing lettuce. I may not want to sit down to tea with them, but I do admire their persistence and inventiveness.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)

The seniors who live in Sunset Hall, in Duck's End, struggle quite a bit more with physical and mental limitations than others in similar novels. While sometimes their mental confusion got me lost while reading, I admired the dose of realism.

The novel is translated from German into English, and may have lost something in translation. I did have an easier time reading the last third of the book.

The quirky cast of characters are Hettie the tortoise, Agnes Sharp herself, Edwina, Bernadette, Winston, Marshall, Charlie, and Brexit (the dog). Charlie and Brexit move into Sunset Hall and upset the apple cart in a very Barbara Pym-esque manner. Straight humor and dark humor are plentiful as the story is told from different viewpoints (including Hettie's)! Agnes in particular tends to stumble into dangerous situations, considering she can't even climb the stairs.

Agnes is the owner of Sunset Hall and she does not want dogs in the house, or grandchildren. However, the appearance of Charlie with her dog Brexit, and the later appearance of Marshall's food-adoring grandson, cause minor upheaval compared with not one, but two murders of women of a certain age in this peaceful English town. It will fall to Agnes, with the help of the inhabitants of Sunset Hall, to solve the murders. The twists at the end are surprising and satisfying.

elderly, ex-spy, ex-military, local-law-enforcement, care-home, pet-dog, pet-tortoise, murder, murder-investigation, burglar, situational-humor, verbal-humor, cosy-mystery, twins, ex-cop*****

This is a terrific fun read for a retired nurse who once spent several years working in care homes/centers.
The tortoise, the wolfhound, and a houseful of old dears. And a murder or two. They're not so much dotty as having blinks in their memory to match their physical failings. Some are former secret service and even an ex-copper, but they are much more fun than most can expect. Absolutely loved it!
Thanks to Amy Bojang for translating from the original.
I requested and received a free temporary audio copy from RB Media/Recorded Books via NetGalley! Voice artist Moira Quirk added many good things to the fun and entertainment.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. I nearly put it down early on - the twee treatment of a tortoise as part of an eccentric chosen family as well as the sheer implausibility of much of the action put me off, but I was intrigued by the challenge of crime solving when old and infirm, and the idea of co-living among elderly folks who don't want to life past their ability to see themselves as fully themselves was rather nicely complicated by characters realizing they weren't sure when that moment might come. In the end, I found myself enjoying it, for the most part, but it was something of an uneven ride.

Also - a very minor irritant! The constant uses of exclamation points! It was too much!!

Acompañadas de Rebecca, la hija del pastor George Glenn, las ovejas abandonan las verdes praderas de Irlanda y viajan al continente. Una vez allí, se instalan al abrigo de un remoto castillo francés, a primera vista un paraje ideal. Sin embargo, no tardan en percatarse de que algo extraño flota en el ambiente. Las cabras del prado contiguo parecen locas de remate y arman un jaleo tremendo. Entonces, una pequeña oveja negra surge de repente y alerta al rebaño de un misterioso peligro. Cae la nieve, su grueso manto lo cubre todo y un murmullo cada vez más persistente se extiende por todo el paraje: «¡Un hombre con piel de lobo! ¡Un hombre lobo!» El peligro se hace patente con el descubrimiento de un cadáver en los límites del bosque, y las ovejas, capitaneadas por la intrépida Miss Maple, se adentran en la oscuridad de la floresta en busca de las pistas que todo asesino deja tras de sí.

En una colina cercana a la apacible y pintoresca aldea de Glennkill, un rebaño de ovejas rodea el cadáver de un hombre. Se trata de su pastor, George Glenn, que ha amanecido muerto en la hierba con una pala atravesándole el pecho. ¿Quién puede haberlo asesinado? ¿Y por qué? De inmediato, las rumiantes se reúnen y, una vez acordada la conveniencia de investigar, se ponen en marcha. Por fortuna para el lector, el pastor las ha dejado inusualmente preparadas, ya que su impulso indagador deriva de la costumbre de George de leerles un rato todas las noches: algunos cuentos de hadas, muchas novelas románticas y algún tratado de enfermedades del ganado lanar, e incluso parte de una novela policíaca. Aunque pronto quedará claro que no van a faltar sospechosos, descubrir al asesino no será tarea fácil, por lo que Miss Maple y sus espabiladas compañeras deberán hacer gala de la antigua sabiduría ovina, de sus afilados poderes de observación y de lo que aprendieron de los libros si quieren descifrar con éxito las enigmáticas claves del comportamiento de los humanos, esos seres extraños…

The herd's shepherd is murdered and the flock take it upon themselves to solve the crime. Charming, funny, and really interesting to see a sheep's-eye-view of the world.½

A shepherd gets shanked with a shovel one night in his flock's pasture and his sheep decide to solve the mystery of who their keeper's murderer is. The flawed narrative is from the flock's point of view as they bumble through the strange events after the murder, trying to suss out what the clues all mean.

I have had this book on my list for literally *years* and I was so excited finally to read it. I wanted to - and expected to - love it. I...did not. I didn't like any of the characters, human or ovine, and the schtick of the sheep misunderstanding pretty much everything that happened all while having an accidental deep understanding of human nature, which I suspect was meant to be an absolutely clever delight to the reader throughout, was fun for the first maybe five pages and then got super old super quickly.

I tried to read this book because it was recommended to me, but every time I picked it up, it put me to sleep. The characters are sweet sheep, trying to solve the murder. Their sheep innocence was sweet, but the story dragged.

It wasn't as charming as I expected it to be.

It's difficult to describe this uniquely inventive yet charming book. I expected a mystery typical of many cozies that are "solved" by cats but I was far off target. Instead, the mystery of the shepherd's unexpected death and the investigation by his flock, is mere background for the allegorical nature of the book. Who would have imagined a flock of sheep could have such well-developed individual characters while continuing to behave exactly like sheep? Swann introduced a number of dark topics but all the while maintained the innocence of the flock who remain sheeply in all respects. It's more light-hearted than funny, and although it has melancholy moments, more contemplative than sad. Swann has introduced me to new friends and I sincerely hope there will be future meetings.

In einem College in Cambridge stürzt ein Student vom Dach. Selbstmord oder Mord? Sein Tutor bekommt seinen Papagei zugeteilt, ein überaus kluges Tier, mit dem der Student Versuchsreihen geführt hat und das unaufhaltsam plappert. Nur Unfug oder ist etwas dahinter?
Ein Krimi ganz ohne Polizei, allein Dr Augustus Huff stellt Fragen. Er ist selbst ein schräger Vogel, der eine Zwangsstörung hat und durch den Papagei genötigt wird, seine Komfortzone zu verlassen.

flock of Irish sheep attempt to solve murder of their shepherd, turns out to be suicide despite drug ties

First off, this is probably the coziest cozy written--I mean a mystery about sheep! And it's clever without becoming too much of a gimmick. But for me, the mystery end of it was not particularly interesting--a type of book you could open at random and enjoy reading the sheeps' ruminations (sorry). Swann knows her sheep (I've been wanting to write that for a while now!)