With Mrs. Plansky's Revenge, Spencer Quinn (Of Mutts and Men; Paw and Order; A Fistful of Collars) launches a dynamic series featuring an aging heroine who becomes embroiled in an adventurous mystery.
Recent widow Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a 71-year-old tennis player, is discerning and spry. She and her husband, Norm, were a sophisticated couple who made millions with their unlikely invention of a "toaster knife," a knife that actually toasts bread while you slice it. However, their retirement didn't quite go according to plan. After Norm died, Mrs. Plansky, hip replaced, decided to downsize. She moved from their large home into a new residence, an "itty-bitty" condo on Little Pine Lake.
When tired and spent Mrs. Plansky receives a frantic, distressing phone call from someone whom she believes is her grandson--he needs $10,000 to post bail for a DUI arrest--she gives him what he asks for without question. Mrs. Plansky later learns, however, that the call was a fraud perpetrated by overseas criminals who proceeded to wipe out her entire nest egg. When the police and FBI conclude they don't have enough evidence to solve the crime, Mrs. Plansky becomes intent on taking charge and seeking justice.
Quinn's briskly plotted nail-biter takes unexpected twists and turns that are nicely balanced by Mrs. Plansky's memories of her husband. Fearless Mrs. Plansky barrels past her comfort zone, setting off to Romania, where she plunges headlong into danger. Her age never becomes a detriment. Rather, she works it to her advantage, employing great ingenuity to solve a crime that elevates her into an immensely likable, wholly appealing heroine. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines