Granny’s Got a Gun by Harper Lin

Reviewed by Kristin

Barbara Gold looks like a sweet little widow who just relocated to the aptly named New England town of Cheerville to be near her son and grandson. She’s seventy, missing her late husband James, and bored out of her skull. The Active Readers’ Society book club provides some weekly entertainment, but Barbara’s internal monologue continually criticizes the book selections, her fellow book club members, and even the way the cake is cut and served. Barbara’s not cranky, just used to a little more action, since she is retired from the CIA.

When the book club host clears away the refreshments and promptly falls over dead in the kitchen, Barbara is the only one who sees it as foul play. After all, at their ages it’s only a matter of time before a bad heart or a stroke hits, right? But something about the foaming around the victim’s mouth….

Barbara swings into action, as quickly as she can possibly move trying to get a jump on the investigation even before the coroner can pronounce the death a homicide. With a little help from her Xbox playing teenage grandson Martin, Barbara tries to determine method and motive as the clock ticks.

I downloaded this book from Tennessee READS and listened to the audio version. It’s more of a novella at 30,000 words/3 hours of listening time, but I found it to be a delightful short interlude between some of the weightier books that I have read during this round of BPL Book Bingo. Since the story is told in Barbara’s voice, I enjoyed hearing her little asides to herself about not having this much excitement since she was in Beirut in the 80s, or in some other political hotspot taking down would-be assassins with a single shot.

And of course I couldn’t avoid hearing the lyrics in my head of the 1989 Aerosmith song, “Janie’s Got a Gun.” (It’s in your head now too, right?)

If this has piqued your interest, Harper Lin has the following titles in the Granny series, and several other series in the works as well.

1.       Granny's Got a Gun

2.      Granny Undercover

3.      Granny Strikes Back

4.      Granny Bares It All

5.      Granny Goes Hollywood

6.      Granny Gets Fancy

7.      Granny on Board

8.     Granny Goes Rogue

9.      Granny Goes Wild