“Granny Smith Investigates” Is a Witty, Fun Mystery

Mary Smith, known to everyone around as Granny Smith, sees flashing lights in the middle of the night and looks out her window to see police at her neighbor’s house in Granny Smith Investigates by G.M. Dobbs. A resident of her village in Wales took her dog for a walk and discovered the murdered body of Edith Sullivan, Granny’s next door neighbor. The police take Edith’s husband, Stan, in for questioning and treat him as their chief, and perhaps only, suspect. But Granny is certain that Stan could never have killed his wife and determines to clear his name.

Granny decides that the best suspect is Nigel Charleton, a Londoner engaged to 50- something Sheila, who is prepared to marry for the first time. So she gets together a group of her pals and creates a surveillance team. This leads to all sorts of drama as Granny seeks out the truth. Never mind that she is 71 years old. As she quips, “71 is the new 21!”

I had a fun time listening to Granny Smith Investigate. It is a short book, less than four hours, but it has plenty of fun details to the plot and the characters. The storyline keeps the book moving, and the character of Granny Smith vtruly delights. I love the way that Chief Inspector Miskin dubs Granny “Miss Marple on steroids,” which suits her remarkably, and the title gives her plenty of notice when she solves the crime, introducing herself as such instead of her own name.

Fiona Thraille performs the audio version of this book. She does a good job of making this book interesting and seem all the more creative. I am not familiar enough with the Welsh accent, but I think she uses British accents for everything, despite the fact that the book takes place in Wales among people who have lived there for generations. However, I still appreciated her gentle narration, which serves to provide a contrast with the more dramatic material of the book.

I appreciated listening to Granny Smith Investigates, which had plenty of humor and fun in it. I enjoyed Granny’s creative methods of trying to solve the case, which led to a lot of fun. The beginning of the book dragged a little, but it sped up. I give the book four stars.

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