A surprising cozy mystery from this world-class novelist.

books:

	• Assisted Living Sheila Ortiz-Taylor Spinsters Ink, 2007 - 264 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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Not What I Expected

Let's face it. Sheila Ortiz Taylor writes lesbian fiction. At least that's what I thought and that's what I was expecting when I picked up this book. When I was a few chapters into the story and realized that part wasn't going to come, I was at first disappointed. However, as I continued to read I admitted the book was good regardless of the sexual orientation of its main characters.

The story is about Violet March, an elderly woman living in a retirement community who is convinced her neighbors are getting assistance as they are dying at a alarming rate. She enlists the help of friends to solve the mystery and those left living live happily ever after.

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A surprising cozy mystery from this world-class novelist.

Sheila Ortiz Taylor's mystery is a delightful novel, a cozy, a comedy-of-manners, and a new take on industry growth in the aging of Baby Boomers.

As a long-time reader of Ortiz-Taylor's fiction, I was thrilled to see in Violet March a reincarnation of the sharp and witty Aunt Vi from FAULTLINE (1982). With her purple state-of-the-art walker, which she can turn on a dime, Violet March is an intrepid sleuth. The ensemble of supporting characters includes Diana Reyes, a Chicana lesbian accountant with a suspicion that someone is cooking the books. (Violet occasional envisions Death himself as an accountant.) I particularly like the sympathetic ways Ortiz Taylor portrays the different aged inhabitants of Casa de Sueños: a musician composes in his mind an Opera on Aging. I'm fascinated by the cosmology of the grounds (modeled on either Dante's INFERNO or PARADISO, depending on your perspective). No doubt that is why people are dying to get in. and get out. Literary allusions abound but at the same time, they don't detract from the fun of this novel.

You'll enjoy this novel if you're looking for a murder mystery with a quirky heroine. Or, if you've just finished reading Ortiz Taylor's other novels, including COACHELLA, FAULTLINE, or OUTRAGEOUS, you'll be happy you reached for ASSISTED LIVING.

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Violet March, an eighty-two year old resident of Casa de los Sueños, finally has the opportunity to put years of mystery reading to practical use. One by one her comrades, the Bingos, are dying. Is this natural attrition, or is there a plot afoot?
At night, walking unsteadily behind her trusty purple walker, she explores the corridors, while behind doors left ajar the uneasy residents of assisted living do Kegal exercises, compose operas, climb mountains, re-live trips to Cozumel, and ask intriguing questions about the nature of aging and of death.

Like most detectives, Violet March does not work alone. Her immediate circle of assistants include the cosmetologist, Melanie Rae Cherrier, the mortician, Lucas Barnwell, and the accountant, Diana Reyes. But others are inevitably drawn into the solution of the crime and the celebration of the mystery.

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