I enjoyed this cozy and I voluntarily chose to review it. I've given it a 4.5* rating. This pretty much pulled me in at the first. I like this author's style of writing. We older people tend to say what's on our minds, only some try to be nice about it. Sometimes it just comes out wrong however way you say it. And some of us, who grew up with younger but bigger brothers, tend to be outspoken more. Jane tries to be nice about it but the questions keep coming. She just keeps going, trying to find the truth. How often will she get more than she bargained for? Follow her along and read for yourself. ( )

Nice start to a new series. Good to read about a woman of a certain age, living a real life, and not a caricature. Jane retired a year ago and she’s done everything on her bucket list and now she’s bored, wondering if this is it for excitement in her life. Well, turns out that Jane has always liked to poke her into the business of others and help them, and she’s been pretty successful at it. So when an opportunity presents itself for her to do this as a real job, maybe a new career, she accepts the challenge.

Jane temporarily moves into a retirement community – undercover, or at least for a while - to try and figure what’s causing all the difficulties. It feels like going back to high school with the cliques, popular kids, jocks . . . or maybe middle school judging by some of the residents’ antics. But it turns out to be more than immature behavior and antics when someone is murdered.

Throw in some romance, family issues, danger, humor, and lots and lots of secrets and twists and turns and what you end up with is a very entertaining mystery with a full cast of characters and a good start to a fun, new series. Thanks to author Barbara Ross for providing an audiobook copy of Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody for my listening pleasure. All opinions are my own. ( )

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody by Barbara Ross
Book #1: Jane Darrowfield Series
Source: NetGalley and Kensington Books
Rating: 4/5 stars

Jane Darrowfield has a gift, or maybe it’s a curse, perspective matters! If you need someone to know the unvarnished, cold, hard truth, ask Jane. Jane doesn’t shy away from the truth and no matter how awkward the situation, Jane faces it head-on and without fear. Make no mistake, Jane isn’t cruel or unkind, she’s just brutally honest and her friends have come to appreciate and rely on Jane for her skills.

With many years of retirement looming, Jane has recently discovered that her skills can be useful on a wider scale. Though she’s never considered herself to be a professional busybody, an opportunity has presented itself that will allow Jane to put both her sleuthing and unvarnished truth skills to the test. The administrator of a local senior living village has contacted Jane about a “little” problem he needs her particular kind of help with. It seems the seniors have formed cliques and there is unrest in the village. Jane’s job will be to suss out the problem and advise the administrator on his best course of action for all involved.

Senior living cliques?? Really?? 😊

So as not to blow her cover, Jane temporarily moves into the village under the guise of a prospective buyer. It doesn’t Jane long to see the clear divide among the seniors and what needs to be done. The biker gang needs to start sharing the game room and the cool kids need to start sharing the gold course. As Jane reports her findings, she expects to move back home and be done with the whole dumb mess, but before she can pack her bags, the local lothario is found dead on the golf course and Jane is asked to stay on.

Murder is so far out of Jane’s depth, but busybidying isn’t and she determines to stay on as asked and find the killer. What harm can asking a few questions do, right? As it turns out, most people don’t care for pointed and/or seemingly prying questions because most people have something in their past, they aren’t all that proud of revealing. Jane is nothing if not persistent and as she continues to poke and prod, people begin to open up to her. What Jane discovers is far beyond her wildest imaginings and far more dangerous than she ever could have anticipated. Her new beau wants her to drop the whole thing and move home, but Jane isn’t about to be benched when she is so close to undercovering the truth.

The Bottom Line: What a fun ride this first-in-a-series book turned out to be! Jane is plucky and bright and more than willing to help correct a situation. Her forthright nature makes her perfect for professional busybodying and though the process can be painful, it is also useful and honest. Jane doesn’t see any reason for subterfuge or dishonesty and though some don’t always appreciate her efforts they are generally grateful for them, in the end. By the time Jane is done with the senior village, she’s seen two unexpected couples ride off into the sunset, two large cliques broken up, big secrets revealed, and murder solved. Not too shabby for a professional busybody 😊 ( )

A bit at loose ends since taking an early retirement, Jane Darrowfield has taken to fixing small problems friends have. To her it is just a hobby but when she is offered a job fixing some issues at Walden Springs, a life care community for adults fifty-five plus, she agrees to take it. She soon thinks she has discovered the problem but when a murder occurs there she begins to realize that she has barely scratched the surface of the issues at Walden Springs.

“Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody” is a wonderfully done cozy mystery. Truthfully, I was intrigued by this book because it is set in West Cambridge, Massachusetts – an area I know well – and author Barbara Ross nailed the setting. I could picture many of the locations she mentioned as I was reading the book. The second thing that intrigued me about the book is that the main character is “older” and the mystery is set in a fifty-five plus community. When I first started reading the book I thought it was going to be on the light side (especially after Jane’s visit to the cafeteria) but it quickly developed into a complex mystery. Many of the characters were not quite what they seemed and I loved reading as Ross pulled back the layers of various characters. Just like the characters, the mystery is multi-layered with many twists and turn through to the very end. All in all, well done! ( )

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody by Barbara Ross is the debut of A Jane Darrowfield Mystery series. Jane Darrowfield is retired from the telephone company and her only son lives on the west coast. After organizing her house and traveling, Jane is at loose ends. Playing bridge with her three friends does not take up all her time. Jane has discovered that she is good at solving problems and word has spread within the town. Now Jane has a paid assignment. She needs to uncover why the various cliques at an over 55 community are at odds with one another. Things go well until one of the ring leaders turns up dead. Jane Darrowfield is a spirited main character. She is smart, notices details, and likes to be active. I like that she is an older protagonist. Jane has her three friends (Helen, Phyllis, and Irma) with whom she plays bridge regularly. Phyllis enlists Jane’s help in weeding through the men interested in dating her since her own judgement is not to be trusted. Phyllis has created profiles for the two of them on a dating site and arranged coffee dates for Jane with the top matches. I found the dates to be entertaining. I just loved the baristas reactions. I thought Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody contained good writing, it was just the right length, and it had a steady pace. The mystery was interesting with a variety of suspects. Jane questioned people, followed leads, and searched for clues. It was fun solving this clever whodunit. I look forward to the next A Jane Darrowfield Mystery. Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody is charming cozy mystery with a gone golfer, suspicious suspects, surprising secrets, a crafty killer, and a smart senior sleuth. ( )