THE BABBLING BROOK NAKED POKER CLUB SERIES
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A heart-warming and humorous cozy mystery series, with over 10,000 five-star reviews, about troubled relationships, questionable choices, art theft, an occasional murder,and other dodgy dealings in a not-so-retiring retirement community.
THE MYSTERY OF THE BEST SELLER BY KITTY JOHNSON, AUTHOR OF FIVE WINTERS
What if a celebrity decides to write a series of books with a set up and a group of characters that is really similar to one you’ve been writing about yourself for several years? And what if that celebrity’s series becomes a global success, hitting all the best-seller lists?
It’s irksome, that’s what it is!
I’m speaking about my friend Ann Warner’s Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club series, and Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books. Now Richard, who may not have been quite the celebrity he was in the UK elsewhere in the world when he first decided to pick up a pen, is a thoroughly delightful guy. (Not that I’ve met him in person, you understand, but that’s the way he comes across on TV and social media). There’s no way he would have deliberately scoured the Internet, come across Ann’s books about a group of sleuthing pensioners and thought to himself, “That’s a good idea, I’ll try that myself.” In fact, I know the inspiration for the books came from his mother living in a supported living complex. But if Richard ever does come across Ann’s books, he’ll love them and, if you like Richard’s books, you will too.
Both series have sparky characters, wit, emotion, heaps of adventures and dastardly baddies. They keep you gripped. What Richard’s books don’t have is naked poker. Just saying.
BOOK ONE
A morose parrot with a reputation for biting sums up Brookside Retirement Community for reluctant resident, Josephine Bartlett. But when Brookside turns out to be a setting for art theft, dodgy dealings, and…naked poker it becomes vastly more interesting. Josephine investigates the unusual goings on with friend and handwriting expert, Lill Fitzel. And the two befriend a young woman Josephine tries to prevent from making the same mistakes she has made.
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BOOK TWO
Josephine, Devi, and Mac’s story continues. Devi and Mac are falling in love, but a complication comes along in the form of Mac’s pregnant ex-wife. As for Josephine, with the excitement of unmasking the Brookside thief and Devi’s being shot now over, she’s finding Brookside Retirement Community (aka Babbling Brook) as dull as she initially expected it to be. Until, that is, she gets involved with a man who suspects her of being a criminal mastermind. Finding love at this late date is something Josephine never expected, and it’s her Edward Hopper painting that plays matchmaker.
BOOK THREE
Josephine Bartlett is back, joined by a colorful cast of friends: her partner in mystery-solving, Lill Fitzel, flamboyant ex-beauty queen, Myrtle Grabinowitz, former attorney/current novelist, Philippa Scott Williamson, Brookside’s thief, Edna Prisant, good friends Devi and Mac McElroy, and last, but not least, love-interest Norman Neumann.
When new resident, Lottie Watson, loses at Naked Poker, she tells a bizarre story about her husband disappearing in the LA airport. Josephine and Lill, intrigued enough to investigate, discover there are more ominous goings-on than a simple disappearance. Meanwhile, Josephine ignores the mysteries of her own heart.
BOOK FOUR
A forty-year-old art heist with repercussions in the present is the catalyst for yet another adventure for the Naked Poker Club.
Newlyweds Josephine and Norman are moving into their new home in the Brookside Retirement Community when they receive a letter containing a clue to a forty-year-old heist that netted paintings worth over one hundred million dollars. Norman, who has spent a career recovering stolen art, can’t resist the appeal of the mysterious clue which leads to another adventure for Josephine and friends.
BOOK FIVE
Maddie Scott is a mystery. To herself as well as to the Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club bunch. Josephine and Norman met Maddie after they helped Maddie’s adoptive mother, return stolen art worth over three hundred million dollars.
The return of the art generated publicity which poses a risk to Maddie from angry collectors her adoptive father scammed with fake paintings. Seeking safety, Maddie moves to Cincinnati.
There, Maddie, who knows nothing about her past, begins to unravel clues, as a mysterious man hovers in the background. The rest of the Babbling Brook bunch each contribute to Maddie’s quest in their own unique way: Myrtle with her snooping and swoops of inspiration, Lillian with a hat, Devi and Mac with friendship and a home, and Josephine and Norman with unswerving support.
BOOK SIX
It’s the holiday season, but someone is playing the Grinch at the Brookside Retirement Community. Hurtful rumors circulate about Josephine’s best friends, altering the mood from joyous to troubled. Then even more disturbing events are brought to the attention of Josephine and Lill. Once again their mystery solving skills are called upon to stop the rumors and to save their fellow residents from a pair of determined scam artists.
BOOK SEVEN
Once again, Josephine and Lill are on the lookout for a mystery, but all that presents itself is the plaster dog that has fled Brookside Retirement Community and is now flitting about the world sending postcards to its owner. But then, Josephine remembers the odd Naked Poker story told by one of the more unpleasant residents. That resident has since moved on, but that doesn’t mean the hints she may have murdered her first husband have moved on with her.
Josephine and Lill begin to investigate, but soon decide the most likely explanation for the man’s disappearance was that after a night of heavy drinking, he took a wrong turn on the way home and ended up in the