海角大神

Ever since Miss Marple picked up her knitting needles, sleuths of a certain age have been genteelly wrangling killers while being ignored by the young folks. But 鈥淭he Thursday Murder Club鈥� has helped launch a trend of golden-age detectives not seen since Jessica Fletcher last parked her bike in Cabot Cove, Maine.

While catching killers rather than putting together jigsaw puzzles has become the hot new hobby for fictional retirees, these books are also showing people in their 70s and 80s as vibrant, brave, and clever.聽

The 鈥淭hursday Murder Club鈥� series, by Richard Osman, about a聽quartet of septuagenarian sleuths, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Oscar-winners Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley and former James Bond Pierce Brosnan have all signed in to the Coopers Chase Retirement Village to star in the movie version.

While some authors play with ageism tropes to deadly effect 鈥� see Deanna Raybourn鈥檚 鈥淜illers of a Certain Age鈥� (no really, you should read it) 鈥� others like Mr. Osman take on diagnoses like Alzheimer鈥檚 while writing fully realized characters who maintain their agency and humanity. Or, think of Walter Mosley鈥檚 masterful telling of a cantankerous 91-year-old suffering from dementia in 鈥淭he Last Days of Ptolemy Grey.鈥� With the help of an experimental drug, Ptolemy lives his last days with the vigor of a younger man and a memory to match, which helps him piece together his nephew鈥檚 murder.

Sometimes writers paint heroes grappling with mental health diagnoses, like the aforementioned memory loss, or with physical limitations. And they also amplify traits like experience, intelligence, and mental resolve 鈥� the flip side to physical decline. This offers readers new ways to view aging, experts say.

鈥淭hese are the conversations about the incredible heterogeneity of old age,鈥� says Erin Lamb, associate professor of bioethics in the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She studies and teaches about aging. Dr. Lamb says that what is important to understand is that while many people choose to ignore older people and lean into stereotypes that portray them as invisible, that isn鈥檛 true of older people鈥檚 reality.

鈥淲e grow more and more diverse as we grow older, because of our life experiences, and so all of these [stories] that begin to get to the complexity or begin to ask new questions, at least we鈥檙e treating older people like they are people,鈥� Dr. Lamb says.

In 2019, the British media forum Gransnet did a survey on ageism in fiction of more than 1,000 women over 40 years old. More than half said they felt older women in fiction had clich茅d roles, and almost half of them said that there weren鈥檛 enough books about middle-aged or older women. These same women reported that they felt insulted by tropes of older female characters being baffled by technology, especially since some 75% of those surveyed used technology to purchase the books they read. They wanted to see older women working, more active, and going places that they would like to travel. A majority of those surveyed read for enjoyment.

When feminist writer Betty Friedan wrote 鈥淭he Fountain of Age鈥� in 1993, she did a survey of images of older people that she did and didn鈥檛 see in magazines. The images she saw were invariably of age 鈥� and older people themselves 鈥� as a problem.

Ms. Friedan wrote, 鈥淥n the one hand, despite continued reports of advances in our life expectancy, there was a curious absence 鈥� in effect, a blackout 鈥� of images of people over sixty-five, especially older women, doing, or even selling, anything at all in the mass media. On the other hand, there was an increasing obsession with the problem of age and how to avoid it personally, through diet, exercise, chemical formulas, plastic surgery, moisturizing creams, psychological defenses, and outright denial 鈥� as early and as long as possible.鈥�

In Robert Thorogood鈥檚 鈥淭he Marlow Murder Club鈥� series, he turns the trope of people feebly wasting away in nursing homes on its head with a witty protagonist, Judith Potts. Judith is a 78-year-old crossword puzzle specialist who occasionally skinny-dips in the Thames. Her neighbor is murdered, and she uses her unrelenting curiosity to find his killer. She recruits a vicar鈥檚 wife and a dog walker as part of her team. The novel, which inspired a TV series coming to PBS鈥檚 鈥淢asterpiece,鈥� was followed by 鈥淒eath Comes to Marlow鈥� and 鈥淭he Queen of Poisons.鈥� Mr. Thorogood, interviewed via a video call from his home in Marlow, England, says that the next book will be out in early 2025.

鈥淲e have lots of men who solve murder mystery crimes. It would be exciting for me to have a woman lead up a murder mystery,鈥� Mr. Thorogood says of his initial thoughts during the creative process.

He envisioned something in the realm of Miss Marple. His inspiration for Judith and her gang of crime solvers? His grandma, Betty, and his great-aunts, all of whom lived colorful lives. (Although one aunt, Jess, wouldn鈥檛 let him put vegetables of the same color next to each other on his dinner plate.)

鈥淭hey were these amazing, really inspirational, bright women,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey were cleverer than their husbands, but the husbands had status and went off and had jobs and they wore suits,鈥� Mr. Thorogood continues. His answer was an older, independently wealthy, single sleuth who would outsmart the men and had no interest in ever getting married.

He took that to his publisher, and 鈥淢arlow Murders鈥� was born.聽

The process was the complete opposite for Deanna Raybourn. Her 鈥淜illers of a Certain Age鈥� transports readers to foreign countries with four 60-year-old retired assassins, whose former employer is trying to kill them. While they don鈥檛 have the physical strength of their youth, they have experience, wisdom, and a lifetime of spy craft to fall back on.

鈥淭he whole thing started with my publisher,鈥� Ms. Raybourn says in a phone interview. From high up in the company, the question was asked: Why don鈥檛 they lean into older women doing cool things?

鈥淭hey were sitting around having a chat and they said, 鈥極K, who could we get to write a book like that?鈥� And everybody at the table said my name at the same time,鈥� she laughs.

Ms. Raybourn, author of the Veronica Speedwell mysteries, agreed to write the novel on two conditions: The women needed to be assassins, and the book needed to be set in contemporary times, as opposed to a period piece. Ms. Raybourn credits publishers being hungry for more books like hers to a cultural shift brought on by everyday older people who have forced society to alter its view of them.

鈥淚 think that we鈥檙e pushing the needle because of that,鈥� Ms. Raybourn says. People take better care of themselves, which has created a new picture about older people, and that more vigorous portrait has been amplified by the media, she says.

鈥淣ow we鈥檙e saying, 鈥楲et鈥檚 not just show somebody being healthy and vibrant and active in their 60s, 70s, and 80s and beyond, let鈥檚 show a broader picture of that,鈥欌�� Ms. Raybourn says.