The Joy of Older Characters by Susan McCormick

The Joy of Older Characters

by Susan McCormick

Murder mystery protagonists come in all flavors, and my favorite is the elderly detective. While underrepresented, Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, Elly Griffiths The Postscript Murders, television’s Only Murders in the Building, and my Fog Ladies cozy murder mystery series all feature loveable, complex older characters who, along with their wrinkles, bring joy, laughter, wisdom, and poignancy.

Characters in their seventies and eighties have twice the life experience than characters in their thirties and forties. That is twice the heartache, twice the triumphs, twice the practice in deducing lies, twice the patience to sit back and listen. They offer profound insights, such as Richard Osman’s Joyce saying, “You always know when it’s your first time, don’t you? But you rarely know when it’s your final time.”

Older characters have weathered adversity, teenagers, grown children who think they know better, job loss, spouse loss. They face challenges like no other demographic and present themes galore, such as in The Fog Ladies series, with grieving and loss, what to do with your remaining years, cricked toes and poor stamina, romance when you are older, a beau with memory issues who calls you by his dead wife’s name, parenting as a grandparent, independence when your children want you to move from your apartment in the city, dealing with pets who become too much to handle, two car accidents in two weeks, and how strong female friendships hold them together.

Friendship, in fact, is the overarching theme of each of these stories, with Richard Osman’s Viktor noting “Did he really need multibillion-pound deals, when there was …a whole gang to be part of?” Elly Griffiths’ Edwin thinks, “It’s quite exhilarating, being annoyed by someone, especially a friend. It’s been a long time since he’s spent so much concentrated time with other people.” And in The Fog Ladies: Date with Death, “Suddenly the room was cheery and alive. Alma looked around. It wasn’t the streamers or the flowers or the balloons. It was these ladies. They were a party, all by themselves.” 

Older characters allow the opportunity to portray aging realistically, to create nuanced beings—not frail and forgetful, but not overly athletic and nimble either. Olivia Honeycut laments: “Darn this walker… No one else here had a walker, or even a cane… Enid Carmichael somehow managed to wear high heels. Mrs. Honeycut was the only feeble one.” 

All the Fog Ladies have their share of health issues: joint pains, hip replacements, colonoscopies, falls on the stairs. Alcohol is catching up with one, heart concerns with another. But they also have hopes and dreams. They grow and evolve, working through the anguish of widowhood or the thrill of finally standing up for oneself and stop being a mouse. “Alma Gordon sat on her soft, squishy couch and contemplated her soft, squishy existence. She wasn’t strong enough. That was her problem.” But later: “She pushed herself off it and stood up again. No. She would not get stuck in this sofa, and she would not get stuck in baseless worries. Boris would be fine. His tummy would get better. If it didn’t, she would handle it like she handled clearing the bed where Winston had died… Like she’d handle Enid Carmichael if she called sweet Boris a menace one more time.”

As amateur detectives, older characters blend in—invisible, overlooked, underestimated. “Mrs. Carmichael’s hearing was sharp. Much sharper than people gave her credit for.” They use their age, with Richard Osman’s innocent pensioners feigning feebleness and near dementia to get a preferred police constable assigned to their case. 

Playing the older characters off younger characters is always amusing. “Honestly, what is it with old people? Why do they feel that they can ask questions like this?” Harbinder wonders in The Postscript Murders. In Only Murders in the Building, texting between generations shows perfect punctuation and complete sentences up against fragments, acronyms, and no capital letters. There are worries as well, like with young doctor-in-training Sarah in The Fog Ladies. “Lying on the gurney covered in blood, without the armor of her sharp wit or her walker, Mrs. Honeycut looked ancient… Too old to be mugged. Mrs. Honeycut could have died.” The generations work together to solve the crime, with the seniors contributing as much or more to the deciphering and dénouement.

The older characters themselves are often quite funny, unconventional, blunt, offbeat. Richard Osman’s Elizabeth notes, “If murder were easy, none of us would survive Christmas.” In The Fog Ladies: Date with Death, “Enid Carmichael tapped her fingernails against her teacup. These ladies were all the same. Naïve. Gullible. Trusting. Probably came from all this tea. Too soothing, too calming. Why didn’t Alma Gordon offer coffee as well? Alma drank instant, but Enid wasn’t choosy at a time like this. Instant all around. Anything to add some zip to this group.” 

Older characters are at once relatable and intriguing, engaging and endearing. They show that young and old can work together and learn from each other. They display humor and grace in the face of catastrophe. They provide inspiration and invaluable personal experience on universal themes like love, loss, regret, self-discovery, and friendship. Most importantly, these popular mystery books and television shows give voice to the strong, wise, vital, and often overlooked older generation. I hope these venerable characters enjoy a heyday. I am doing my part with an entire gaggle of older women, and I personally want to be a Fog Lady someday.

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Susan McCormick is an award-winning writer and doctor who lives in Seattle. She writes The Fog Ladies cozy mystery series, set in an elegant apartment building in San Francisco, with spunky senior sleuths and an overtired young doctor-in-training who team up to solve life problems and murder. She also wrote Granny Can’t Remember Me, a lighthearted picture book about Alzheimer’s disease, and The Antidote, a middle grade to adult medical fantasy. She loves giant dogs, the bigger and slobberier the better. Visit her at: https://susanmccormickbooks.com/

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The Fog Ladies: Date with Death (A San Francisco Cozy Murder Mystery) 

The Fog Ladies are at it again, spunky senior sleuths and an overstressed young medical resident solving murders from their elegant apartment building in San Francisco. They join a senior dating group, and romantic intrigue soon turns to murder. Graham Parselle, lady killer extraordinaire, plunges off a cliff on a Senior Singles outing. Did one of his dates pitch him over? Or is Olivia Honeycut’s new beau to blame?
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