Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime - (Miss Sharp Investigates) by Leonie Swann (Hardcover)

About the Book

Translation of: Miss Sharp macht Urlaub.

Book Synopsis

This highly anticipated follow-up to The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp finds Agnes and her octogenarian friends face-to-face with a killer after winning a trip to a beautiful hotel. Will it be an early checkout for anyone in the gang?

The year is rapidly drawing to an end, Hettie the tortoise is hibernating and Agnes, Charlie, Marshall, and the other elderly residents of Sunset Hall are going stir-crazy. They've had enough of the broken boiler, drafty bedrooms, and Christmas jingles on the radio. And to top it off, another series of murders is rocking the hamlet of Duck End. It seems like every villager and his dog is trying to make up for all of the thwarted murders of the past thirty years.

Most unpleasant! The residents of Sunset Hall don't want anything to do with the criminal activities. So when Edwina manages to sneak onto Marshall's computer and promptly wins a stay in an exclusive coastal hotel in Cornwall, the Sunset Hall crew doesn't waste any time in deciding to join her. After all, Edwina can't be left unsupervised.

But they've barely unpacked their bags when Agnes sees something unsettling: two figures in hoods walk away from the hotel along the cliffs, but only one returns. Worried she's witnessed a murder, Agnes tells the others. At first nobody really believes her--the crew has enough to do working their way through the incredible menu, exploring the hotel's wellness landscape, navigating old and new love affairs and adopting a boa constrictor. But when the hotel ends up isolated from the outside world after a storm, it becomes clear that a murderer really is on the loose--and they're trapped, just like the other guests!

Review Quotes

Praise for Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime

A New York Public Library Best Book of 2024

"A hilariously madcap adventure . . . Fans of the first book, The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, will revel in this sequel, but the book also works for newcomers to the series."
--The Washington Post

"Sleuthing British elders of varying levels of competence. A classic 'locked room' setting of a hotel isolated by bad weather. Toss in a savvy pet boa constrictor and red herrings galore and you have the setup of Leonie Swann's offbeat, often funny mystery."
--Afar Magazine

"This delightful mix of mystery, humor, and elderly shenanigans reminiscent of The Thursday Murder Club makes for a thoroughly engaging read, blending cozy mystery vibes with the unexpected shivers of a thriller."
--G.M. Malliet, Agatha Award-winning author of the Max Tudor series

"Agnes Sharp and The Trip of a Lifetime follows the elderly residents of Sunset Hall in the village of Duck End from one mystery to another. The characters may be a little kooky, but they are bright and compelling and appealing . . . Swann is a master at spinning an edgy, yet cozy, tale."
--Wendy Foster Leigh, The King's English Bookshop

"Cozy."
--Orange County Register

"Television fans may think of The White Lotus with an all-senior cast, a laugh track, and a shower of exclamation points inside and outside the dialogue.The protagonist concludes, 'If you thought about it, it really had been a very special holiday indeed.' Agreed."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Agatha Christie by way of The Golden Girls . . . The shrewdly engineered puzzle at the novel's center lodges inside a portrait of through-thick-and-thin friendship. Swann also offers rueful-humorous considerations of youthful folly (there's a withering parody of a popular blogger) and the realities of aging and mortality."
--Shelf Awareness

"Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime is a captivating frothy blend of screwball comedy combined with an English village cozy murder mystery topped off with a surprising touch of romance."
--BookTrib

"This madcap, quirky, laugh-out-loud funny, thoroughly delightful tale is as charming as it is improbable. It will especially appeal to fans of Richard Osman."
--Booklist

"Humorous . . . Recommended for fans of Richard Osman, Robert Thorogood, and Laurien Berenseon's 'Senior Sleuth' Series."
--Library Journal

"Brilliant . . . I'm hooked on these clever, capable and often cunning senior citizens."
--Book Reporter

Praise for The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp

A Washington Post Best Mystery Novel of 2023
A New York Times Editors' Choice

"The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, translated from the German by Amy Bojang, operates in its own skewed universe. Fans of the Thursday Murder Club books will find much to like here."
--Sarah Weinman, The New York Times

"Swann's mystery is different, delightful and deep."
--The Washington Post

"The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp may appear to be a cozy about some nutty old crime-solving dears with a pet tortoise, but it has pointy teeth, like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood."
--Air Mail

"A mystery like a gingerbread house, rich and warm and sweet and dark. Fans of Richard Osman's superannuated detectives, welcome to your new club; readers who fell in love with The Maid by Nita Prose, rejoice. This is a splendid, life-affirming book, funny and clever, suspenseful and touching. And like all good novels, it features a tortoise."
--A.J. Finn, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

"A deliriously clever plot with warmly drawn characters, dollops of tension and dark secrets. Brilliant!"
--Helene Tursten, bestselling author of An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

"Swann creates a world so witty and playful that readers may need to keep reminding themselves that there really is a murderer out there, or in here. An antic, moving celebration of life's final chapters."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Swann wittily conveys the infirmities of old age--memory lapses, vision impairment, hearing problems--alongside her characters' flashes of insight and pluck . . . cozy readers will gladly return to Sunset Hall for future installments."
--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Leonie Swann grew up near Munich and earned degrees in philosophy, communications, and psychology from Munich University and the Munich School of Philosophy. Her debut novel, Three Bags Full, was published in 2005 and became an instant hit, leading the German bestseller charts for months. It has since been translated into twenty-six languages and won the prestigious Glauser Prize for crime fiction in the debut category, as well as the PETA Award. She has now published six books and lives and works in the English countryside near Cambridge.

Amy Bojang is a translator of German-language literature. She has an MA in Modern and Contemporary German Studies from the University of Nottingham. In 2017, she was selected by the journal New Books in German for their Emerging Translators Programme. She lives in England.