Samantha Downing in now an international best seller. However, just seven years ago, she was a hobbyist writer. Like me, she wrote books for her own enjoyment. A friend sent one of her manuscripts to a literary agent, and Voilá!
“My Lovely Wife” was published in 2019. She followed that with “He Started It” in 2020, and “For Your Own Good” in 2021. All became best sellers. When “A Twisted Love Story” was published in 2023, I hesitated before ordering it because I generally don’t like love stories. But then, I reminded myself, this one is written my Samantha Downing. I loved it. The key word in the book’s title is “twisted.” So, when it was announced that her fifth novel, “Too Old for This,” would be published in 2025, I preordered it.
I don’t know whether to call her novels “dark, psychological thrillers” or “very dark humor.” Actually, I think that both descriptions apply. Her pre-publication writing was eclectic, and it’s hard to tell whether she found this particular genre or if the genre found her. Whatever, they make a great team. Having read all five novels, I find myself scratching my head and asking, “How does she come up with these plots and these characters?”
“Too Old for This” (2025, 385 pages in hardcover) is about Lottie Jones, a 75-year-old retired serial killer who wants nothing more than a quiet life, attending the weekly Bingo sessions at her church, and gossiping with her friends. This peaceful routine is shattered when Plum Dixon arrives at her door. Initially, Lottie fears that Plum is a reporter, but the situation is worse than that. Plum wants to make a docuseries of Lottie’s previous life. Plum explains that she is interested in telling the true story of a woman who was wrongly accused of killing several people.
Lottie, previously known as Lorena Mae Lansdale, does not want her previous life to be reexamined for obvious reasons. Her past is littered with dozens, maybe hundreds, of dead bodies, and she can’t take a chance on having her life reexamined. Unfortunately, Plum’s curiosity and persistence forces Lottie to come out of retirement. Now Lottie, who is often criticized by the food monitor at church for bringing “store-bought” platters to Bingo Night, has to contend with cooking and baking as well as cleaning up blood and disposing of body parts.
Then, she has to deal with a local detective who is blackmailing her and a retired cop in her old haunts who is obsessed with getting the goods on her. And, of course, there’s digital surveillance that’s been planted in her house by the mother of one of her victims. It’s enough to make an old woman begin to feel her age.
The motion picture rights to Ms. Downing’s first book, “My Lovely Wife,” has been acquired by Nicole Kidman’s company. My hunch is that people are now bidding on rights to “Too Old for This” as well. With the right casting and direction, either could challenge the success of McFadden’s “The Housemaid.”
• • •
Jim Glynn may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.