Who's Killing All My Old Girlfriends? (Old Guys Murder Mystery, #1) by Jon Spoelstra

Who's Killing All My Old Girlfriends? (Old Guys Murder Mystery, #1) Reviews

• 
  Sara Vee

  This definitely had legs to be a great story, but it felt redundant and rushed. Inalso didn't think the main character was particularly likable.
• 
  Donald Harwick

  Couldn’t put it down
  
  Great read! We seemed to be running in place a bit at the beginning, but when Charlie started “chasing windmills “, IT MOVED!!
  
  I could really identify with Charlie. Old in body, but young in heart. You sense that a lot of what is written comes from personal experience. (The aging experience.)
  
  I loved Tuck and Mack. My daughter is LAPD and they sound like every partner she has.
  
  The only knock against is the climax. It came off as a lampoon or caricature of the noir detective genre. Do you remember the phrase, “It was so bad it was good!”? This was so absurd, if my wife didn’t appear asleep I would have guffawed! AND I LOVED IT!
  
  How much did I enjoy it? In addition to the fact I couldn’t put it down, I am going to download the second one as soon as I push “SUBMIT”.
  
• 
  Steve

  Journalist turned blogger Charlie North decides to look up old girlfriends after a long, happy marriage, a way of wondering how fate had been to him, and reporting his results in his blog.
  
  The first does NOT go well and things get ugly with two others. With Spoelstra sprinkling in quotes and jokes, Charlie investigates what’s going on, to his own peril but with good help. It’s worth reading and following Charlie as he does.
  
• 
  Douglas Dean

  I normally rate books I take the time to read as 4 unless it is a life changing book. But in this there were situations that should have been written better. When Abel accosted Charlie in the Hotel: Abel said his Mom (Rhonda) showed him the article, but by that time she was already dead. Then there were references by Miller and Wolfe that Janine knew who the other 2 girlfriends were but she was not the last one in line of girlfriends, Rhonda was so how did she know who the other 2 were. They also got knew how Rhonda was murdered, besides that fact that even Charlie had to use a PI to find her with her new married name, how did they know she was murdered and how it happened? Then they followed Charlie to kill Yolanda, how did they know who Yolanda was?
  Then the line of people getting shot after they tell their stories, just a bit much. I get that Tuck, Mack and Fulks were golfing, but where was Reggie as she was just down a few houses when this parade seemed to go on forever?
  They took the time to wire up the house with cameras and push everything to the cloud, but when it came to proving the stories of the killers to the police there was no reference to using that as evidence. This was far fetched that the police would just take the word of a guy who just up and disappeared for a week instead of answering some questions.
  Except for these blemishes it was a good story, but these blemishes really soured me on the book as a whole. Hopefully he got a better editor that would catch this going forward.
• 
  Eric Woods

  Mediocre Mystery
  
  The first in the “Old Guys Murder Mystery” series, this book tells of an elderly journalist who is writing a blog about his ex-girlfriends. But after he visits each one, they are murdered. While he is a person of interest after the first one, things get hairy for the guy when the others are murdered, and he has to go into business for himself to solve each one. This book has equal parts good, bad, and ugly. THE GOOD - most of the funny anecdotes at the beginning of each chapter were good for a laugh. The plot itself is intriguing and makes you want to keep going to ultimately uncover the mystery. And there’s a dog (named Beach). That always makes a book better. THE BAD - too many over-the-top grumpy old guy stereotypes the main character espouses. Plus, there’s a lot of telling instead of showing. THE UGLY - the subtle and blatant political commentary (overstating his hatred of political correctness, how he regularly watches FOX “News,” and acting like “defund the police” was a real thing). The naivety and hot button political rants aside, the story was still fun to follow, as there was no one true suspect who would have followed the man to all of his ex-girlfriends’ cities and then kill them. Each murder had different suspects and motives. The big reveal, however, was meh at best. But it was an easy read if nothing else.
• 
  Joyce

  328 pages
  
  4 stars
  
  This is a fun book to read. No swearing, sex or violence. (Only allusions to it.)
  
  This older fella writes a blog, but it is also shown on YouTube. He writes about ordinary, everyday things. It is wildly popular.
  
  Mr. Spoelstra writes a funny little intro for each chapter.
  
  He gets an idea to revisit his old girlfriends - before he became happily married. He and a friend track down each of the three women. He flies to wherever they are living. He tells the story of the meeting; what is said and what then happens. These stories are humorous as well.
  
  When someone starts to murder his old girlfriends, the police assume that he is the murderer. He sets out to find the real killer. He hires a private detective. Whatever they uncover, he reports in his blog. It all goes viral.
  
  The murderer and the police don’t appreciate this.
  
  The writing and plotting of this novel is well done. It reads linearly and quickly.
  
  I would recommend this book to anyone who likes “clean” mysteries, cozy mysteries or just to have a good laugh.
• 
  M. Sprouse

  You're older and someone is killing your old girlfriends. What a great idea for a book. It's also witty and doesn't take itself too seriously. This is my second Jon Spoelstra novel, the first being "Red Scare". Both definitely worth reading. I'd tell you what this one is about, but I think the title says it all.
  
  There's a lot to like here, it's funny, has some neat old guys and at least one hot semi-young woman, not to mention my favorite character, Beach, the beach dog. The blog idea helps give structure and purpose to the plot. Charlie North reminds me of some of my older friends, except for the vegan part. Vegan's aren't allowed to live in West Virginia, just visit, even if that visit is for years.
  
  I hope that Jon Spoelstra can come up with some new twist that will sustain this series. I plan on reading the next one, but if it's exactly like this one ... Anyway if you're over 59 you'll want to read this book.
• 
  beth

  *I did win this book in a Goodreads giveaway*
  
  This was an interesting book. I really liked the plot and the scene where you find out who’s killed everyone.
  
  I didn’t really like Charlie as a character. I just don’t understand how he had the money to do all that he did. He was flying places, staying in motels, hiring 4 people to investigate. I know he wanted to fix his roof or something and he had money from that, but I feel like paying someone like $2k a day adds up? And I also didn’t really like Bert Cain showing up at the end because there was like no point of him and Tinsel being lovers. I guess it was a way to make Reggie leave the scene. Also what happened to the letter that Alex sent to jimmy? Like I assume they were able to stop it in time but I feel like it was glazed over.
• 
  Andrea

  At first I rated this three stars. I increased it to four just because of the jokes in the beginning of each chapter. It was fun reading about a man and his friends doing the sleuthing.
  
  If you like tidy, nicely tied-up, believable mysteries, this one is not for you. But if you need something fun to read that won't require too much brain power, I recommend this. I liked it enough to start reading the lead-in to #2 at the end of this one, and now I think I'm hooked on the series.
  
  I'm not sure it can be defined as a cozy mystery because there is some violence, but nothing that made me not want to read it at bedtime.
• 
  Janice Gard

  I actually read this book several months ago and have read quite a few since so the details are not too clear. However I did enjoy it. Charlie North and his friend Ben Tucker are two likeable old guys who play golf most days and generally enjoy retirement. But sometimes they get involved in investigating murder, especially when Charlie is a suspect in the killings of three women from his past. The police think he's the killer so they aren't looking too hard for other possibilities. It's up to Charlie and Ben to find the truth. The story is told with both humor and serious notes. I went on to read several more in the series.
• 
  Anna

  Charlie North, a retired columnist and current blogger, decides to play the "what if" game in looking back at his former girl friends. What if he had married one of them instead of his wonderful life? This impromptu look into the past somehow results in all three of the ladies in question gettin murdered and Charlie being the prime suspect. The mystery plays out with Charlie getting assistance from his buddies and utilizing their network of friends and former co-workers. Charlie begins his own investigation - otherwise he's going to prison for a very long time. The story leaves you guessing all along the way and we had fun trying to determine who the killer was. I highly recommend "Who's Killing All My Old Girlfriends." It does make me think that leaving the past in the past may be the best idea yet!
• 
  Elizabeth Reyes

  First and foremost, I love old men. Respect your elders and whatnot. I also love a good mystery so this is right up my alley. Old guy’s wife dies (RIP) and he goes on a journey to see what his exes are doing now or what his life would be like if he chose them instead of her and he writes about it in a blog series. Shortly after they each wind up dead. The basis was pretty solid. Back that up with elderly humor and I’m all in. I felt like the ending was a bit over the top but hey, why not. I’ll definitely read the rest of this series.
• 
  Debbie

  Rounded up from 2.5. This is a funny, light murder mystery but the lack of editing made it much less enjoyable than it could have been. There were so many instances where it was obvious the author had gone back to change a sentence and didn't completely delete the original section of the sentence they were editing. That kind of thing is so distracting to me that it really ruins the experience of reading.
• 
  Melissa

  Humorous
  
  I entered this when it was a Goodreads giveaway offering, but didn't win it at the time so I was happy to see it as a free Amazon e-book. It was funny...and not only the way in which it was written. The author also included amusing lines and jokes at the beginning of each chapter. It did have some spelling errors and missing words here and there. It was also politically incorrect at times. Still it made me laugh so I would recommend it.
• 
  Annestasia

  It took a while but I read to the end. I'm of an age with this character and some! of the feelings/thought I agreed with.The story was intreaging so I kept at it.. definitely written by a 'Bloke of a certain age' The end was a bit of a downer, a bit of effort could have made that meatier. Not sure why surveillance cameras if in end they were all able to walk in but I'm Australian guns are not our go to.
• 
  Allen Gregory

  The Lead-ins to the chapters are worth the price of admission...
  The title of this series intrigued me because I am (ahem) "of a certain age" and I thought I'd enjoy it. Enjoy it I did. Well-written and plotted with great characters and a mystery that was more personal than most. The old guy got in a jam and figured his way out of it (with some timely assistance at the end) Looking very much forward to continuing the series!
  
• 
  Pheadra

  The part I enjoyed most about this book were the anecdotes that introduced each chapter.
  Charlie North is a journalist turned blog writer. After his wife of 41 years passedms away, he decides to look up his past loves, of which there wete three, and writeza blog about what might have been with each of his ex-girlfriends. Except, shortly after meeting abd/or observing each of the respective ladies, each is murdered.
  Quite good pace, but somewhat silly and far-fetched. 4 stars.
• 
  Vintagebooklvr

  This reminds me of a noirish, hard-boiled detective story, but set in the present day. The main character definitely is in the cast of one of those detectives and so is the style of writing. There is some humor, but I think you will enjoy it more if you are nearer the retiring end of your career than the beginning. I enjoyed it.