Infinite Books

I enjoyed two previous books in the “Miss Sharp Investigates” series by Leonie Swann and was excited to learn that the third book, “Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For,” is set to be published in 2026. Luckily, I got my hands on the advance copy, thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. It was so good to be reunited with the quirky, witty, although slow-moving, elderly residents of Sunset Hall. Their camaraderie and self-deprecating humor, even as they deal with their ailments, have been refreshing and uplifting whenever I read about their shenanigans while solving the latest murder case. They all have police, secret service, or military backgrounds, and any criminal would be mistaken taking them for just a bunch of harmless, confused seniors. There is also Oberon, the white boa constrictor, Hettie the tortoise, and Brexit, the happy wolfhound.

This time, the love is in the air as two of the Sunset Hall residents, Bernadette and Jack, are about to get married. Their paths crossed in the past when they were on opposite sides of the law, but at the end, they very much want those paths to converge into one road to married bliss in their golden years. Unfortunately, somebody very dangerous from the past has an entirely different idea.

Did I mention that it’s the final installment of the series? Without giving the ending away, I’ll say I was surprised by the final pages. One of the characters, a young girl who loves reading, says that her mentor friend, the verger, told her “you’re safe when you’re reading”, and in the way, we often get that feeling of reassuring familiarity, especially when we return to the series we’ve enjoyed in the past, almost treating the characters like people we know and like – something constant in the world full of uncertainties. But this is the final book in Agnes Sharp’s series so that the rules might have changed.  Fortunately, there is another series, “Sheep Detective Story” with the lovely flock of sheep, which I adore and which, hopefully, the author will continue writing, giving readers that bit of escapism we all need.

AGNES SHARP AND THE WEDDING TO DIE FOR by Leonie Swann, Soho Press, 2026