A Permanent Retirement

Vivid characters and romance dominate this charming mystery (the first in a projected series) set in a retirement home in Oklahoma. Single mother Laura Michaels, studying for her master's degree in social work and making a living as assistant manager of the Timberdale Retirement Center, is dismayed when she finds resident Cora Chandler dead in her apartment. Although Cora had been very sick, little things bother Laura, such as the lingering smell of cigarette smoke in the non-smoking woman's bedroom and the overpowering odor of Ben-Gay in the living room. Handsome deputy sheriff Aaron Lassiter decides that Cora died of natural causes, but Laura feels she must use her group sessions with various residents to find out if the dead woman had any enemies or if there might have been reasons for killing her. Laura gets a threatening note but persists in questioning Cora's friends. Then resident Milly Kett is found dead, her walker abandoned several feet from her body, the fumes of Ben-Gay again permeating the room. Miles, the pseudonym of a thriller writer, plugs in all the formula elements to make a very readable genteel mystery. (Nov.)