The Excitements

Clear your calendar, shut off all the devices, and order in some take-out. This lovely, witty story about the two, nearly 100-year-old, Wilson sisters and their many escapades—they call them “excitements”—is that captivating. And it succeeds without an ounce of the treacly cuteness so often encountered in crime fiction featuring female nonagenarians. The sisters are well-known as World War II veterans—Josephine served in the Women’s Royal Navy and Penny in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry—and their wartime efforts seem innocent enough. But the truth is far more complicated, and each woman has a complex history that lives on into the present. As they head off to Paris to receive the Légion d’honneur with their beloved great-nephew, Archie (why can’t he find a nice husband, they wonder?), the story moves between the present and the war years, revealing the double lives of the sisters. While the novel takes several serious turns—even if their motto is toujours gai!, cheerful under all circumstances!—it always returns to its essence: a joyous, uplifting tale that looks forward fearlessly. For readers who enjoyed Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge, Killers of a Certain Age, and The Thursday Murder Club.