‘The Retirement Plan’ by Sue Hincenbergs

Published by Sphere,
6 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-40873343-1 (PB)

It all begins when Dave dies in a really nasty accident and Marlene discovers his huge life insurance policy and goes off to live in Florida in the lap of luxury. That’s when Pam, Nancy and Shalisa start to look at their own stale marriages – and discover three more life insurance policies. And that’s when the idea takes root... They consult Hector, the local barber, who hails from South America and has a sideline in doin’ what needs doin’, and a price is agreed.

Meanwhile, the casino where two of the husbands worked has been taken over by a family connected to Indian gangsters, and the new CEO, Padma is keen to make the best possible impression on her mother. The three remaining husbands now have pressing reasons to employ Hector on their own account.

 And that’s when it all starts to get really complicated.

 Those complications soon develop into a tangled web to beat all tangled webs. Misunderstandings, rip-offs, an exploding boat, matchmaking by Zoom, margaritas (lots of those), takeaway meals, a hideous juniper bush, Indian hard men and the cutest rescue dog you ever did see: there’s all of that and a lot more besides.

My sympathies never strayed from Padma, the new casino CEO, who is desperate to prove she is as keen a businesswoman as her demanding mother, and to find a husband of her own, preferably without her mother’s interference. They see-sawed between the wives: reluctant Pam, hard-nosed Shalisa, and disappointed Nancy; and the husbands: Hank the nice guy, health freak Andre, and Larry the reformed bigot. Even Hector, the former gangster and self-styled assassin, only wants to make his wife happy.

It’s dark, hilarious, sad and joyful by turns, and it’s one of the twistiest caper novels I’ve encountered in years. You’d never believe how it all ends even if I told you. Which I’m not going to, of course. You’ll have to read it for yourselves. Yes, really; you have to.

 Now then, ladies: don’t go getting ideas...
------
Reviewer: Lynne Patrick  

Sue Hincenbergs is a former television producer who has worked on multiple award-winning programs. She lives in Toronto with her (very much alive) husband, her scruffy, middle-aged rescue dog, Kramer, and the rooms full of the stuff her three sons left behind when they moved out. The porch light is always on in case one comes by for a visit. The Retirement Plan is her first novel. 

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.