The Retirement Plan

Canadian TV producer Hincenbergs delivers a sure-footed and deeply funny debut that revolves around a group of friends in their 60s. Five years before the start of the novel, couples Pam and Hank, Shalisa and Andre, Nancy and Larry, and Marlene and Dave lost their life savings in the same misguided investment. In the aftermath, each partner’s seldom voiced resentments have put major strains on their marriages. When Dave dies in an apparent accident, his friends are distraught—particularly the husbands. For the last four years, they’ve been siphoning money from the casino where two of them work with the intention of replacing the money they lost. To them, Dave’s death could only be a murder orchestrated by the casino’s new boss, who has ties to organized crime in India. The wives, meanwhile, are inspired by the million-dollar life insurance payout Dave’s widow, Marlene, receives, and launch a scheme of their own. Readers will turn the pages with glee as the interests of the desperate husbands and determined wives collide with a pack of Mumbai gangsters and a dog-loving private investigator. Hincenbergs knocks it out of the park on her first time at bat. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (May)