Octogenarian Paul Jacobson must overcome the limitations of short term memory loss and the restrictions of living in a retirement home in Hawaii in order to clear himself of murder charges after finding a body stuffed in a trash chute.

At the age of ninety-something, Beryl Dusinbery is forgetting everything - including her own children. Her tongue, meanwhile, remains as sharp as ever. She spends her days stitching macabre messages into her needlework and tormenting her two long-suffering carers with tangled stories of her love affairs. Shimi Carmelli can do up his own buttons, get around without the aid of a walking frame, and speak without spitting. Among the widows of North London,...