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When a lonely 80-something-year-old woman finds herself investigating murders at her friend’s retirement home, she stumbles into many hijinks and forms a meaningful community in the new novel “Poppy Montgomery Gets Even.”
Its author, Palo Alto native Gordon Jack, a Los Altos High School librarian, found inspiration for the story, which is both funny and suspenseful, after his mom, a Palo Alto resident, was scammed three times. He describes the book, published June 9, as a “revenge fantasy.”
“It’s meant to be funny and light,” he said. “And even though there’s murder in it, it’s supposed to be sort of a page turner, so I feel like it’s a good summer book.”
A Palo Alto High School graduate, Jack now lives in San Francisco. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Claremont McKenna College, a master’s degree in education from Stanford University and a master’s in library science from San Jose State University. He started his career as a copywriter before becoming an English teacher, then a librarian.
Although not named in the book, Jack said it’s safe to assume the story takes place in Palo Alto.
This is Jack’s debut mystery novel, but he wrote two young adult novels — “The Boomerang Effect” in 2016 and “Your Own Worst Enemy” in 2018.
Jack celebrated the release of the book in June at Linden Tree Books in Los Altos with a launch party on publication day. He said his books are filled with “drama” and “trauma” and jokes.
The following interview has been condensed for clarity and space.
Embarcadero Media: I read you were inspired to write this when your mom was scammed multiple times. Tell me about that.
Gordon Jack: Each time she beat herself up for being so dumb and falling for the same tricks. … It’s incredibly maddening because you know these people are … taking advantage of these kind, generous people who … just want to help and there’s no way to catch them.
I think originally it was inspired by the “Thursday Murder Club.” I read that book, and I was like, “This is super fun and funny.” … This book didn’t start off as a mystery, it started off as kind of like a heist. It’s such a long process of writing a book. …. All these things (movies and books) came out during that time. Each time I thought the book was gonna just sink because it just felt too similar. Right when I got my agent for the book, the movie “Thelma” came out, and I was like, “Oh no, that’s another story of an octogenarian scamming her scammer.” Then there was “Only Murders in the Building” and “A Man on the Inside.” Suddenly, seeing so many of these humorous mysteries. You have all the Baby Boomers who are getting older and want to see themselves reflected in TV and movies and books. But part of it is just this joy of the amateur sleuth. … I think there’s an interesting response to maybe the loneliness that happens when you get older and you’re not forced to live with other people. … There’s also this longing for community that those stories kind of have. I tried to put it in my book as well.
Embarcadero Media: When did you start working on the book?
Jack: 2023, (20)24. … It takes me about two years to write a book, and then in this case I needed a new agent, because it was an adult fiction rather than young adult fiction. Then we had to find a publisher, and so that whole process was at least like a year, year and a half, and then once you have all those, you start rewriting. … My publisher wanted to move it more into the mystery genre. … I just started adding murders to the story, so it changed a lot from what it was to what it eventually is now.
Embarcadero Media: I found the book quite funny. What was your barometer for deciding if something was funny enough? Did you run jokes by family members, or do you just have an innate sense of humor?
Jack: I can only write if I’m being entertained while I write, so usually the things that entertain me are humorous books. I’m a big fan of P.G. Wodehouse and Maria Semple. … I read a lot of them and get inspiration there, and then I started reading more humorous mysteries once I kind of knew what I was writing, so I read more of the Osmond series and the Vera Wong series.
My sister (Sheila Grau) is a writer. She writes middle grade, more fantasy, but she’s a really funny writer too, so I will send her stuff. She’s my first critique partner. She’ll help me know if something’s working or not.
Embarcadero Media: Will this be a series?
Jack: I’m new to this mystery genre, and so I’m learning what readers’ expectations are. I went to a big mystery reader conference in San Francisco back in February, and every author I met says, like “This is book six in the series” or “This is book eight in the series.” When you think about Sue Grafton (who) has her Alphabet series, where, like, “‘A’ is for Alibi,” “‘B’ is for Burglar,” so it’s just part of the genre. I don’t know if I have it in me to do something that long.
Originally I was thinking that I would like to do three books, one from each of the woman’s point of views, but my editor wants me to keep it in Poppy’s point of view for the next book. At least there’ll be a book two. Then we’ll see if they want to publish any more after that. It’s still fun. I still like hanging out with these ladies.
Embarcadero Media: Are you considering just working on your writing full time, or do you enjoy having the library work as well?
Jack: I like having both. … I’m approaching my last year at the district. I retire after next (school) year, so I am hoping this is part of my retirement plan, because I like doing it, but it’s … hard for me to see doing it full time just because I have such little stamina for writing. I’m good for like two hours a day, maybe three, and then after that I just feel tapped out of ideas and I need to step away. … Even if I don’t ever get published again, I like doing it, so it’ll be part of it.
“Poppy Montgomery Gets Even,” Gordon Jack. Mysterious Press. Hardcover: $25.12, E-book: $17.99. gordon-jack.com.
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