Beyond Bingo: A Novel - Softcover

Miller, Joan Drummond; Houy, Julie; Livingston, Carolyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0887392849 ISBN 13: 9780887392849

Publisher: The publisher is out of business. Contact cliv@redshift.com, 2000

Synopsis

Vi, 71, spirited but increasingly forgetful; Katherine, nearly as old and twice as inhibited; and newly married, former old maid Sophie join forces in the quiet town of Pacific Grove to supply Katherine's dying friend Rita and her cancer victim friends with marijuana to ease their pain.

In their act of mercy, cooking "bongo brownies" and other cannabis-spiked food for medicinal purposes, the three women each have personal epiphanies. But the women's activities unwittingly connect them with Mafia drug trafficking and murder, and suddenly the old ladies have more to worry about then mere involvement with illegal drugs.

About this title

About the Author:

Joan Miller, Carolyn Livingston, and Julie Houy met first in a calligraphy class (Carolyn and Julie) and then a writing class (Joan and Carolyn), thrn formed a reading group in their Northern California home. One day, while discussing a novel, they said, "We could do this. It would be a hoot." And so they did. Beyond Bingo is their first book together.

What we dislike the most are old-age stigmas and humorless people. We wrote Beyond Bingo in an attempt to break some stereotypes about old women and to demonstrate the contribution friendship and teamwork can make toward gaining a voice in our current culture. The subject is controversial: medical marijuana. Is it a dangerous illegal drug, a panacea for pain, a crutch, a political issue, a myth? We explore this topic from many wry angles. It isn't a screaming tirade or a dull political tract. It's a romp. Just a caper, with funny, wise-cracking characters, amusing ironies, suspense, and action. But most of all, it's about friendship among unusual women.

From Library Journal:

Several "little old ladies" in Pacific Grove encourage one another to grasp life anew and act a bit outrageous. They begin by finding and supplying marijuana (for medicinal purposes) to a rich friend suffering from cancer. When the friend dies and leaves them cars and money, the ladies branch out: they still provide "medicinal" brownies but catch the attention of the lawAand suspicious othersAwhen they discover a dismembered corpse in a disused freezer. This promising first novel by three writers brings its unusual premise to life with imagination and wit.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: The publisher is out of business. Contact cliv@redshift.com
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0887392849
• ISBN 13: 9780887392849
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 188