Deadly Gold Rush is murder, mayhem, and the Carolina gold rush. LitStack is excited to bring you Allie Coker’s review of Landis Wade’s book 2 of the Indie Retirement Mysteries. Enjoy!
Make sure to catch the author interview at the end!
Dead men tell no tales, but Landis Wade certainly does. In Deadly Gold Rush, the second book in the Indie Retirement series, there is action, heartache, and above all, mystery.
From a distance, one may think that the residents of the well-to-do Independence Retirement Community (“The Indie”) would have deep pockets and shallow problems. One may think that the residents’ batteries are all out of juice and they’ll languish for the rest of their sunset years indulging in shuffleboard. When a resident’s house in Charlotte becomes a murder scene and gold coins are found scattered around the body, things heat up. One may even think the guilt of the person suspected of the killing is as real as the gold. All of these assumptions are best left at the door as readers should prepare themselves to leave room for a little doubt.
With busy schedules, strong social lives, and ambitious, vivacious attitudes, the residents of The Indie (in particular our protagonist Craig Travail and his two closest friends, Harriet and Yeager), barely stop to rest in this scintillating mystery that both teaches about Charlotte’s gold rush connection and highlights the complexities and challenges residents face with their families, friendships, and love lives.
Should Have Clicked Spam
One night, Craig Travail opens his email to a threatening message ensuring the ruin of every person he loves. At 66 years old, Craig has lost his wife three years prior in an accident he still feels partially responsible for. Before he can parse the sender of the email, his friend Yaeger reports that Harriet, whom Craig has been debating dating, is in trouble. Her twin brother has been released from prison and shows up unexpectedly at Harriet’s uptown house—along with a dead real estate developer’s body.
When they arrive, they find a collapsed kitchen floor, and an expired Chance Landry—the same man who testified against Harriet’s twin brother, Joey Penman, twenty years ago. Motive, means, and opportunity seem clear as cops take Joey away for violating his parole and the collapsed mine shaft in Harriet’s house (which backs up to the Rudisill Mine of the Gold District) is inspected. But other shocks are rippling through The Indie as well.
A wealthy newcomer, Celia Standish, moves in after a large infusion of cash by her family to the retirement community and rules start to change. Robert Elkin, a past nemesis of Travail’s, reappears, and Carrie Roberts, the beloved gossip queen and Harriet’s best friend, starts to lose her battle with cancer.
With great panache, the characters survive croquet fights, prison interviews, naked roaming, and people’s court on their hunt to discover the interconnectedness of all these events. Is nothing coincidence at The Indie?
History is Prologue
Proving history doesn’t stay in the past, and with breadth and depth, Wade plunges into the story, excavating secret dirty-doings and unknown intentions along the way. His great wit and eye for historical detail make for an enjoyable read as do the characters, all of whom seem to have plenty of spunk left in them.
Like an American version of The Thursday Murder Club, Wade has developed his highly likeable characters to guide the reader through a swirl of secrets and fleshes them out with idiosyncrasies. In a time when details are brushed aside or seem secondary to many novels, Wade captures them all and Craig, Yeager, and Harriet are in constant motion with packed days that left me in awe and exhaustion.
It is said there are three sides to every story, and the residents of The Indie won’t rest until they’ve uncovered them all.
Look for Deadly Declarations, Book 1 in the Indie Retirement Mystery series to get started on this rollicking adventure!
Litstack: When did the creative writing bug first bite you?
Wade: I first wrote sports columns for Charlotte’s Myers Park High School newspaper, while playing sports, allowing me to put the best spin on what happened. When I became a trial lawyer, every case I handled was a story that needed to be told, but it wasn’t until I won a North Carolina State Bar short story contest in my mid-fifties that I got the itch to write stories for publication. What followed was the fun of publishing a Christmas novella trilogy (a cross between My Cousin Vinny and Miracle on 34th Street) and a number of short stories. And once I did that, I began writing novels in my sixties.
Litstack: When and where did your love of history begin?
Wade: My love of history began at Davidson College where I was a history major. To this day, I enjoy learning about history, visiting history museums and historical sites, and reading books that reveal interesting historical facts.
Litstack: Which character do you feel is the most like you?
Wade: Craig Travail, the lawyer who retired early, is most like me since I retired early from the practice of law and played football in high school and college. However, his good looks, Southern gentleman personality, and other positive qualities are evidence of the old adage that a writer is never as smart, talented, or attractive as their characters.
Litstack: As this is book two in the series, do you have an overarching narrative for your characters, or do you make those decisions as you write each book?
Wade: I do try to have an arc for my main characters. In book one, Deadly Declarations, the focus was on Travail’s story and how he had to come to terms with life in retirement. He goes from believing his life is over to realizing by the end that retirees can live full lives. In book two, Deadly Gold Rush, the focus is on Harriet’s story and how she has to come to terms with her relationship with men. She goes from believing she doesn’t need a man in her life to recognizing the value in a good relationship with boundaries. In book three, the idea is to focus on Yeager Alexander’s story.
Litstack: We mentioned likening it to The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. There seems to be a trend at the moment of stories about seasoned adults (usually solving or committing murders). Do you think this trend will last? Are you pleased to see stories turn that direction? In your book, one of your characters mentions how retirees are written off as not actual humans. Do you feel like the publications of such stories will help with that perception and increase intergenerational interest and dialogue?
Wade: When writing the first in my series, I wasn’t writing to a trend, but I was happy to see the success of The Thursday Murder Club, a series I enjoyed reading after I wrote the first book. I developed the idea for my series after searching for and helping my parents move into a retirement community. There was too much joy, heartbreak, activity, chaos, gossip, conflict, and fun in the setting to pass up.
As for whether the trend will last, I think there will always be room for mysteries with interesting characters, and I’ve found that some of the more interesting characters in stories are characters with lived experience. There is certainly a lot of experience in a retirement community. In fact, I joke with my writer friends that if I need an expert to help solve a mystery, all I have to do is move them into the retirement community.
To your point about age bias, I’ve read that studies show that when people read fiction, they become more empathetic and compassionate to a point of view with which they are not familiar. So, yes, I do think these kinds of stories can help people see that the older generation is not done, that they still have a part to play.
Landis Wade is a “recovering trial lawyer” turned award-winning author and podcaster based in Charlotte, North Carolina. After 35 years in law, he founded the Charlotte Readers Podcast, where he interviewed over 500 authors. He is best known for his Indie Retirement Mystery series, including the award-winning Deadly Declarations and his 2026 release, Deadly Gold Rush. His work often blends legal expertise with historical mysteries, southern charm, and light-hearted humor.
Here are some other titles by Landis Wade that you’ll want to buy, including Deadly Declarations by Landis Wade, The Christmas Heist by Landis Wade, and The Writing LIfe by Landis Wade.
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