That Old Gang of Mine

At four-thirty one January afternoon a bus returning to Miami and Fort Lauderdale containing tourists who have been visiting a Seminole Indian Reservation is held up at gunpoint by five hooded gangsters. The combined ages of the 5 robbers total 320 years…

Leslie Thomas’s latest novel is the hilarious account of the adventures of a group of elderly gangsters in Florida – the Ocean Drive Delinquent Society, known as the ODDS for short. The members include Ari the Greek – he of the legendary nose; K-K-K-Katy, the aging dancing girl who can still manage a high kick; and Molly Mandy, whose metal detector uncovers the gang’s arms cache – and it’s the one and only bullet.

Along with Sidewalk Joe, Lou the Barbender, and one or two more, they form a daring band who have little to lose, and their audacious – and frequently unsuccessful – enterprises soon have Captain Salvatore of the local police baffled. Salvatore calls in an elderly private eye, George Zaharran, to help him out, but instead of simplifying the mystery, Zaharran’s presence serves only to multiply it.

That Old Gang of Mine is both a riotous adventure and an affectionate evocation of the geriatric gang’s bond with the beautiful girl and two younger men who lead it. It is wholly delightful book form the pen of one of England’s funniest storytellers.