Like Nick and Nora Charles from "The Thin Man" series, Dick and Dora Zimmerman in "The Senior Sleuths" solve crimes, especially murders. Along with Zero the Bookie fashioned after the author's father) and a fascinating cast of other characters (such as Frankie Socks, fresh out of the Witness Protection Program), the Zimmermans, known as The Zimms, have the time, the money, the smarts and the chutzpah, to get involved in murder and mayhem, even when warned by police and criminals to stay away...or else In these modern noir stories, the hard-boiled detectives are soft-boiled sleuths whose inner shell is softer and gentler, although their outer shell is still tough. Of course, it doesn't matter, hard-boiled or soft-boiled, they can still be nearly beaten by the bad guys. But it is the puzzle of the mystery and putting the pieces together to solve it that matters.