murder.booklocker.com

PARK RIDGE to me is more than a murder mystery novel because it has an issue at the heart of it. In thinking about that issue — how we define “passive” — I spent quite a bit of time researching. Two sites that I found particularly helpful were the National Council on Aging (NCOA), and it’s subsection, the National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC).

There is a little history of senior centers in one article which I found informative, but I was more interested in a study that was referenced.

“In contrast, a recent survey of more than 400 senior centers (Krout, 1990) found that 10% of the participants were over age 85, and nearly 60% of centers surveyed reported an increase in the number of frail participants.”

First some observations: One, there must be a more recent study. In sixteen years something must have changed. Two, “frail” might have implications for card playing.When I mentioned to my father that my book could have been called “The Revenge of the Card Players,” he assured me that the senior center he goes to couldn’t keep its doors open without the folks that play cards and that maybe I was on to something.

The NISC was factor in my third novel about the Des Plaines Senior Center (I think ) since they are attempting to become nationally accredited.