Janus Lodge isn’t your typical retirement community. Sylvia Abercrombie and her knitting-obsessed gang of octogenarians are feisty, foul- mouthed, and fiercely protective of their home. So when a shady developer plots to evict them and build a 'gentlemen’s club', they hatch an audacious plan to save their sanctuary – by starting a secret knitwear empire with a scandalous twist. As sales skyrocket, secrets unravel, and Sylvia’s ex-husband lurks in the shadows, the gang must pull off the ultimate heist to protect their beloved Lodge.
Hilarious and heartfelt, Knit One, Heist One is a riotous romp proving that age is no barrier to action.
Knit One Heist One by Donna Moore was published on 27 August 2026 by No Exit Press. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour
I am a huge fan of Donna Moore's writing. Her two previous novels are The Devil's Draper and The Unpicking and are two of my favourite historical novels ever. She writes wonderfully
I am also a massive fan of Donna as a person and anyone who follows her social media pages will realise why I was so thrilled to hear that her latest book was a crime story set in a retirement village - not an old people's home! Remember that!
There are books that make you smile, books that make you laugh, and then there are books that have you wondering quite how the author managed to dream up something so gloriously outrageous, except in this case we know how. This is most definitely inspired by the author's visits to her own mother! Donna Moore has delivered a wonderfully warm, wickedly funny and thoroughly entertaining story that I enjoyed enormously.
Welcome to Janus Lodge, home to Sylvia Abercrombie and a collection of residents who are most definitely not prepared to sit quietly and behave themselves. When their home comes under threat from a very unpleasant developer, Sylvia and her friends decide that something must be done. What follows is so clever and always hilarious.
What a fabulous bunch of characters they are. Feisty, sweary, determined and occasionally quite scandalous, the residents of Janus Lodge completely stole my heart. The author gives each of them their own personality and, hooray!, she never allows their age to define them. These are people with their own histories, with secrets, desires, regrets and very strong opinions. They are resourceful and brave, sometimes reckless, and their loyalty to one another is an absolute joy.
The humour is just spot on. There are moments that are absurd, wonderfully inappropriate conversations and situations that become increasingly outrageous, yet it all works, and laughed a lot. However, beneath all that mischief is a huge amount of warmth. This is as much a story about friendship, community and belonging as it is about knitting, and criminal shenanigans.
Janus Lodge isn't simply somewhere these people happen to live. It is their home, and they are a family. That gives the story genuine emotional depth and means that, however ridiculous things become, there is always something very real at its heart.
Donna Moore also really challenges assumptions about ageing. Her characters refuse to become invisible simply because society might expect them to. They have wit and plenty of fight left in them.
Warm, anarchic, big-hearted and gloriously funny, Knit One, Heist One is an absolute hoot. I loved spending time with Sylvia and the Janus Lodge gang and was genuinely sorry to leave them behind. More please!
Donna Moore was born in 1962 and led a sheltered childhood in a small English village.
A crime fiction fan from a young age, Donna wanted to be one of Enid Blyton's Famous Five and fight crime with the aid of only a basket of cucumber sandwiches and a bottle of ginger beer.
She spent her spare time following mysterious strangers around the village - especially those with cockney accents and a couple of days' growth of stubble - until a complaint from the new local vicar put a stop to her sleuthing career.
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