Merivale Retirement Village

This is a story about friendship, jealousy, life in the close confines of a retirement village, and of a disparate group of people brought together by their love of playing mahjong. After one of their playing venues closes down for a couple of weeks, the group finds itself missing a key player. Alice Logan, realising the closedown is an opportunity for a long-overdue vacation, makes a last minute booking on a cruise. The mahjong players are concerned when she fails to return by the time regular mahjong sessions recommence. A couple of close friends discover no one has heard from Alice since their last games before the closedown, and Alice's little dog, Chester, is now without his adoring mistress for over a month. Convinced Alice's vacation has not gone to plan, and something is amiss, they decide to investigate her apparent disappearance. Their search soon takes them into unfamiliar territory interstate. It results in a world they only know about through the media becoming all too real. That world comes too close to home for comfort, when a sample of it arrives on their doorstep.

Marion Dawson and the Merivale Retirement Village's mahjong team have had a busy year. The Village's expansion program has seen them help turn a number of projects into a reality. New library, new bowling green, new theatre, new residents, and new friendships are among the outcomes, along with crime which almost destroys one of the team's pet projects. You are invited to meet some of the new residents, watch new friendships develop, and enjoy their Christmas festivities.

1 body in a cow paddock. 1 bus. 1 canine terrorist. 2 rebel uprisings. 2 troubled relationships. 3 tense residents. 1 confused mahjong group. It is just One thing after another for the group to deal with, and then there are the other big questions causing unrest. Was the bowling green a mistake? Is the pool shaping up to be a white elephant? Why are regular happy hour sessions on hold, and why have mahjong mornings been cancelled? The Merivale Retirement Village mahjong players are searching for answers and hoping things will return to normal sometime soon. Life in the Village is never dull, but does it have to be so complicated?