I'm trying to learn about the genre and its potential audience.

Sounds to me like a "new" label for an "old" "genre," if it really is a genre. After all, some of the greatest ficitonal detectives were "seniors."  Miss Marple, Poirot, (at least I think so), Ruth Rendell's Wexford, Barry Maitland's Brock....I could probably elaborate if my "old" brain were functioning better. Sometimes the detectives age along with the series. Wexford (who has just "retired" in Rendell's forthcoming latest) would be in his 90s in real time! :) 

The advantage of an "older" detective is, simply, that he or she has the not-to-be-discounted advantage of a lifetime of wisdom and insights. Younger detectives may be able to get right into the action, but they're greenhorns in other ways.  Sometimes, you find a younger detective partnered with an older one, to whom he or she turns for counsel. Barry Maitland has done that in his Brock and Kolla series---a retired male  detective and a young female inspector.  It works.  Even when I was a younger mystery reader, I didn't mind an older detective. Now, I actually prefer one. I don't read mysteries for romance anyway, so I don't need my detectives to be young and good-looking. 

We are, after all, the "baby boomers," and we outnumber everyone else right now. :)

Question: when does Geezeerhood begin? The 50s may be too young still....I'd say it's probably the 60s.Bur once established as such, Geezers have to be kind of ageless. :)  And they have to be "young in spirit."  guess is there's a great audience for geezer gumshoes.

I have always loved older people so I love older characters.  Anyway, I'm nowhere near being a senior but I would enjoy a book with older characters very much.  I think that as long as the story is interesting and intriguing it shouldn't matter. By the way I was a child when Murder She Wrote was on the air and I still loved it. I loved Angela Lansbury and her age had nothing to do with anything.  I also loved watching Raymond Burr in the Perry Mason miniseries from the 80's and 90's and once again, his age never mattered. The same with Columbo and Matlock. I loved the shows and how they played their characters and I wasn't the least turned off by them being older.

I think most crime and mystery fans would read a great mystery novel no matter the age of the person. But if they are hung up on the age of the people in your books don't worry about it. You cannot please everybody no matter what you write. Just write the stories that are inside you and that you enjoy to write. There are audiences out there for anything. We must remember that older people probably read more books than young ones so they would probably love to read books with characters that are the same age as they are.

One thing I'll say, don't make the older characters cliche. Don't make them old, crusty, cranky and mean. LOL!  Don't have them playing bingo or sitting in the rocking chair on the porch. (Not that you'd do that, but you know what I mean.) Just write them as people and not just as an age. Age is just a number. It's just like writing books with characters of different races. A person's race does not define them it's just a part of who they are. The same with age. I know some older people who act like they just stepped out of high school and definitely wouldn't fit a lot of people's ideas about how older people should act. LOL!

Good luck! I'd definitely read your book. I'm interested already. We need more books with older characters.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

I just came across this posting. I'm Mike Befeler but did not write Head Shot. I have a geezer-lit mystery series featuring Paul Jacobson, an octogenarian with short-term memory loss. He can't remember the day before but becomes an amateur sleuth and even has a romance with a young chick in her seventies (geezer romance). Geezer-lit features older characters but is not limited to older characters.

Mike Befeler, author of the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series and Death of a Scam Artist