Jane, I can relate. Everyone in my family looks younger than we are...it's in the genes. My parents in their younger days were gorgeous, very much 1940-s-40's Hollywood looking couple, and apparently going far back people in the family looked younger than they are.
When we hire someone at work, and I tell them I've been there 16 years, they invariably ask my age, and when I say 53, they never believe me.......I usually have to show my drivers license.....
but age is relative. My partner's mother who passed in March never acted her age....and that's what I loved most about her.
It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story...
AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956