We solve murders (by Richard Osman)

(Amazon UK link)

On the whole, I enjoyed the first three books I read by Richard Osman, in the ‘Thursday murder club’ series. However, I didn’t plan on getting the fourth, and wasn’t even aware that he had written a book in a different series until it was chosen for the December read in our local book group.

‘We solve murders’ has a large cast of characters, and I found it quite confusing at first. The chapters are short, and at the start of the book, new people are introduced every few pages. The main character is a young woman called Amy who is the bodyguard to a well-known writer called Rosie. Rosie’s life has been threatened, so she and Amy are staying on a remote island, along with another bodyguard called Kevin.

But the prologue of the book introduces, in italics, a rather detailed way of staying anonymous and hidden online, and mentions the name of Francoise Loubet. And the first chapter is rather gruesome, telling us about Andrew Fairbanks, who was a low-key influencer who finally becomes internationally known after being murdered at sea. 

The Bullet that Missed (by Richard Osman)

(Amazon UK link)

I very much liked the first book I read by Richard Osman, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, and immediately put the second, ‘The Man that Died Twice’ on my wishlist. I wasn’t sure if I was going to want the third one, but a visitor earlier in the year had bought the book at the airport and read it while staying here, then asked if I would like it for my collection. Naturally, I accepted. 

I’ve just spent the last few days reading ‘The Bullet that Missed’. It involves the familiar quartet from the previous books (Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim) and their characters feel a lot more well-developed than they were in the first book. They are all in their seventies, and live in a retirement ‘village’ and meet regularly to try to solve murders from the past. 

Elizabeth, formerly a spy, is quite hard-nosed and mostly takes the leading role. But her softer side comes out in dealings with her beloved husband Stephen, who is gradually falling further and further into dementia. There are some very poignant moments involving Stephen.  Elizabeth’s friend Joyce is fluffy and romantic on the surface, but observant and quite astute at times. Ibrahim, a former psychiatrist, is wise and intuitive. Ron is perhaps the least interesting, in my view; he’s quite tough on the surface and often takes a while to catch on. But he hates being left out of anything and when he has something to do, he does it well.  

There are other familiar characters from the earlier books,, and some who are new to this one including several TV workers, and some extra police officers. There are also some new criminals, one of whom is stalking Elizabeth and threatening her as the book opens. 

This novel features the quartet’s  investigation of the death of a former TV presenter called Bethany, whose car was driven (or, perhaps, pushed) over a cliff. Her body was never found but that’s not surprising, and the case was closed, ten years before the story starts, without any indication as to why this tragedy happened. 

There are also some very wealthy money-launderers involved in this novel, one of whom is in prison but hoping to get out soon. I found some of the technicalities of the crimes committed a bit confusing in places, but it didn’t much matter. 

The writing is terse but very well done, in my view, with occasional humorous asides.  The chapters are short, each taking different point of view; this works well and while it could have felt a bit jumpy, it somehow works. 

Until I was about half-way through the book I was finding it a bit samey, but gradually the different storylines started to come together, and some of the characters got under my skin.  By the time I was nearing the end, I could hardly put it down.

I took me until towards the end before I worked out who one of the perpetrators was most likely to be and even then I wasn’t entirely correct in my suppositions.  I’m not sure I could have worked out the complexities of what went on - for Bethany’s wasn’t the only death being investigated, by that stage. And then there were more twists, although there had been some hints and I wasn’t altogether surprised. 

All in all I thought this a good book, worth reading if you enjoyed the first two of Richard Osman’s novels. I won’t be rushing out to get the fourth, which is now available but I may well pick it up at some point. Recommended if you like light crime fiction (there’s a fair amount of tension but no real gore, and the odd humorous aside) but it would be confusing if you had not previously read the two earlier novels in the series.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

The Man who Died Twice (by Richard Osman)

(Amazon UK link)

I very much liked Richard Osman’s debut novel ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ when I read it for our local book group just over a year ago. So I put the sequel, ‘The Man who Died Twice’ on my wishlist, and was given it for my birthday a few months ago, although it’s taken me this long to decide to read it. 

The main characters are the same as those in the first book: four people in their seventies, or roughly so, who live in a retirement village. They meet regularly to discuss unsolved crimes. Elizabeth is the driving force - she used to work for some secret organisation, and she has a clear, logical mind. Her friend Joyce is a former nurse who seems to be a bit less sharp, but often has some excellent insights due to her interest in people. 

Ron and Ibrahim are the other two: their characters are less well developed, but they have important parts to play in the book. The action starts when Elizabeth discovers that a new resident is her ex-husband, under a false name, only staying in the village temporarily. He says he has a task for her, but it’s all quite cryptic, though it involves some stolen diamonds. 

Meanwhile the police officers Chris and Donna are staking out a known drug dealer, but with little success. And then Ibrahim is beaten up by some teenage thugs…

So lots is going on, and the viewpoint changes with each chapter: I didn’t always recall whose perspective was being used, other than when it was Joyce’s turn as she writes in the first person, with many detours and apparently minor domestic details, although some of them turn out to be quite significant.

The writing, as with the first book, is racy, with wry observations and some humour, though I only recall one line that actually made me laugh aloud. Crime novels aren’t usually written with humour, and with several murdered characters it could have been gory - but the details are minimal, and only in one instance did I feel shock and regret - shared with Joyce, who becomes more and more adventurous through the novel.

There are lots of false trails which Elizabeth and others follow, and cleverly written red herrings making me uncertain who was still alive, and with no idea at all who might have committed two of the crimes. Nor did I have any idea where the diamonds might have been hidden, or how Ibrahim’s assailant was going to be brought to justice.  

There’s some gentle pathos too, particularly with Elizabeth’s husband Stephen, who stays in their flat all the time as he’s in the early stages of dementia. He forgets a lot of things, but still plays an excellent game of chess.  And there’s romance… understated, but another thread in the novel.

I’m not sure that I liked it quite as much as the first book, but it was a good read; I’m not surprised that this series has become so popular. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes ‘cosy’ crime fiction. There’s a lot of action in this although nothing too suspenseful.  I look forward to reading the third in the series in a few weeks’ time. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews

The Thursday Murder Club (by Richard Osman)

(Amazon UK link)

I didn’t recognise the name Richard Osman when our local book group agreed on his novel ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ for July’s read. When I learned that he is - or was - the co-host of the quiz show ‘Pointless’, which I’ve seen several times when visiting relatives in the UK, it gave an added interest. 

I was able to buy the book inexpensively online, and liked it very much. It made a pleasant change from the more ‘literary’ (and, in some cases, rather depressing) books we have read in recent months.

The novel is set in a retirement ‘village’ in the south of England. I assume the village is fictional along with the characters, but it seems to have been based on a real village: a community of over-60s in varying states of health, who live in this safe environment, in their own homes, but with onsite activities, a gym, a library and so on.

Four of the residents have formed an unusual club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron are four very different people, and they get together weekly to talk about unsolved murder crimes. Joyce was formerly a nurse, and some of the book is written from her perspective in the first person; she’s the newest member, replacing Elizabeth’s friend Penny who is now on a life support machine, nearing the end of her life.

However Joyce doesn’t have much chance to explore past cases as they are thrown right into a real crime: a builder who has been working in the village is found dead, bludgeoned in his kitchen. The police get involved, and Elizabeth, who is a strong and forthright character, does some investigating on her own account. In some cases, she finds out more than the police are able to. We never find out exactly what Elizabeth’s former career was, but she has travelled all over the world and has access to a lot of secret information; when we discussed this at the reading group, we decided she was probably in the Secret Services.

The writing, we all thought, was excellent. The pace is perhaps a tiny bit slow in the middle, but there’s a lot of humour alongside the rather gory plot. Not that there’s any gratuitous violence; but the builder is not the only person to die, and some very serious issues are covered. Nevertheless, there were three or four places where I actually chuckled as I read an unexpected line.

The characterisation is good, too. We all felt that we got to know several of the main characters, and also that we were gently strung along with nicely planted misleading clues that kept us all guessing about the perpetrator(s) of the two crimes. I was quite convinced it was one person, who turned out to be dodgy in various respects but not a murderer. Then I thought it was someone else - and was wrong about that, too.

I don’t suppose I’ll read the book again, but I may well look out for the sequels. I gather that one has already been published, and a third book about the same characters is due out later this year.

Recommended if you like light crime fiction.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews