The last thing anybody needs is a fully blown review of anything to do with Richard Osman's wildly popular The Thursday Murder Club series, of which THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE is number 2 and THE BULLET THAT MISSED is number 3. These books deserve all the success they have achieved, but as I've been listening to the series on Audible (and have the 4th queued up at the moment), I thought a quick reminder to myself if nothing else about why a reader who likes the darker side of fiction would find these such great, fun listening.
Mostly it's because of the character studies. The four central cast members here feel like real people, act like you'd want people who might be in a retirement village but bloody well aren't dead yet (projection maybe?) would act, and are such good friends who allow and even celebrate the various foibles and emotional ticks of the others with low key, but empathetic and accepting joy.
I also like the way that the plots hark back to when the characters were young (remember the shy smile of my grandmother as she quietly told me one day "you young people think you invented sex and ability"). Of course these people had pasts, lived lives, did stuff, were good at things. Being old doesn't mean you lose ALL of that ability, cleverness, thinking, history, knowledge.
They are also made for listening - with lots of very short chapters, switching between the various characters viewpoints, meaning that you are kept in the action by never finding you're zoning out, or getting lost as can sometimes be the case with audio crime fiction.
Plus they are just joyous and god knows these days a bit of joy doesn't hurt. Maybe it is the projection thing - with every year as I hurtle more and more rapidly towards some truly sobering zero birthdays I still crave the dark side, but I also want a bit of joy now and then.
The Man Who Died Twice
It's the following Thursday.
Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.
As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus?
But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn't bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?
The Bullet That Missed
One Thursday afternoon in the seniors' center, a decade-old cold case --their favorite kind-- leads the Thursday Murder Club to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers. A new foe they call "Viking", wants Elizabeth to kill former KGB chief Viktor, or he will kill her sweet best friend Joyce. Activist marked for death Ron and psychiatrist Ibrahim chase clues for Viking's identity, and investigate mob-queen prisoner from last book.
This third adventure ranges from a prison cell with espresso machine to a luxury penthouse with swimming pool high in the sky.
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