We Solve Murders – by Richard Osman

5 07 2025

I really enjoy the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman, so when he wrote a book that wasn’t in that series, I was interested to see if it was as good – and I do think it was!

So the basic premise is that Amy is a close protection officer, currently looking after a world famous author Rosie on her private island, and Amy’s father-in-law Steve is a retired cop, living in the New Forest. But then various people who are trying to get other people killed get involved, there are influencers, money smugglers, all sorts of things.

And I think this is the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars (I would have given it 4.5 if that was an option on goodreads) – there are a lot of fringe/secondary characters, and I don’t know if it was that they weren’t given enough intro to bed them into my brain, or if there were just one or two too many of them, but I did have to keep trying to remember who some of them were during the first half, and one of them even later on I was still struggling to place. But I don’t want to be too negative, that really was the only negative for me.

I think Richard Osman’s greatest strength is his characters, and their little eccentricities which really endear them to you. I particularly loved Steve and Rosie this time around, I related to Steve a lot in his desire to potter about somewhere he knows – and Rosie was just so extreme and extravagant in so many ways! The contrast between them was a lot of fun.

What was also enjoyable for me were the bits set in the New Forest, I grew up just outside the national park, and so it was fun to hear references to different places I knew!

As I often do, here are some of my favourite one liners

  • “Jeff looks over at Tony, ‘No offence.’
    ‘I never take offence,’ says Tony. ‘Saved me a lot of time over the years.'”
  • “Trouble [the cat] never stopped to ask [what flavour his dinner was]; he just loved food that he hadn’t had to catch or scavenge for himself.”
  • “What unfortunate timing. If she’d known she was going to die this morning, she would have ordered the pancakes.”
  • “‘And how did she score on your psychopath test?’
    ‘Ninety-six, same as me. That’s why she’s Head of HR'”

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The Last Devil to Die – by Richard Osman

22 06 2024

The fourth book in The Thursday Murder Club series is a good one!

The gang are back, and trying to work out who killed an acquaintance of theirs who worked in the antiques business – he was in one of the previous books, though I couldn’t remember him, but that’s probably just me!

There’s a side character in the books who has dementia, and that became a much more prominent part of this book. I always find dementia stories hard, but there was a whole chapter (23) written from his perspective that was just so heartfelt and beautifully written, I really appreciated it. A mention of dementia in the acknowledgements actually made me cry!

As per usual, I won’t be giving you much more about the plot for fear of spoilers, but I really enjoyed the characters, the story, all of it. I felt like I was there hanging out with them, it was just so enjoyable, and I flew through it in just eight days – it did wonders for my Goodreads goal!

Some of my favourite one liners from the book:

  • “You must only ever glance at new customers. Some people want eye contact, but most do not. You must treat customers like cats, and wait for them to come to you. Look too needy and you’ll scare them off”
  • “If there is one thing local councils like more than the Data Protection Act, it is money.”
  • “The nibbles were mainly Aldi, but with a sprinkling of Waitrose for effect.”
  • “He smells cheap, fried food and urine. The downside of never complaining is that the British really do put up with a lot.”

I learnt something from this book too: “An antique is anything over one hundred years old. Everything else is vintage, or collectable.” So there you go!


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The Bullet That Missed – by Richard Osman

31 07 2023

The Thursday Murder Club are back for book three!

This time they’re looking into a cold case of a young local news presenter who’d been killed a decade previously – and while they’re looking into this, Elizabeth starts receiving anonymous threatening messages…

It’s so weird how a murder mystery can be such a cosy read, but the characters are so warm and real (special mention for Joyce and her dog, Alan), and you can just feel Osman’s sense of humour and enjoyment of British idiosyncrasies throughout.

As with previous books, there’s not a lot I can say without giving spoilers, but I was up rather late last night as I read the last 50 pages or so, absolutely hooked!

My copy from Waterstones had a little bonus bit of content at the back, a little insight into Joyce’s side project in this book, which was a good bit of fun.

Some spoiler-free quotes from the book:

  • “The Thursday Murder Club? Sounds made up.” “Everything is made up, when you really think about it.”
  • “I just think that you can be very talented and have lovely hair. Perhaps I’m shallow, but both of those things are important to me. Claudia Winkleman is a good example.”
  • “Everyone wants to feel special but nobody wants to feel different.”
  • “If life ever seems too complicated, if you think no one can help, sometimes the right person to turn to is an eight-year-old.”

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The Man Who Died Twice – by Richard Osman

16 07 2022

Yes it’s another murder mystery, but it was so nice to spend time with the guys in the Thursday Murder Club again!

More murders this time around, and some stolen diamonds too, as well as involvement from MI5 – plenty of drama! That said, it’s still the lovely heart-warming group of friends living in a retirement village, with all their eccentricities and quirks, alongside some very British references! There are many twists and turns as the book progresses, that kept me guessing ’til the end.

I really don’t want to say any more, to avoid spoilers, but there is so much to enjoy, do give it a go!


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The Thursday Murder Club – by Richard Osman

3 07 2021

I was so proud of myself for waiting for the paperback of this to come out, I’ve wanted to read it for ages! My parents gave it to me for my birthday, with my mum asking as I unwrapped it, if she could borrow it when I’m done! (Of course I said yes!)

Cooper’s Chase is an upmarket retirement village built up around an old convent in Kent, and four residents (Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim and Ron) meet on a Thursday in the Jigsaw Room and go through old unsolved murder cases to see what they can discover.

But then there’s a murder in the village, and they decide to do what they can to investigate. They’re a bit rebellious, not always keeping the police informed when they discover something, and then wanting to trade information with them!

It’s a lovely bunch of people, all with really defined characters, there’s a decent backstory to each of the police officers involved too. It’s so so weird that a murder mystery could be warm and fuzzy, but it is!

Also, because Richard Osman wrote it, there are obviously some random thoughts he’s thrown in, including an excellent analysis of Escape to the Country which Dave Gorman would be proud of, and insistence on the correct way to work through a double layered box of biscuits, the idea of retirement village developers looking for 60+ year olds in Waitrose cafes, and this highly relatable line: “He had read a headline about Diet Coke once, which was so worrying he had chosen not to read the article.”

My only slight slight niggle? I don’t understand why there’s a dog on the cover – any insight is welcome!


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