The TV celebrity’s first foray into crime fiction, The Thursday Murder Club, sold by the truckload, won awards and divided book club members far and wide. How would Richard Osman’s ‘difficult second novel’ fare? Happily, the news is good – and anyone who has already bought into the series will be delighted to find Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim back in the sleuthing saddle once more. They’re soon in the midst of a mystery involving missing diamonds, sneaky spycraft and, of course, murder.
It’s a fun and funny ride, with Osman demonstrating plotting and characterisation skills more in keeping with an author of much greater experience. I’ll hold my hands up to not really rating The Thursday Murder Club, but The Man Who Died Twice is a much better read and it even brought a tear to my eye in the final pages. Fans of cosy crime, or readers who enjoy mysteries with a side order of humour will love this one – and the good news is that two more in the series are planned.
Read our review of The Man Who Died Twice here, and then join in the chat about the book below! Or grab a copy from the Crime Fiction Lover Book Club shop on Bookshop.org.
Join our CFL Book Club discussion…
If you’ve read it, leave a reply in the comments below to let us know what you thought of it and/or answer some of our CFL Book Club questions:
1 – The four friends are elderly and live in a retirement home – do you think they are depicted realistically? Is there anything that jarred with you?
2 – Did you love The Thursday Murder Club? And if not, what made you decide to give the author another try?
3 – Do you think that humour has a legitimate role to play in crime fiction? Why?
4 – Did the fact that the book is by a ‘celebrity turned author’ initially put you off choosing it?
5 – Ibrahim takes something of a back seat this time around. How did this affect the dynamics of the group?
I DID love the Thursday Murder Club, maybe because I’ve spent a fair amount of time in assisted living facilities where my various relatives live, and I know that many of the residents are plenty sharp. I can just see them dreaming up an occupation like probing unsolved murders once a week. It was very clever, with strong characters, and I’m glad the second book is great too!
I must admit, Osman’s celebrity has made me wary of this series. However, its success is making me reconsider, though I’m struggling to think of another worthwhile celebrity-turned-author. Can anyone recommend any?
I was actually surprised by the collaboration between James Patterson and Bill Clinton. I read the second one and enjoyed it. Not normally the type of book I’d pick and probably not the best in the international thriller category but entertaining nevertheless.
Alan Johnson’s book, Late Train to Gypsy Hill, is meant to be very good as well.
I confess being skeptical before reading The Thursday Murder Club, another celebrity writing a book, (see Mike Parker’s comment above), but Osman did a great job. And it’s interesting to hear some people say The Man Who Died Twice is even better.
Q3. Humour. I find this interesting. Comedy can be used to add punch to a dark book, increase shock by following light with dark, or it can even be used as a misdirection in stories. But it’s different here, crime is a broad church and light funny crime, very hard to get right, has its place. There’s a feel good factor about reading a book like this even though the topic is murder.
Ideal for lockdown?
I really enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club and so was looking forward to The Man Who Died Twice, which I also really liked. I think the two books are pretty well matched in terms of the plot and characterisations.
All four of the main oldsters are good characters. Their general personalities and behaviours, as well as their living situations, are believable, although when it comes to some of their (and Bogdan’s) specialist skills, connections and plans, things do take a turn toward the more outlandish, but that’s really just part of the fun of the story.
The celebrity author aspect didn’t put me off, although it has been interesting to note some posts on social media that seem to be crediting Osman almost with inventing a new subgenre of crime fiction. His books have certainly brought the more gentle, humorous and non-gory flavour of crime story to the attention of new readers, but other authors definitely got in there first, dating back to the earliest days of the genre.
That’s a really good point. We’ve reviewed other books where the main protagonists are elderly and rather than write themselves off they delve into sleuthing. I think the Italian author Marco Malvaldi has been writing books like this for a while.
Arguably, Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing really advances this area of crime fiction with a more intense, more psychological and less cosy story that explores the puzzling nature of dementia very well.
https://crimefictionlover.com/2014/06/elizabeth-is-missing/
There is nothing new under the sun, as they say.
I enjoyed the chatty style of The Thursday Murder Club and the plot rolls along nicely. The style is very reminiscent of the two Elly Griffiths novels featuring DS Kaur which I’d also enjoyed. Perhaps the characters are appealing as they are closer to me in age. The Man Who died Twice was not a disappointment, although Ibrahim takes a back seat the other characters step up to fill the void. My husband is currently reading TMWDT and although not a crime fan is enjoying it as he did the first, he finds them well written, though he was put off by the celebrity author to begin with, whilst it intrigued me.
Thanks for joining in Julie.
What other crime authors do you read?
I was dubious about reading Thursday Murder Club because I thought it would be yet another ghost written book with a celeb name on the cover, but then I read something about how Osman researched and wrote it, and decided to give it a chance. And I loved it. I was excited to read this follow up and wasn’t disappointed. It was a perfectly stand alone read yet great to get reacquainted with the characters.
It does seem odd to have laughs and frivolity among death and dementia, but to be honest real life can be like that too. Humour can defuse even the darkest situations.
As for the low profile of Ibrahim, he did play an important, although less physically active part, and I think that’s a pretty good reflection of how life at that age can affect people.
I found the descriptions of Stephen’s dementia very accurate and moving, having somebody close to me in the same position at the moment.
Thanks for joining in, Jane. I think you’re right, a writer can bring people to a difficult subject by using humour to keep it light while at the same time saying something insightful.
1) I don’t think either book are particularly realistic but then I don’t think they are supposed to be. To my mind they are a happy fantasy of what could happen to older people in their twilight years, it’s innocent fun but I don’t think realism was the plan.
2) I enjoyed the first one enough to pre-order the second.
3) Humour in crime fiction is not a new genre, so long as that is tone being aimed for then I don’t see a problem. Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, Chris Brookmyre are just a few examples of crime writers who have used humour to tell a story.
4) if Osman hadn’t been famous before trying to publish would he have gotten a deal and so much advertising? Maybe not. But the important thing is that if his celebrity helped get him started his talent is carrying him on. If it was a celebrity vanity exercise it is less likely people would return for the second.
5) Ibrahim is side lined in such a way that it creates a plot for him and Ron as they wouldn’t have much to do in Elizabeth and Joyce’s primary adventure. He was still important to the bokk, especially towards the end, and what happens to him allows the author to explore the depth of feeling the Club members have for each other.
The book title piqued my interest because it’s unusual for anyone to die twice. I found the price of the kindle edition too high for my liking; nevertheless, it was clever to write this type of book.
I want to know what Joyce said to Ibrahim to get him to leave his residence and drive her to the adoption center.