While the intrepid members of the Thursday Murder Club are presumably busy with their investigations (and forthcoming Netflix film), Richard Osman introduces an eclectic new team of sleuths in the aptly named We Solve Murders. The spread of ages might be quite different this time round, but the characters and the mysteries they become embroiled in are just as engaging.
Following the untimely demise of his beloved wife Debbie, former police officer Steve Wheeler’s retirement in the picturesque village of Axley in the New Forest has proved rather different than he expected. He largely fills his time with solitary strolls, television, the pub quiz and a cat named Trouble, although he occasionally aids the community via his private detective agency: Steve Investigates.
By contrast, Steve’s daughter-in-law Amy Wheeler lives a globe-trotting, high-octane lifestyle as a close protection agent with Maximum Impact Solutions, risking life and limb to ensure the safety and security of the great and the good (and also the decidedly dodgy, provided the price is right). Still, wherever she is in the world, she finds time to call Steve for a chat every evening.
Amy’s current assignment involves protecting Rosie D’Antonio, the world’s bestselling novelist – if you don’t count Lee Child – from an assassination arranged by a Russian oligarch disgruntled with how he is portrayed in her latest book. Lying low on a private island off the coast of South Carolina is certainly a lot more comfortable than the month she spent hiding in a Syrian oil pipeline, but Amy is nevertheless perturbed.
Former clients are being killed in increasingly grisly ways, always when Amy happens to be somewhere in the vicinity, and she’s sure that other people will notice the pattern soon enough. All of the victims were small-time influencers who were at their respective murder scenes to work on advertising assignments, but none of them seemed a likely candidate for murder and mayhem.
It appears that someone is setting Amy up as a fall guy for the murders, but who? And why? And what does the bag of cash inexplicably found near the body of the latest victim have to do with it? When the minions of her unknown nemesis catch up with Amy and she’s forced to go on the run luxe stylee with Rosie, she calls on the one person she knows she can trust: Steve. But will he be willing to miss lasagne night at the local pub to help her?
While We Solve Murders covers a far larger geographical scope than the Thursday Murder Club series, taking in the New Forest, South Carolina, Ireland, St Lucia, Dubai and even Letchworth Garden City, it still has all the heart of Osman’s previous books. The various locations are interesting and their peculiarities well evoked, but the key is the characters. Just as Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim immediately prove charmingly odd and appealing, Steve and Amy capture the imagination from the outset.
Steve is a creature of habit. Whether that was always the case or whether it’s due to the shock of his bereavement, he has no desire to deviate from his routine, particularly if it involves traveling the world in a private jet with an amorous crime author. However, he really does love Amy – he sometimes even says as much – who is just about the only person he’s willing to leave Axley for. Given the emphasis on Steve’s deadpan demeanour, Osman strikes a neat balance in making his relationship with Amy seem so convincing.
Aside from his prior career as a police officer, Osman clearly establishes Steve’s deductive skills through the minor cases he solves in the village – a missing dog, theft from a till – but more importantly, through his observations of people, places and events as he walks around Axley making notes via a dictaphone that he will later relay to Debbie at her memorial bench. The importance of observation is stressed, as is Osman’s familiar reflection on how the contributions of older persons can be easily overlooked.
Amy is actually just as observant as Steve, even though she is more of a shoot first and ask questions later kind of person. In fact, she has quite a remarkable set of skills when it comes to tracking, cracking and killing. Besides the fact that she used to be a receptionist at a gym before being recruited by Maximum Impact Solutions, how she came by such skills isn’t really explained. Hopefully it’s something that Osman will address in future books though.
Still, Amy’s work as a close protection agent is what allows her access to the contacts, technology and cash that prove necessary as she and Steve try to stay alive long enough to discover who is setting her up. This aspect means that We Solve Murders involves a lot of high-tech action, deadly danger and brutal violence, which propels the story along at a cracking pace. A fair bit of what confronts Steve and Amy is bonkers and over the top, but it’s also a whole lot of fun.
Also larger than life is Rosie D’Antonio, who turns out to be the ideal person to be stuck with when suspected of multiple murders. Despite notionally being a secondary character, she’s a total scene-stealer, and Osman manages to get great mileage out of her previous novels and interpersonal relations. Rosie’s humour is more overt than that of Steve and Amy, and the story is definitely better for her presence. Not all of the secondary characters are as successful, however, as there really is a surfeit of nonchalance.
In addition to the abundance of action-packed incidents and tantalising clues, Osman’s decision to structure We Solve Murders into very short chapters serves to drive the story forward and provide both hints and red herrings at regular intervals. The only problem with this approach is that it does involve a lot of jumping from scene to scene, which can be a bit confusing in places, and also results in some unnecessary repartition, especially when it comes to the regular use of emails.
For all the international intrigue, organised crime and shadowy supervillains that Steve and Amy (and Rosie and the pub quiz team) have to take on, We Solve Murders is a murder mystery with a great deal of heart. It’s humorous and whimsical and definitely highlights the very best aspects of serial killings. The puzzle as to who is setting Amy up and why is a lot of fun to unravel, even if the best bit of the book is the journal rather than the destination.
For more by Richard Osman, try The Man Who Died Twice.
Penguin
Print/Kindle/iBook
£11.00
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
