Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing)

“You don’t actually care whodunnit by the end because you just enjoy the ride…”

When I reviewed Osman’s first foray into detective fiction, I was taking something of a chance. Unlike the author (who is a self-confessed murder-mystery-aholic) I’m not a great fan of detective novels or TV programmes. I’ve seen plenty and read a few but they simply don’t excite me. I really don’t get the fuss.

But I do like comedy and I do like Osman himself, from what I’ve seen on TV or heard on the radio. Plus, lots of people talked about this first book and it did seem a little different – kind of Miss Marple meets The Famous Five kind of thing.

Well, if you’ve read my review of The Thursday Murder Club, you’ll know I thought it was brilliant. I loved every single moment of it. I knew it was a dead cert I’d get the next one.

And I did.

The Man Who Died Twice continues building the characters we came to know and very much love from the first book. We learn a lot more about Elizabeth – not just that she worked for the Secret Service but that she was married to a spy too. It is this ex-husband who comes to her for help after his error of judgement puts his life in considerable danger. The adventure has the gang involved with crime bosses both in the UK and America, while also trying to sort out love lives, one way or another.

This story is much simpler than the first book, but then we’re now more invested in the characters and want to see what happens next to them. Like all good books, Osman makes sure we get cliffhangers – of a sort – to make sure we come back for Book 3 (and I’m sure I’ll want to read book 4 too). I can’t wait to get started with the next one after book 2 proved as delicious as the first.

Osman is a super writer. It’s all very British, very low key, very quaint but in the best possible way. He understands people and makes very real characters who you can see, hear and almost feel their heart beating. You don’t actually care whodunnit by the end because you just enjoy the ride – rather like Joyce does throughout both books. Nevertheless, the whodunnit side is super. I never see what’s coming.

Perhaps most important for me, is that this book really draws on the importance of friendships. At the beginning of the first book, all the characters barely knew each other as the Thursday Murder Club had only just begun. They make a point of saying they aren’t friends right at the start. In this book, there’s no doubt how much they like each other, trust each other and respect one another. That’s delightful and something incredibly close to my heart. You feel for these characters and that, for me, is the essence of a great book.

My Verdict:

Read all the reviews for this series:

• Book Review: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• Book Review: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club Book 2)

Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.

Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.

D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.

Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.

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