Richard Osman’s second installment of the Thursday Murder Club is just as delightful as the debut novel in this series. And yes, I’m aware that there are now five volumes in this series . . . I’m a bit late to the party.
Not every effect of the pandemic was profound. Yes, we all faced tremendous loss, a sense of disorientation, and anger. But some effects, truth be told, were frivolous. You can place my sudden infatuation with detective fiction in the latter category. I began reading them merely to pass the time. There was the added bonus—at a time when reality was full of uncertainty—that these stories generally came to a satisfactory conclusion. I called it my “Year of Reading Dangerously” and the genre has continued to be a staple of my reading diet.
In that initial year, my friend and Brilliant Reader Barbara introduced me to the septuagenarian sleuths of the Thursday Murder Club. At the time I had no idea there was such a thing as a light, witty, and—most surprising of all—big-hearted mystery novel. It took a while but I’ve now worked my way back to the second in the series, an equally clever, fun, and engaging read.*
The Man Who Died Twice (2021) by Richard Osman returns us to Coopers Chase, a high-end peaceful British retirement village on the grounds of a former convent. The four residents turned septuagenarian sleuths meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes from old police files in “a two-hour slot free between Art History and Conversational French. They book the room under the name ‘Japanese Opera: A Discussion’, which ensures they were always left in peace.” Ex-spy Elizabeth Best; Joyce Meadowcroft, who retired after a career in nursing; the tattooed former union organizer Ron Ritchie; and Ibrahim Arif, an Egyptian-born semi-retired psychiatrist call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. The contractor Bogdan Jankowski—who likes to play chess with Elizabeth’s current husband Stephen—is back as are PC Donna De Freitas and DCI Chris Hudson. The four club members are also in contact, for this case, with two active MI5 agents, Sue Reardon and Lance James.
This story begins as Douglas Middlemiss, Elizabeth’s second husband who she met when they were agents in MI5, asks for her help with a case. Douglas has been accused of stealing diamonds worth millions from the wrong men and he’s on the run. The bodies begin to pile up quickly and it is clear that the murderer has no qualms about killing more, including our Murder Club members. There are a variety of plotlines and characters to keep everyone guessing including a local drug dealer who likes to play games with the police, a life-changing event for Ibrahim, and the developing love life between Chris and PC De Freitas’s mother Patrice.
Osman is an engaging writer, using a breezy style that suits the material. He’s only 55 years old in real life but he has clearly spent time around folks in their late 60s and older. He has clear affection for these retirees who maintain their spark for life. The thoughts and comments he puts into their heads and dialogue—such as the line “Joyce thinks about kneeling, but really, kneeling over the age of sixty-five is a pipe dream”—are spot on and many times laugh out loud funny. He also has Joyce insert intermittent diary entries, which one reviewer notes “serve as an analogy to a Greek chorus as well as providing interludes of humor.” And, as would only happen to someone not born and bred in the internet culture, Joyce naively chooses an Instagram username that invites thousands of pictures of men not suitable for work. Her adult daughter sets her straight. “Needless to say, I haven’t changed it” she writes breezily in her diary, with a sense of glee and satisfaction.
Once again there are twists and turns throughout that are as surprising as the final outcome. The Man Who Died Twice is a book that will lead you to laugh, tear up, think, and ultimately compel you to turn page-after-page. Getting to the conclusion is just as much fun and pleasurable as the debut in this series. Enjoy!
More to come . . .
DJB
NOTE: A movie version of this series is now streaming on Netflix with a fabulous cast, including Helen Mirren as Elizabeth.
*I just read another reviewer’s take on the fifth book in this series . . . so I know I’m a bit behind, or late to the party. Whichever you prefer.
Photo of Englefield, the setting for the movie version of the Thursday Murder Club, via Wikimedia Commons.
MORE TO COME... 