We Solve Murders: A Novel (A We Solve Murders Mystery)

I’m giving this novel a 4 but I’m really feeling a 3.5 because I felt frustrated by all of the seemingly unnecessary incomplete filler chapters that just added confusion to the plot. I much prefer The Thursday Murder Club series. I do like Steve and Amy and Rosie and the rest of the locals where Steve lives. Maybe, if the series continues, it will find a more solid footing.

Once I figured out the authors writing style I couldn’t put it down.

An enjoyable read, endearing characters. The plot was fairly simple to follow but had enough of a twist here and there to keep me interested.

Richard Osman created the wildly popular Thursday Murder Club, and now he has published a standalone novel, We Solve Murders, which looks perfectly set to be the beginning of a new series. The main characters are Amy Wheeler, an assassin/ private security officer to billionaires and her father-in-law, Steve Wheeler, who used to be in the business but now likes spending time with his cat, Trouble, and his quiz team down the pub. It is a fast-paced thriller packed with guns and humour. Influencers are being murdered in a spat between money launderers, but no one really cares about influencers because they are so shallow, until we meet Bonnie Gregor, one with a family and a conscience. Amy is meant to be protecting famous author, Rosie D’Antonio who loves flirting – with danger and men – as they encounter lots of action in multiple locations. There is a cast of hundreds and it’s quite hard to keep track of who is whom. It doesn’t really matter though, as the action, locations and opportunity for cameo roles all combine to make this novel a dying-to-be-made-into-a-film script, with actors queuing up to play the characters. Pedantry provides humour, and the target market is evident as one character quotes Eric Cantona, while another ruminates on property prices. “If he was moving to the village today, he wouldn’t be able to afford it. The only way anyone can afford to buy a house these days is to have bought it fifteen years ago.” There are also allusions to modern social interaction as François Loubet sends emails via Chat GPT in the style of “a friendly English gentleman”. “Most communication is by message or email. High-end criminals are much like millennials in that way.” It may ostensibly be about Amy, but Richard Osman proves he relates more to middle-aged men than he does to young women. Steve knows crisp flavours, road routes and daytime TV. “Sometimes Steve wonders what world Amy is living in. Everyone knows Tipping Point.” It’s a very decent book with a central character who talks to his dead wife while sitting on a small bench by a quiet pond and is trying to come to terms with his grief and her absence. Steve is a character who could be played by someone like Jim Broadbent or Hugh Bonneville, and he will certainly make more appearances in future with his new detective partnership with Amy (and possibly, Rosie): We Solve Murders.

3.5