The blurb:
Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.
Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...
Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?
I haven't read much of Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, just the first book—enough to know I enjoy his writing. I picked up the start of his new series, We Solve Murders, and hoped it would be similar-ish…and I'm delighted to report, it is.
One of the things I think I appreciate most about Osman is that he so obviously enjoys his own characters, and that means the reader can too. Steve is an ex-cop, now a widower running his own private detective agency in a small town, with correspondingly small investigations (a missing dog is one of his biggest cases); his daughter-in-law, by contrast, is a well-trained bodyguard, currently working to protect a best-selling author, Rosie D'Amato (who I kind of imagine as a cross between Jackie Collins and Betty White, in about a 75/25 ratio). All three are beautifully drawn—not always directly, often only in their interactions with others. Steve's wife, Debbie, died a while ago, and he's never really grieved properly for her; Amy is married to Steve's son, in an unusual sort of arrangement, and has had a hard life. The two are good for each other, and Rosie is hilarious.
The plot is the kind of thing just begging to be adapted for the screen, with lots of colourful locations around the world mixed in with the homeliness of the English country side, plus some private jets (it helps having a best-selling author who's richer than several small countries on your side), and some lively action along the way as well.
I'm looking forward to the next book in the series; I don’t know if one's been announced but the end of this one is pretty much a guarantee that one is on the way.
Started: 13 June 2025
Finished: 16 June 2025
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