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

“If one is never lost in life, then clearly one has never traveled anywhere interesting.”

The second book in the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman, The Man Who Died Twice returns to Coopers Chase on the following Thursday. Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He’s made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life. As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?

Rating:

I really want to love this series more because I’m a big fan of Richard Osman. BUT… I don’t just don’t seem to get on with more light-hearted/comedy thrillers, so it’s the genre that puts me off more than anything else.

But I wanted to give it another go with this second book. Sadly, I liked this one even less. Just as I did with the first book, I didn’t find the story/crime itself all that interesting, especially when the real detectives take a back seat to allow un-connected characters to do their job for them. It’s just something that really disengages me from a book.

And what happened to the Coopers Chase retirement home setting? This is what I loved more about the first book, picturing these characters sitting in the Jigsaw Room, solving a murder as if they were merely doing a crossword puzzle. With so much time on the streets with these characters in action, I just found this one largely unbelievable.

Still, I absolutely love Osman’s comedy and wit, which absolutely shines through. So many lines of dialogue made me laugh and the characters are all so brilliantly developed. It’s just the genre I don’t get on with, so I would be more than excited to give a different series a go if Osman were to move on to something else.