The Bullet That Missed: (The Thursday Murder Club 3)

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That’s the thing about Coopers Chase. You’d imagine it was quiet and sedate, like a village pond on a summer’s day. But in truth it never stops moving, it’s always in motion. And that motion is aging, and death, and love, and grief, and final snatched moments and opportunities grasped. The urgency of old age. There’s nothing that makes you feel more alive than the certainty of death.” There are some interesting new characters introduced - Mervyn, who is looking for love in all the wrong places; Jill Regan from the NCA; and assorted criminals, some obviously so, others not so obvious. Of all the criminals it was Garth who intrigued me the most, a great big Canadian bear of a man who loved very deeply. Incredibly clever, with some deeply poignant scenes and laugh-out-loud shenanigans from the elderly friends, this fourth entry in the series is chaotically fun…Osmanweaves numerous plot lines, both tragic and hilarious, into an irresistible novel, perfect for fans of Mrs. Pollifax or Miss Marple.”

The 4th edition of the Thursday Murder Club series is filled with crimes, philosophy and a short goodbye. Osman doesn’t disappoint… Everything is here that fans of the series have come to expect: humour, warmth, the confounding of expectations as these pensioners investigate… Along with the laughs, there is grief, and an ending that is handled sensitively (I was weeping)… We all need a regular injection of the Thursday Murder Club to keep our spirits up.” Because of course, there is always more than one mystery to solve in these, and the little reveals at the end are usually even more fun than the BIG REVEAL. Her retort is perfectly fitting and definitely a sign that there will be more Thursday Murder Mystery Club meetings in readers futures… Returning in The Last Devil to Die are DCI Chris Hudson, PC Donna De Freitas and the unflappable, Bogdan Jankowski.

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As we have come to expect from Osman's writing, there is more than one tightly plotted mystery to unravel. The latest adventure of the Thursday Murder Club is also its best…Even if the mysteries weren’t absorbing — which they are —Osman’s books, likeAlexander McCall Smith’s, would work simply because it’s such fun to spend time with these people.What setsDevilapart from its predecessors is the deftness and humor with whichOsmanconfronts a subject that’s completely not funny: dementia…In the end, the murder club books are not really about crime but about friendship and finding ways to stay involved in life.” I am a little bummed that Richard Osman is taking a break from this series to start another one (though I'm excited to see what he comes up with). Visiting these septuagenarians has become a highlight of my fall every year. But don't worry, for whenever the next book comes out, I'll be right here waiting to be reunited with my old friends. With films, of course, you're filming one every two years or so, so filming four [would mean] they're going to be eight years older than they were on film one. So the Hollywood thing, by and large, is that you get people you can age up a little bit.

I cannot think of another series with a more moving exploration of love after a lifetime together, and The Last Devil To Die reduced me to tears at more than one point.” There may be other aged detectives in print and on television,but for wit, intelligence and humanity, the Thursday Murder Club outranks them all.” Osman has created very engaging characters. He also has a sense of humour that shines through the work. I think he's pretty good at plotting too. The mystery is complex but not at all confusing. I loved that the bad guy who got away was a Canadian. Garth may be ruthless, but he was always polite about it. What is truly special in the books are the characters, whose age allows for a beautiful kind of interaction… For all the fizz of jokes and romance, the books carry with them a sense of grief and sadness which becomes much stronger in The Last Devil to Die…The kindness is his books comes out of something greater for Osman. It’s how he wants the world to be and it’s how he thinks the world is, if only we could realize it.” THE THIRD NOVEL IN THE RECORD-BREAKING, MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES BY RICHARD OSMANI’ll miss my yearly September visit with the gang next year, as Osman is taking a break from the series to write a father-daughter mystery. Though I’m looking forward to seeing where his creative mind takes him with that story, I hope to see my Thursday Murder Club friends again soon. Fall just isn’t the same without them! The cast was a bit smaller this time but still had diverse and fascinating characters including an art forger, her comically psychotic Canadian husband, some drug runners, a couple museum experts, a victim of romance fraud, a brief return of Stephen’s friend, antiques dealer Kuldesh Sharma, imprisoned drug maven Connie, and of course, the eminently lovable Bogdan, along with detectives Donna, Chris and others. Narrator Fiona Shaw did a stellar job once again of voicing them all. The Last Devil to Die is equal parts well-plotted mystery, scintillating repartee and deep reflection on what it means to love and live.”