We Solve Murders by Richard Osman (Audible)

When I realised that Richard Osman was writing a new novel and it wasn’t going to be another instalment of The Thursday Murder Club, I was disappointed. I look forward to my annual meet up with Joyce, Elizabeth & co; it’s a comforting bit of joy in an otherwise complicated world. If I’m honest, I also worried that this new cosy crime series might be rubbish in comparison with TTMC. My niece, being less sceptical than I am, was desperate for a copy, but she was patiently waiting to see what Christmas would bring. Christmas brought her a signed copy of We Solve Murders. Her feedback was promising; the book was slightly different in tone, but still very enjoyable... “you should read it Aunty Sue!” So I did.

“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 favourite 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?”

Whilst we may have left behind Joyce, Elizabeth and the boys in the quaint retirement village of Cooper’s Chase, Osman’s latest offering still imbues the same warmth and cosy feeling of his ‘Thursday Murder Club’ books. The gentle humour between characters and nods to classic British staples are still clear throughout the book, but instead of Joyce’s penchant for M&S, we’re invited into a world of Monster Munch and Greggs sausage rolls. We have moved to a slightly more modern world…the world of the social media influencer. Yes, I know Joyce has an Instagram account, but these unfortunate Instagrammers find that bagging a freebie trip to foreign lands is a costly and unglamourous mistake to make.

Meet our protagonist, Amy. Her latest job is to protect bestselling crime novelist Rosie D’Antonio from being murdered. D’Antonio appears to have angered a notable Russian oligarch after she featured him in her latest blockbuster! Whilst they are hiding out on a remote island, another Instagram influencer is murdered and Amy realises that somehow, she is connected to all the victims. It’s not only Rosie’s life in danger, but somehow, Amy seems to be in danger too. In a strange twist of events and with Rosie’s private jet at their disposal, the most unlikely crime busting duo of all time team up. With some added help from Amy’s father-in-law Steve (ex-police) they take-off on a globe-trotting adventure that will see them dodging hitmen and finding new collaborators to aid them in their dangerous quest.

No One Saw A Thing by Andrea Mara (Paperback)

I was having lunch with friends, and we thought that instead of randomly recommending a book we’d enjoyed, it might be fun to read the same book and discuss it as a group in a book club. What could be nicer than a get together over some wine discussing books?! We took the plunge in February and for our first ever book club, we read Andrea Mara’s No 1 Bestseller, No One Saw A Thing. 

We all had such high hopes for this book; the blurb sounded really exciting, and it was a Richard & Judy Book club pick, so we thought we would all love it.

 

“Two children get on the train. Only one gets off...

No one saw it happen.

Your two little girls jump on the train ahead of you. As you try to join them, the doors slide shut and the train moves away, leaving you behind.

Everyone is lying.

It's only when you reach the next stop that you truly begin to panic. Because there aren't two children waiting for you on the platform. There's only one.

Someone is to blame.

Has your other daughter got lost? Been taken by a passing stranger?
Or perhaps the culprit is closer to home than you think….”

 

A missing child must be high up on every parent’s worst nightmare list. For Sive and her husband Aaron, this nightmare is about to become reality. Aaron Sullivan, a high-flying criminal barrister, is visiting London for a reunion with his former flat mates. As he catches up with the friends he lived with twenty years ago, his wife has arranged to have breakfast with one of his female friends. In the middle of rush hour, Sive tries to negotiate an unfamiliar London Underground with two small children and a baby in a pram. Her day is about to be changed irrevocably when she decides to answer her mobile phone, whilst pushing the pram and trying to keep her eyes on six-year-old Faye and two-year-old Bea.

Sive encourages the two young children to jump on the tube train, but before Sive can reach them, the train doors close leaving her stranded on the platform, and the two youngsters embarking on a journey alone. With panic rising and not knowing what she should do for the best, a fellow passenger approaches her and says that a man on board noticed what happened and would get the children off at the next station, however, when Sive arrives, she finds only Bea on the platform, Faye is missing, and all two year old Bea can say is “chase on the train.” It quickly becomes apparent that in a city of millions, no one saw what happened to Faye.

To her credit, Mara has managed to capture the fear of being in a large, unfamiliar city, full of crowded, bustling streets and large parks where a child could be taken to. She has painted a place where kidnappers could lurk in the shadows, and people turn a blind eye for fear of becoming involved in something they don’t want to be a part of. But what starts as an interesting storyline, filled with fear and angst, quickly turns into a book littered with plot holes which make for an exasperating read.