The Man Who Died Twice (The Thursday Murder Club Book 2)

Product Information

Ooh, yes?" says Joyce. "I love this sort of thing. I had my tarot done on the pier once. She said I was going to come into money." There are lifts in all the buildings, but Elizabeth will use the stairs while she still can. Stairs are good for hip and knee flexibility. Also it is very easy to kill someone in a lift when the doors open. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and a ping to announce that you're about to appear. Not that she's worried about being killed, it doesn't feel to her like that's what's happening here, but it's always important to remember best practice. Elizabeth has never killed anyone in a lift. She once saw someone pushed down an empty lift shaft in Essen, but that was different. It was a pleasure to return to Coopers Chase Retirement Village and get to spend more time with the Club members and their friends. I just love the energy , compassion, wisdom and intelligence of this group of elderly (in age but not in spirit) sleuths who don’t let age dictate the way they spend their days . Well, that is certainly food for thought, Ibrahim; thank you," says Joyce. "A bit soulless perhaps. Don't you think, Elizabeth?" There was a lot of meandering and tangents that I kept on losing focus. Beyond the 30% mark or so, the investigation and reveals were light and didn’t hook me in.

She is going through the text of the letter again in her head. "I wonder if you remember me?" "An awful lot of water under the bridge, and so on." I listened to the audiobook expertly narrated by Lesley Manville. Her genre voicing and voice inflections deliver the right amount of drama and humor to the listener. It's such a great performance, I plan to listen to the audiobook when the next book in this series is published! Specifically, we have to look at the chances of your life expectancy exceeding the life expectancy of a medium dog.' Lomax has his own problems. He lives on a glorious estate, where he invites the public to visit his gardens (NOT the house!) and where he has all manner of gold, gems, artwork, you-name-it, held as deposits for various drug dealers as they negotiate their swaps. He is careful to a fault, but the public needs to be wary of where they walk. The main characters are established. Whereas The Thursday Murder Club made the introductions and scattered those “get to know you” details that one might enjoy at a party where conversations don’t go too deep, this book is more like a sit-down dinner with a glass of wine, where you really start to get to know your new friends and their histories. I loved finding out more about Elizabeth’s secretive past. She’s a badass! And Joyce. Don’t let her sweet, ditzy manner fool you. She’s got her own skills to bring to the table. Ron and Ibrahim, DCI Chris and Donna, lovable Bogdan … all of them had new layers of their personalities and skills revealed, which made me feel more invested in them and their story.

Become a Member

EXCERPT: The nights are beginning to draw in a little, and the sun is sinking behind the trees on top of the hill as Elizabeth reaches Ruskin Court and rings the bell for number 14. Here goes nothing. There is a brief wait and she is buzzed up. A brutal mugging, an unexpected visitor from the past, stolen diamonds, mafia-types, a lady drug-dealer/crime boss, and a trigger-happy killer! The bodies keep dropping and the culprits keep disappearing without a trace... The plot and pace of this marvellously mad caper is much faster than the first one, there’s more danger and a higher body count. However, what shines through all the nefarious deeds, twists and turns is the love, friendship and respect for this group of smart pensioners. Just because they are in the upper age profile nobody messes with them and gets away with it, they take no prisoners, they are full of vim, vigour, brains and a barrel load of flair and ingenuity. Their all for one and one for all mentality shines through all they do which is heartwarming. Have I mentioned the laughs? There’s plenty of those especially in Joyce’s journal. She’s what my mum would have called ‘a card’ , ‘a darned good tonic’ and ‘a good egg’. It’s so entertaining Joyce has me laughing out loud! The whole escapade is written in such a lively entertaining and engaging way that it’s hard to put down once you start. I love Richard Osman’s wry and clever sense of humour which I’m glad to say crops up with frequency. We return to Coopers Chase and our much loved Gang of Four of the Thursday Murder Club, not forgetting the multi talented and unflappable Bogdan and our friendly police officers DCI Chris Hudson, now in love (or lust, or both) with Patrice, mother of PC Donna De Freitas. I’m happy to report that it’s every bit as good as the last one, if not even better. Ex-spy Elizabeth is quiet .... she's received a letter from one Marcus Carmichael which takes her on an unsettling trip down her spook memory lane and gives her much to ponder on especially as Marcus Carmichael is dead. Meanwhile, Chris and Donna are staking out Connie Johnson's drug operation without huge success but all of them are rightly angry and very worried when poor Ibrahim is mugged by local thugs. Add in twenty million quids worth of stolen diamonds and it’s game on for our intrepid group of septuagenarians and their loyal pals.

I wondered how these two crimes could possibly be related but leave it to this group to find a way to punish all of those involved. In my review for The Thursday Murder Club, I wrote, “One word for this book, along with the four main characters: Charming.” That stands true here as well. Thank you to Penguin/Viking for providing me with a widget of the ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

More in Books

MY THOUGHTS: I just loved The Thursday Murder Club, but approached The Man Who Died Twice (don't you just love that title!) with just a modicum of apprehension. Would the author fall victim to the second book syndrome? He didn't. Osman hasn't put one word wrong. Last week, Sally Rooney’s third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You topped the UK’s charts with sales of 46,065 copies. This week, Rooney’s novel sits at No 4 in the overall charts, with 19,782 copies sold. Bob Mortimer’s And Away… sits behind Osman in second place, having sold 42,094 copies. Well, that goes without saying, yes," agrees Ibrahim. "So, at seventy-seven years old, we have to take a look at your life expectancy." Joyce, the diarist, is a former nurse, who seems a gentle, naïve soul, but there’s almost no blood and gore that she hasn’t seen before. That’s just as well, because our main character, Elizabeth Best, is a retired (I use the term loosely) spy who seems to be as active as ever. What is she capable of?

Elizabeth nods. "Immaculate." Not the only thing she has noticed about Poppy, who seems to have sprung from nowhere, with her nails and her incompetence. But she has other things on her mind for now, and the mystery of Poppy can wait for another day. I had the pleasure of listening to the Audible narrated by the VERY talented and engaging Lesley Manville and I do hope she will be continuing her work with book three in the series, “The Bullet That Missed” which has an expected publication date of September 20, 2022. Osman follows The Thursday Murder Club, his supremely entertaining debut, with an even better second installment. . .A clever, funny mystery peopled with captivating characters that enhance the story at every quirky turn.” Who bought stolen phones? Ibrahim had a Tetris app on his phone. There were 200 levels, and he was on level 127 after playing for a considerable amount of time. All of that progress was lost.”I love both of these books and look forward to more. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the review copy from which I’ve quoted. The mystery itself is compelling and an improvement over the first book. Though it took its time getting started, leisurely leading us to the murderous moment, once we get there it's off to the races. From that point on, I found it completely unputdownable.

Fair enough, fair enough," says Chris. "Okay, I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with Y." Mmm, good idea," replies Elizabeth, though she is not really listening. How could she be, after the letter she received last night?

It’s a mystery to me why you never got married, old son,” says Ron to Ibrahim, and takes the bottle of white wine from the cooler on the table. “With that silver tongue of yours. Top-up, anyone?'” It's clear that in just two books, this series has become a favorite of mine. I can't wait for the next installment! I need to reread the first book cause I gave that 3.5 stars. Was I wrong? Or does the second book just have my specific tropes?