by Richard Osman

“More women are murdering people these days,” says Joyce. “If you ignore the context, it is a real sign of progress.”

“I’m involved about as much as I want to be with the Thursday Murder Club. If they can plant cocaine in someone’s cistern, I don’t want to think about what they’d do with my love life.”

The Thursday Murder Club, the initial book in this series is about what happens when a group of murder mystery-loving retirees are confronted with a real life murder in their own retirement community. I liked it quite well. I do not remember too much about the actual mystery, except that I have the vague feeling I was a little disappointed in that part. What I liked was the writing, the humor and the characters. However, books two, three, and four came out in the series and I let them go by with only just a little regret. But with all the publicity about the upcoming Netflix movie they came back to my attention and I decided to listen to the second one on Audible. With The Man Who Died Twice, I got the whole package. The mystery and the other goings on interested me much more than the first one, and the humor and characters were even better. I really grew attached to all in the club and their allies and the bad guys were equally entertaining. The conclusion was touching and satisfying. Justice was done, and extraordinarily so. I also want to add that the narration by the great actress Lesley Manville was brilliant.

Elizabeth, the formidable and fascinating ring leader of the Thursday Murder Club, is contacted by her ex-husband, Douglas, who wants to engage her and her friends to protect him from several organizations or personages that are looking to get back 20 million pounds worth of diamonds that they think he stole. (That pounds as in monetary unit, not weight-Ha Ha.) He believes his life is in danger and he would be right. Meanwhile, Murder Club mainstay Ibrahim, beloved by all, is attacked and beaten by a teenage thug and it is heartbreaking. Murder, Mayhem, Skullduggery, and Retribution ensue. In undertaking their changing goals as far as the Douglas assignment and their relentless pursuit of justice for Ibrahim, much is revealed about our crew. And of course our crew includes Chris, the local DCI and his partner Donna, a police constable. They are trying to put away Connie Johnson, a menace of a drug dealer and all around baddy, who has been a thorn in their side for ages.

Bogdan, a character whom I don’t even remember in the first one, was one of my favorites in this one. He is vital to the success of the Club’s missions, and and there are some personal developments regarding him, as well as Chris and Donna, that make me eager to read the third in the series to see where it all goes. The often underestimated Joyce’s emotional intelligence and Elizabeth’s experience and savvy continue to delight and amaze. We learn a lot more about Elizabeth’s background and adventures as a MI5 agent. Although it is tinged with sadness, her loving relationship with her Dementia-stricken husband Steven, was one of my favorite aspects of the book. I fully expect Ibrahim’s physical and mental recovery to be all but settled in the next entry.

I enjoy being surprised and confounded when reading a mystery as well as seeing through some red herrings and predicting some twists. This one delivered with both. I fear I may have gotten into spoiler territory in a couple of places which is not good territory to be in when reviewing a mystery. If, like me, you had some reservations over Richard Osman’s first book even if you enjoyed it on the whole, please give this one a go.