"We Solve Murders" by Richard Osman

Another book that's been sitting in my TBR pile too long is "We Solve Murders" by Richard Osman, author of "The Thursday Murder Club" series. (I've read all those books to date;  they're all reviewed here.)  TTMC will be back with a new adventure this fall, but in the meantime, Osman wrote this, the first volume in what will no doubt be another highly successful series. It recently came out in paperback (although I've had an e-copy for a while).    

Amy Wheeler is a bodyguard for the rich and famous -- and as the book opens, she's on a remote island off the coast of South Carolina with eccentric best-selling author Rosie D'Antonio, who's been receiving death threats from a Russian oligarch she wrote into one of her latest books. 

But now someone is trying to kill Amy too. They've already killed several minor social media "influencers" (!) -- and Amy has been implicated in those murders -- and they may have killed Amy's boss, Jeff, too. The only person she trusts is back home in England -- her father-in-law, Steve Wheeler, a widowed, happily retired cop, a homebody and creature of habit whose idea of excitement is the weekly quiz night at the local pub and who dotes on a cat named Trouble. Rosie flies Steve over to America in her private jet to join her and Amy  -- and then the chase is on, from South Carolina to St. Lucia to Ireland to England and Dubai. 

I remember Anne Bogel/Modern Mrs. Darcy included this in her last year's (2024) Fall Reading Guide, and when introducing it during her "unboxing" event, she laughed and shook her head and said, "It's ridiculous!" -- but in an affectionate way, implying that it was a lot of fun. It was.  :)  I blazed through the first 2/3 over the weekend and finished it this morning. 

I think the TMC books are still my favourite Osman novels -- but this was a pretty great read too. Lots of action (almost right from the start), lots of laughs. Plot twists and turns and more twists galore. Just don't take it too seriously. (I doubt you can, really.)  If you enjoy TTMC, you will enjoy this one too.  

The TTMC books have been consistent 5 star reads for me. I gave this one 4.5 stars on StoryGraph. I debated whether that should be rounded up or down, and decided that while TTMC is still my favourite, this wound up being too irresistible not to give it full props. So, 5 stars on Goodreads. 

ALI/CNBC note:  Amy & Adam are childfree by choice. Grief/loss is also a theme here (widowed Steve holds regular conversations with his dead wife Debbie). 

This was Book #19 read to date in 2025 (and Book #3 finished in June), bringing me to 42% of  my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 2 books behind  schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books."