REVIEW: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

After the success of The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman’s crime-fighting septuagenarians are back in The Man Who Died Twice.

It’s the Thursday after the Thursday Murder Club’s first case. Elizabeth has been approached by a man from her past who has made a mistake — a ‘stolen diamonds, the mob is involved’ kind of mistake — and he needs her help. It quickly becomes clear that this isn’t anything like their first small town case, so with the help of Joyce, Ron and Ibrihim, Elizabeth gets to work. Can she find the killer and the diamonds before it’s too late?

Richard Osman

The Man Who Died Twice is the perfect follow-up to The Thursday Murder Club. It has all the charm of the debut with a bolstered sense of familiarity, reminiscent of old friends catching up over an Earl Grey, only with a dead body or two turning up as well. At the heart of this story is a warmth that Osman captures through the characters. Moments of meaning, humour, pain and happiness shared between the characters are integral to what makes this story special.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this isn’t your typical crime novel. The crime itself is brilliant and intriguing, with dangerous people desperate to get what’s theirs and willing to kill for it. Despite this, Osman’s senior sleuths are unflappable, with this high-stakes adventure seeming more like a jovial jaunt. This lightness is testament to the captivating spirit Osman imbues in his writing. The characters are intelligent, offbeat, confident, charismatic and very funny, qualities that aren’t too dissimilar to Osman himself.

With two novels now under his belt, it’s clear that Osman delights in the unassuming and offbeat. The Man Who Died Twice takes everything that made The Thursday Murder Club a blinding success and amps it up ten-fold, before stamping it with Osman’s unique brand of quirk.

—The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (Penguin Books Australia) is out now.

The Man Who Died Twice

The Thursday Murder Club: Book 2

by Richard Osman

It's the following Thursday, and Elizabeth has just had a visit from a man she thought was dead. It's (one of) her ex-husbands, and he's being hunted. His story involves some diamonds, some spies, and a very angry mobster.

Elizabeth puts it down to his normal grandstanding, but then the bodies start piling up. So she enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for the killer. If they find the diamonds - well, that's just a bonus ... But this time the murderer isn't some small-time criminal, and it soon becomes terrifying clear that they wouldn't bat an eyelid at killing four septuagenarians...

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Ashleigh Berry