I’ve missed their camaraderie, their hilarious conversations, their individual foibles and their ability to behave badly without arousing suspicion. Chris and Donna are carrying out surveillance on local drug and crime queen pin, Connie Johnson, but she is running rings around them, leading to them being helped by more 'experienced' London detectives.

This one is not quite as cozy as the first, with some new baddies, a mafia angle, stolen diamonds, cryptic messages, a lady drug dealer, spies and a perplexing double murder! In The Man Who Died Twice you really get to know the characters that you enjoyed in the The Thursday Murder Club. After reading Richard Osman's first book, The Thursday Murder Club and finding it a bit of a confusing read, I was a bit reluctant to give this one a try.So overall, yes Mr O I think you have another best seller here which is no great surprise really as the man is multi talented. Elizabeth, Joyce and their friendship were again the stars of the show for me, although I do really love everyone.

Bogdan (whose name I heard as BobDan for the entirety of the 1st book), Donna, Chris, Patrice, and everyone else that they add to their little murder club as the books go by are all so real to me. If you haven’t read the first book, let me give you a quick summary: four septuagenarians with different occupations, characteristics and far different pasts come together to solve the cold cases.

oh, and Joyce trying to figure out Instagram (I dare you not to laugh when you find out her username). I enjoyed getting to know more about Elizabeth’s past and her ‘connections’ which was not so subtly hinted at in the first book.

The impetus to this adventure is Elizabeth receiving a letter from an old colleague/flame, who finds himself in a bit of a bind and is hoping for her assistance. 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 .Largely limited third person, it jumps around in all the major players' heads--and I do mean all: Elizabeth, former M15 agent, DCI Chris Hudson; Ibrahim the psychiatrist; Connie Johnson, drug dealer; Martin Lomax, broker; PC Donna; Douglas Middlemiss, M15 agent; Ron, professional gadfly; Bogdan Jankowski, Polish builder and man of many abilities; Patrice, teacher and girlfriend; Stephen, Elizabeth's husband; and probably a few others I'm skipping. The Man Who Died Twice is a crime novel written by the British comedian and presenter Richard Osman. It’s always a little intimidating reading a sequel to a popular book, because there’s always the danger it will lose some of its shine or run dry on some of the ideas that made its predecessor so successful. The pre-booked (no pun intended) franchising of book serials produces too many weak series and/or series that get progressively worse each book, the flipside when a series is written well, it becomes bigger than the sum of its parts, welcome to the Thursday Murder Club mystery series :) Club member, Elizabeth's past comes to her retirement complex as drug dealing, mugging (singular), theft, murders (plural) and more shake up (or is that stimulate) the lives of the four elderly Club members, their local police allies and everyone's favourite builder Bogdan, when her former employers Military Intelligence (and her former husband!

Due to circumstance, I happened to read book three ( The Bullet That Missed), then went back for second helpings (haha, see what I did there? Thanks to these intrepid, smart, inventive, resourceful and energetic lot who prove age is no barrier when it comes to enjoying life to the max I had a permanent grin on my face as I followed their escapades. Or when my kids get all upset and ask me why I sent them the sarcastic smiley face emoji when all I was trying to do was send a smiley face because forfuckssake how can you tell the difference between smiley face emojis they all look the same!

These characters are so compelling and wholesome while also being the type of morally grey that only truly intelligent people are. Are you ready for round two of the comic crime capers that come courtesy of Coopers Chase retirement village’s most celebrated residents? Add in twenty million quids worth of stolen diamonds and it’s game on for our intrepid group of septuagenarians and their loyal pals.