When Richard Osman announced that he was taking a break from The Thursday Murder Club series, about a group of adorable but scary geriatrics in a retirement community who solve murders, to release We Solve Murders, a different series about a father-in-law and his daughter-in-law who…solve murders, expectations were, naturally, high.
In We Solve Murders, Amy, a private security officer for bestselling author Rosie D’Antonio (a firecracker of indeterminate age), turns to Steve, her father-in-law, when she is implicated in a series of killings. While we all liked the novel, especially the tender bond between Amy and Steve, it seemed like a placeholder for the return of the fantastic four of The Thursday Murder Club. Yet Osman has surprised us again with We Chase Shadows, the second book in the We Solve Murder series.
With this new release, Osman might have two successful franchises on his hands. The novel begins with a shadowy, unnamed criminal planning to disappear and exact revenge on whoever outed him. Elsewhere, Steve is yapping with friends in the pub about going to The Graham Norton Show as one of Rosie’s plus-twos (with Amy). Elsewhere still, a criminal is wondering about such mundane things as “Where is my Amazon delivery?” and “Who murdered by bodyguard?”. So far so good?
Obviously, the body count goes up, and Rosie, Amy, and a reluctant Steve find themselves jet-setting around the world trying to solve the case.
Osman’s humour is what sells his books and makes you tune in to his podcast The Rest is Entertainment, which he runs with fellow host Marina Hyde; it’s what puts the cosy in cosy mystery.
In We Chase Shadows, the jokes keep popping up like garden gnomes. We have office managers who are hoping that the job entails “murders as far as the eye can see”; a security detail who’s more comfortable in a petrochemical conference in Nairobi than at a literary event where someone may ask her what she thinks of Ian McEwan; a retired cop who judges a person’s character on their ability to know the capital of Malawi; a small man with a rather long name from Interpol who knows what the capital of Malawi is; a minor villain whose bedtime reading sessions with his grandkids go something like “This goddamn cat is too damn proud of this goddamn hat, if you ask me”. We also have what’s probably the worst manager in the history of publishing… There’s enough ammunition for wisecracks, and enough guns to fire them from too.
But the tough people in Osman’s books have their vulnerabilities: Amy with her abandonment issues, Steve with his grief, Rosie with her fear of ageing and approaching irrelevance, her new book trailing behind a romance novel about two tennis players titled New Balls Please.
Ultimately, the sweet spot lies between the thrills and the feels. Pick up We Chase Shadows even—or especially—if you thought We Solve Murders “wasn’t as good as the other series”.
We Chase Shadows is published by Penguin; ₹766
