“you were an awful husband, but you always knew how to tell a good story” (Osman 27)
Welcome to the second Thursday Murder Club book series review. I hope you might have had a chance to read the first book following my last blog on Richard Osman’s series. As the second book opens, we learn more about Elizabeth’s colourful life. We know she has been married three times and the loveable Stephen is her third husband. However, we do not know much about Elizabeth’s earlier life until this book. Osman has a fantastic way of slowly unpacking his characters lives. It is the gift of setting your main cast as elder people- they have had a life full of twists and turns. So, who is Douglas, Elizabeth’s second husband?
He turns out to be someone who is a foolish type of character, a decent sort of man but one Elizabeth was not completely in love with. Their marriage worked on their puzzles and riddles they set each other. The reason Douglas needs Elizabeth’s help in this book, is because he has stolen £20 million in diamonds from a notorious banker. His life is in danger and it catapults Elizabeth and the gang into a new drama.
I love the way Osman both creates littles clues for the reader to try and spot throughout the book and centres focus on the way the elderly is still capable of having an action-packed life. A highlight is when Joyce hides the diamonds in her kettle. Using the mundane to bring the drama to a realistic setting.
Elizabeth is queen of the dry witty lines, and I love the moment she says to Douglas, “you were an awful husband, but you always knew how to tell a good story,” hence the choice of it as the featured quote for this month. Elizabeth has always struggled with forming genuine connections with people. It is based on a transaction of trust rather than affection and love. We see her character develop in this respect as the series goes on. Douglas knows how to talk himself out of a situation with a “good story,” so him and Elizabeth are similar in that character trait.
Osman continues to progress each character’s narrative and we still get to see Ron, Ibrahim and other characters from the first book. The events are set only two weeks after the first book, so it is almost a seamless continuation.
The plot has a neat way of explaining itself, no spoilers here! And of course, Joyce continues to narrate and tell of the shops she’s most keen to visit. In this book, Osman has already shown he is developing a long running and much loved and respected brand of books, where we genuinely care for the central quartet’s wellbeing. He is artful and witty while still putting the ingredients for a cosy crime novel in the mix too. Join me in June when I will look at book three of The Thursday Murder Club series.
Works Cited-
Quote- Osman, Richard. The Man Who Died Twice. 2nd Edition. Penguin Books-Viking. 2022.
Photo- TGJones. “The Man Who Died Twice”. TGJones. Date accessed: 18th March 2026. URL: https:/www.tgjonesonline.co.uk/product/Richard-Osman/The-Man-Who-Died-Twice—The-Thursday-Murder-Club-2/10164850.