“I’ve known you for just over two weeks, and I’ve already been in a grave with a KGB colonel, I’ve seen a tiny old woman drug a Viking, and I’ve shared a bed with the most handsome man in Kent. For three or four years in the eighties I did a lot of magic mushrooms. I once did LSD in Bratislava with Iron Maiden. But nothing- nothing I’ve ever done compares to a couple of days in your company”- Pauline (Ron’s girlfriend).
Welcome to the third of five The Thursday Murder Club series reviews. I hope you are enjoying them and have started the series or relived it if you had previously read it. Richard Osman the author has a fantastic way of unpacking each of the main quartet’s backstories and lives across the series. Elizabeth (former head of MI5 OR MI6 we are led to believe) is often the catalyst for the action of each novel- either because she has an enemy who wants to get her or a former contact/friend seeks her help to deal with an enemy! The action kicks off from the outset and this adventure centres around the murder of a local newsreader, Elizabeth’s London based friend and Ron’s new girlfriend.
Osman always has a time sensitive crime that needs cracked, but finds the time (partly through Joyce’s more slow-paced diary narrative) to give more of a back story to each central character. Ron is a fire brand union man, who has been in many fights, police altercations and trouble over the years. However, in this instalment we see a softer side to him when he meets Pauline who works on the tv set of the news, where the crime is being solved of the young woman’s murder.
Pauline, as the quote says, is just as ready for anything, be it “magic mushrooms” or “LSD”, so is not fazed by what the gang get into. She finds the adventure thrilling, the way she gets “in a grave with a KGB colonel” and sees Joyce (“tiny old woman”) drug a six foot plus Viking. It is nice to see how Ron reacts to having company again, as he can seem lonely in the earlier novels. Osman has a talent of highlighting the importance of strong relationships and never being too old for a new adventure- no matter how crazy!
I loved how this novel firmly establishes each character so we see them in a 4D way and appreciate how their skills make the team successful. It is funny the way each of the characters are open to bending the law in order to crack the crime. I believe each character knows Elizabeth is influential but they don’t know her exact past. That is a gift Osman can tease out as the series develops. I found the ending a nice surprise and explosive, so it is highly worth reading and I look forward to the next Thursday Murder Club review for the fourth novel when we next visit the gang!
Work cited:
AbeBooks. ”AbeBooks”. AbeBooks. Date accessed: 18th May 2026. URL: abebooks.co.uk/servlet/bookdetailspl?bi=31528114303.
Osman, Richard. The Bullet That Missed. 1st Edition. Penguin Books, Viking. 2022.