I was knee deep in working my way through my pile of must reads when the good people at NetGalley sent me this to read, and given how much I loved the first one I just couldn't wait! It builds superbly on the rich characters introduced in The Thursday Murder club, and goes a long way to solving the mystery of Elizabeth's past, which in itself could be a fantastic series! Quite how you can intertwine the Mafia, a retirement village, MI5, a diamond heist and flapjacks I'll never know, but it flipping well works!

Once again what a fab read from Richard Osman. Love the whole storyline and of course the wonderful characters from the previous book. Well written and well loved!

Highly recommended even if you haven't read the first book. It can absolutely be read as a standalone.

Thank you Netgalley.

This is a great sequel to Richard Osman's first murder mystery- 'The Thursday Murder Club"
For the most enjoyment, I'd recommend starting starting with the first novel to get familiar with the characters.
This book contains an interesting mystery, lots of humour, (a few twists!), delightful characters and ends perfectly

I read Richard Osman’s first book, The Thursday Murder Club, last year, and explained how I had snootily had no great hopes of it, but had been confounded and absolutely loved it. I was so very far from being the only one, and the book was a quite phenomenal bestseller. And so of course this is the followup. And #SPOILERNOTSPOILER he has done it again – another hugely enjoyable book.

The setup of both books sounds formulaic, and made to be translated into a Sunday evening BBC drama: a group of people in an upmarket retirement village get together to solve crimes, each bringing their own different talents and life experiences to the table. They now have friends in the police force that they can work with.

Yes I know, it could go either way, right?





But the books are clever and charming, and full of real-life moments and conversation, and very very funny. And there is also a lot good complex plotting going on, and a great structure.

Most of the book is third person, with varying POV, but there are sections narrated by the lovely, hilarious, gentle Joyce – don’t underestimate her. She has a heart-breakingly tricky relationship with her grown-up daughter Joanna, beautifully done in both books:

‘I used to give her £20 when she went out with friends and her eyes would light up. I loved that. Would they light up the same way for a million pounds? Probably not. She’d probably put it in an ISA.’

If there is a better quote about parenthood in any book this year I would be surprised.

The plot concerns some ex-spies, and a master criminal, and missing diamonds, and an unexpected figure from the past of one of the recurring characters.





It’s full of great lines:




They asked me who my favourite author is and I said Boris Pasternak, even though it’s really Marian Keyes.

*

‘Feel free to arrest me any time. What’s your eye shadow?’

‘Pat McGrath, Gold Standard.


‘It’s lush.’


(Whom does Richard Osman get to tell him about that? He surely doesn’t automatically know the right brand to drop...)


This is not a group who minds if you smoke [or] don’t wear a seatbelt. The whole scene might have been from the 1970s, when, if you wanted to die of lung cancer, or in a road accident, that that was your choice.

*

Chris thinks back to the day a cashier... swiped through the chocolate, the crisps, the Diet Coke, the sausage rolls, she had a looked up with a kind smile and said, ‘What is it dear, a children’s birthday party?’ Chris has used self-service checkouts ever since.







There is some splendid misdirection over what ‘a terrible flirt’ might mean. Separately there is a scene in which an Important Drug Deal is going on and a particularly villainous character is also trying to hook up with the other person in the deal. I have no idea how Richard Osman makes this scene so clever, funny, and almost-sympathetic.
This looks like a series that can run and run, because it has such good varied characters – this is what has made Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway books such a winner in my eyes. With any luck these will be the same: where the funniest lines, best developments, most convincing actions all hit home because of our years of knowing the characters. Won’t that be great?

The crime plot was suitably complex (not quite as much so as in the first book, when he slightly overdid it) and I could see some of it coming, but it was satisfying enough, and the whole experience was a joy. I got a review copy of this book, and I am more than happy to write about it – but this was one of the rare cases where I asked for the book just because I really really wanted to read it as soon as possible – I would happily have paid for it, but didn’t want to wait. As much of a compliment as I can ever give... [Yes I know it came out ages ago, but I have been on hiatus]

Private Eye did a great joke about Richard Osman & Christmas last year




– they can just change the name and rework it I think. If you get it for Christmas you should be delighted.

This isn't normally my type of book, but I bowed to the hype of the first novel.
It was actually a really nice read, but it possibly would have been better if i'd read the first one.

This is an unusually structured story. it is a first person POV (point of view).
Each chapter is a different character.
It could be confusing or off putting, but I found it worked well.
The characters are a fascinating lot and the mystery is a continual "who did what" and "are we sure?"

This was an incredibly good second novel. Yet again, I was unable to put down this book until I reached the finale. I have a lot of love for all the characters and really enjoyed the writing. Excited for the next book!

Book two in the bestselling Thursday Murder Club series. Yes. Best off reading book one first so you get a good feel for all these OAP characters and some background to them all. Kind of follows on from book one, I am not surprised to see these OAPs are back to mischief again but bigger and better this time.

20 million pounds worth of diamonds, drugs, the mafia and even revenge on an attack on one of the OAPs themselves. This elderly group is not afraid at all. They will take on anyone and usually win with the help of the local police. They’re all very clever especially Elizabeth she has to be one of my favourite out of the group, the boss, the ringleader. I am absolutely loving this series and already looking forward to book three. Highly recommend. A well deserved four stars from me.

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman has a tough act to follow. The Thursday Murder Club was not only a cracking good read it is also a record breaker, the only book to become a platinum best seller (that’s one million copies sold) in the year of publication. Was it a flash in the pan? The Man Who Died Twice see’s the four senior citizen sleuths on the track of mafia diamonds. It is both funny and suspenseful (is that even a word?). All the neat ends get knitted in. The baddies come to a sticky end and we are perfectly set up for a third instalment. Perfect.

This was so much better than the first installment, I absolutely loved this. It was laugh out loud funny and very unpredictable. I have to stay I really couldn't put it down and I will be thrilled if I learn that a third installment is in the pipeline.

I enjoyed this book, but felt like I didn't love it as much as the first! It was filled with classic jokes and the characters still made me laugh though. There were also many twists and turns which I enjoyed and kept me wanting to read to find out what happened at the end.

I was really keen to read this book as I enjoyed the first one and liked the characters and premise. I especially like Joyce and could imagine her played by Penelope Wilton.
Unfortunately I did not enjoy this one as much and it took me a long time to get into it. There wasn't anything that I can pinpoint to explain this but perhaps it was a bit far-fetched.
I ended up getting the audiobook and listening instead and enjoyed that more. I will do that for the next book too.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy.

The Man Who Died Twice by Ricard Osman, published by Penguin Random House's Viking Press.

This is the sequel to the bestselling The Thursday Murder Club. I didn't read the first one, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of this second installment in the murder mystery series at all. Osman cleverly injects enough back story to allow first-time readers like me to catch on easily.

The book had me roaring with laughter on page one already. Because who says a murder mystery can't be fun? And any author who can concoct a line of dialogue in which one of the characters quips that a Zimmer frame makes you look fat, is worthy of all the accolades, in my opinion.

Featuring a band of diverse, lovable, hilarious crime-solving retirees, the book will remind readers of a certain vintage of TV series such as Murder She Wrote.

I know the book has been panned by some, but I think it's great, mostly light-hearted escapism at a time when the world is anything but. And the bigger message in this? Don't dismiss or underestimate the intelligence of people after they've reached a certain age. For that alone, Osman deserves applause!

I loved the first book in this series and loved the audio book. I loved this 2nd book and made me love the story even more. This was again well written with characters you loved. The short chapters kept me wanting to read more. I love Richards writing style and would love to read more.

Moved straight onto this after reading the first one, as enjoyable as the first book was, this second one is even better! The plotline draws you in further and further until it is racing along pulling the reader breathlessly after it. The Thursday Club members and their friends and families are beautifully crafted and you just can't help liking them as if they were real people you could meet on the bus or in the street. The baddies are clearly bad people who deserve everything Elizabeth decides they should get.
The actual plot is suitably complicated without being pretentious or too over the top and has some excellent twists and turns. And the lovely threads of humour throughout the book just add that final magical ingredient that turn this book into a complete joy to read!
Fully deserved five stars and well worth reading, I will be recommending it to all my friends. Well done Richard. Already looking forward to more adventures of the lovely members of the Thursday Murder Club.

Just like the first book, this book keeps readers on their toes. I was vaguely unsure if I was going to like this book as much as I enjoyed the first one and I was pleasantly surprised, The book has the right amount of mystery and I loved the narration.

If you enjoyed the first one, please grab yourself a copy of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for this EARC.

DNF at 20%.

I appreciate the free copy of this book in exchange for a review but I just really am not enjoying it and will not be finishing the book, I thought that the first book was decent but this one just isn't capturing my attention unfortunately.

Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.

As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus?

I did enjoy this more than the first thursday murder club as it was a faster pace and therefore was engaged more in the story as there was various layers and reveals.

The layers and subplots all tied up at the end wrapping up all lose ends, but this also resulted in tangents which did cause me to lose interest. But the humour did draw me back in, and there was a few cringey (for me) sections involving joyce.

I did at points get confused one who was who as they all had similar dialogue, and they weren't as distinctive as they where in the 1st book.

Overall i enjoyed and if you want a light crime/mystery with some humour then i would recommend this.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a eARC for an honest review.

I loved the first book and could not wait to read the second installation. I was not disappointed/ Just as funny and daft as the first book. Definitely one to give you a giggle.