A treasure of a book! I think this must be my favourite book of 2021! I loved everything about it: the writing, the characters, the mystery, the setting, a little bit of life coaching amidst the suspense. I enjoyed it so much that I went to my bookstore and immediately purchased the first book in the series and I am looking forward to the third book. The characters of this book will hold a special place in my heart! A lovely and wise book.

The second book in the Thursday Murder Club series brings “the gang of four” back together again. Pensioners Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron and Ibrahim are still living at Cooper’s Chase retirement village and still dabbling in cold cases at their regular Thursday meeting, however when Ibrahim is mugged and Elizabeth’s ex-husband shows up at Cooper’s Chase, they realise that things are about to take an unusual, and nasty, turn! We are also reunited with Bogdan, the mysterious man who can turn his hand to most things (& probably ought to be considered on of the club now!), and with PC Donna de Freitas & DCI Chris Hudson from the local police force who seem to have an unofficial understanding with the Thursday Murder Club!
We find ourselves following the Thursday Murder Club members as they are drawn into a world of spies, drugs and stolen diamonds via a letter from beyond the grave! There is plenty of humour, observations on modern life, and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, but there are also some quite nasty things happening. It’s not a gentle cosy mystery set in an idyllic “Miss Marple-esque” village, this is modern day Britain with all that entails.
I do feel that you really need to read the first book in the series to understand the characters (especially Bogdan), as it lays some solid foundations that are built upon here. We really get to see their different personalities & quirks of the characters.

Overall, this is an excellent sequel to the first book & highly recommended! I look forward to seeing what mischief the Thursday Murder Club get into next.


#TheManWhoDiedTwice #NetGalley.

Better than the first book, utterly compelling and I read it quickly. Glad to see more character development here, especially Elizabeth.

After the first volume, I preferred Thorogood, but have now changed my mind.

Amazon is not allowing reviews yet, but I will be giving 5*.

Needs another proof read. Clue: at one point, conversation is attributed to the wrong character.

“Oh, here we go again,” says Chris.
“I want to organise a meeting with the mafia. In Fairhaven.”
“Of course you do,” says Chris. “Any reason? Or was bridge cancelled and you had a slot in your diary?”

Set one week after the eventful happenings recounted in The Thursday Murder Club came to a conclusion, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron are back and the game is afoot once more in everyone’s favourite retirement community. It involves a whole new intriguing cast of shady characters, diamonds, cups of tea, robberies, bus and train trips and a lot of heart, humour and humanity.
This time, an old flame turns up most unexpectedly in Coopers Chase with an unlikely proposition for one of our formidable pensioners, while something else dramatic happens to another of our favourite characters. One thing leads to another and soon our four veteran vigilantes are helping the authorities once again, whether they like it or not.
As in the first book, the story in this sequel comes with some subtle, insightful and wry observations on life, relationships, ageing, hopes and dreams and the whole gamut of human experience. The pace never slows and the plot is as inventive and fun as ever, with some fiendish red herrings and inventive twists, all told in a tone that is entertaining and compassionate but which also never ducks the reality that bad things do happen to good people.
It all goes to produce a charming, touching, hugely enjoyable and engrossing page-turner of a sequel that I flew through in three days and that is as good, if not better, than the original tale.

Brilliant! The gang is back - and what a gang. Each with their different characters and talents,each bouncing off one another.
Humour, suspense, tragedy,intrigue. This work of genius has it all.
The first Thursday Club novel was a best seller,rightly so, this latest work surpasses it. I hoped the sequel wouldn't disappoint and it didn't.
Richmond Osman is a remarkable storyteller. Probably the best novel I'll read this year.

Osman’s done it again! The second book in the Thursday Murder Club series is as charming and unashamedly enjoyable as the first book, which was one of my favourite books of 2020.

I don’t want to give away the plot, but there’s plenty of excitement with stolen Mafia diamonds, mysterious letters from beyond the grave and bringing a dastardly mugger to justice. A recommended read for lovers of cosy mysteries.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

I received a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books.

This is the follow up to ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ - I enjoyed that book so obviously had to read this one.

I thought the previous book was enjoyable but average. This one however, I thought was much better!

It’s the perfect combination of tongue-in-cheek humour and cosy mystery.

I never thought i’d be so invested in the police officers (Donna and Chris) lives never mind the group of investigator pensioners!

The first book centred more around Elizabeth’s character so it was great to find out more about the rest of the gang, especially Joyce! I loved the sweet moments with Kendrick, Ron and Ibriham!

A fantastic addition to ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ series!

If I could give this ten stars I would.

I’ve read The Thursday Murder Club and, although I enjoyed it because of the language and the Agatha Christie vibes, I wasn’t blown away by it,

What I understand now is that the first book was almost laying the foundations and introducing the fantastic characters to allow for this book to follow up.

This is so much better than the first, you already love the characters and understand their foibles-you care about them and the story line is just perfect!

Just perfect - an absolute delight.
End of - nothing more to say.

Perfect characterisation, perfect plot twists, and perfectly written. I just loved it.

Buy it, read it - Enjoy!

The key thing to know about this book is that if you liked The Thursday Murder Club, then you will love this!

The gang is all back – Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron and Ibrahim, as well as Donna and Chris from the local police station, and the man of mystery that is Bogdan. This time around, things take an interesting turn when Elizabeth’s ex-husband shows up at Coopers Chase retirement village, with a secret services handler in tow.
During an operation, a criminal believes that an operative stole some diamonds that he was looking after on behalf of a mafia group. Now those diamonds are needed back, and things are starting to get messy.

Into this world of spies, and career criminals comes our band of quietly confident pensioners who have the wherewithal to bend people to their way of doing things and find a way through it all.

To say much more would give away too much about the plot, but suffice to say that all kinds of things are going on, and it’s great fun seeing how things play out.

Osman hit the ground running with The Thursday Murder Club which has been a sensational hit, and he’s even better this time out. You completely believe in each of the characters and their own individual quirks and foibles. The book is of course littered with little jokes and digs at modern society, and everything moves along very pleasingly.

Yes, this is “cozy crime,” although in fact, some quite nasty things happen, and the impact of some of those things is not underplayed – quite deliberately. This is 21st century Britain, and not some idyllic English village in the 1950s.

Thoroughly recommended.

I was thrilled to get a chance to review The Man Who Died Twice because I enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club so much.
Rejoining the four members of the club (five if you include Bogdan, who is surely an honourable member now) was like sinking my feet into my battered old slippers, at once warm, soothing and comfortable but with the ever-present risk that something is going to become unstitched and fall away.
This time, their adventure carries a little more threat of imminent death – the baddies are definitely ‘badder’ – so our quartet has to be a little more circumspect and play smarter to outwit the assorted villains of this piece, ranging from a local small-time drug dealer and her teenage runner to a genuine New York mafia don with an axe to grind. With a murderer to identify, missing diamonds to find and some personal scores to settle, it’s a testing time for Elizabeth – has she finally lost her edge?
The plot isn’t quite as convoluted as last time, but you still never know what they’re going to find around the next corner. All great fun and I was sad when it ended – Famous Five for 21st Century grownups.

Note for Richard: readers who missed The Thursday Murder Club’s first outing might struggle to work out who Bogdan is and exactly what he’s doing there…

I loved this book as much as Richard Osman's first, and hope this second one will be swiftly followed by more of The Thursday Murder Club. The characters are so warm and enjoyable and you will love their company, and the plot is fun too. All in all, highly entertaining and providing much joy.

‘Why diet at eighty-two?’ says Joyce. ‘What’s a sausage roll going to do to you? Kill you? Well, join the queue.’


Huge thank you to Viking Press & Netgalley for sending me an eArc in exchange for an honest review 😊


Genre - mystery
Publication date - 16th September 2021


My rating - 4.5 ⭐️

‘The Man Who Died Twice’ is the sequel to ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ which i read around february this year! i rated ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ 3.5 stars and ‘The Man Who Died Twice’ 4.5 stars so I thought this book was a long mile better.

The reason I preferred this book is because the pacing was spot on. Book 1 I found nothing happened then too much happened and I got slightly overwhelmed whereas the pacing in this was utterly perfect. Everything was perfectly spaced out which made it incredibly easy to follow the plot and to feel fully involved. Our intro to the characters in book 1 meant the plot in book 2 could kick off instantly.

These books are so quintessentially British with the most wonderful British dry humour. Within page 1 I put the book down to laugh out loud at this book and I was regularly putting my hand over my mouth to stop myself loudly laughing when reading this.

However my favourite part of these books will always be the characters. They have such a special place in my heart (particularly Chris and Donna, although i love you Joyce). Even the more ‘minor’ characters are fully fleshed out and loveable. Characters can often feel like caricatures in murder-mysteries but not in these ones! They felt so real and like I could reach through the screen and give them a cuddle.

This book was such a joy! I’m so excited to get my hands on book 3 soon!

- Lara <3

I found The Man Who Died Twice was even better than The Thursday Murder Club, and the ending was just such a clever way to bring the plot to a delightful conclusion.

This is another gentle, warm and very clever plot the characters of which remind me of the likes of the Lavender Hill Mob, loveable rogues at times. (This reference may not mean much to younger readers :) but it is a compliment) It is also very refreshing to find interesting older characters that prove that there is still life after retirement.

Some people seem to have found that the large number of characters can cause confusion but I fail to see this. The characters are so finely delineated that they are all recognisable individuals who never stray from the path you would expect them to take.

On the negative side I would have found the cover totally unappealing had I been searching a book shop for the type of book I enjoy. Luckily I was given a kindle copy from Netgalley, for which I offer my thanks and an honest review.

So we meet the Thursday Murder Club again. A little time has passed since their last adventure, but now the elderly sleuths meet an even bigger task. Lives are in danger as the group are on the hunt for diamonds, but hunted by drug dealers, murderers, and the mafia.

Richard Osman is incredible. He is rightfully a national treasure, and I'm so pleased that he is now writing novels. While I enjoyed the Thursday Murder Club, I didn't love it. I wasn't sure exactly why, but I didn't think it was a 5 Star novel. However, I changed my opinion with The Man Who Died Twice. Osman has really found his form in this novel, and it was a treat throughout. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, Ibrahim, Chris, and Donna are the perfect company to keep if you fancy a fun, interesting crime novel.

Thanks to Richard Osman, NetGalley, and Viking for this copy.

Simply loved this book!

So cleverly written, it´s funny, easy flowing, heartwarming, and very original. I´m only sorry that I didn´t get to read the first one but I will so rectify this! Despite this, you can easily read this as a standalone, so if you haven´t read the first one, do not despair!

Can´t wait for the next one......hurry up Richard!!

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK - Fig Tree for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy.

The gang from Coopers Chase are back again investigating a new crime involving diamonds, an ex-husband and spies as well as dealing with the trials and tribulations of getting older. Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim and Joyce are back and with a cast of returning supporting characters are determined to prove that you shouldn't underestimate a seeming group of older people. With humour and finesse Osman's convoluted plot keeps the reader guessing as to who is behind the disappearance of diamonds from a crime lord, as well as linking threads to drug dealing in a small town, one of the characters being beaten up and whether or not another character gets dog.
I'm sure this will be another Christmas crowd pleaser. I enjoyed the book but sometimes found it difficult to keep track of the plot and who was who.
An entertaining read.

I read The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and was pleased to read his second book.

I enjoyed it, but the rating is lower than it was for the first book in this series and I think it is mainly because of the plot. The setting is still rather charming, as are the main characters. Their interlinking relationships were nicely done and the retirement home is a nice place to be (although I would have liked to have seen more of it). The plot may be a but convoluted, but I am happy to forgive any plot that is convoluted if it is done well, but I became confused before too long. Too many characters, maybe? Certainly too many characters that didn't have much depth. The spark of the story in the first book was partly due to the novelty, but that was lacking in the second novel.

All that said, I really enjoy seeing any cosy crime novels doing well and I hope this one does too.

What an absolute joy it is to return to Coopers Chase and the warm embrace of the Thursday Murder Club. I was a bit worried before I started this sequel in case it was the unexpectedness of the first instalment which made it so special. But, as soon as Joyce and Ron began to discuss a neighbour who's started a diet at the age of 82 (Ron thinks it's because zimmer frames make your legs look fat, but Joyce rightly points out that no one should deny themselves enjoyment at that age), I knew that the first book wasn't a fluke.

The Thursday Murder Club is the best depiction of aging. The core members of the group have taken everything they have learned throughout their lives and continue to use that skills and knowledge to keep themselves busy and make a difference. The only thing that's different from their younger selves is that they no longer give a toss about reputation or career goals and just want to do the right thing - which isn't always the strictly by the book thing.

One of the tricks the club members use to great effect is the fact that people judge them by how they appear. Joyce in particular plays the slightly bumbling nice old woman character with a lot of success. This is largely because she is essentially a nice woman with a heart of gold, but also happens to be unphased by dead bodies, threats and international criminal plots. In The Man Who Died Twice we also see that other people also use assumptions as a form of camouflage. Like the teenage girl working on reception for a storage area wearing headphones and seemingly paying little attention to her job. Joyce and Elizabeth quickly find out though that she hears every word they say about her and that the headphones aren’t plugged in, she just uses them as an excuse not to react to the attentions of the creepy manager of a nearby coffee shop.

It's easy to dismiss The Thursday Murder Club series as a 'cosy murder', but just like the protagonists this warm and welcoming exterior hides a story with a bite. A very satisfying read and a great instalment for this series which I hope will continue for many years to come.

The Thursday Murder Club are back, this time investigating missing diamonds, when Elizabeth's ex-husband appears to disturb their peace. After Ibrahim is mugged, the team find themselves fighting for justice for him, while Joyce is also considering getting a dog!

The Man Who Died Twice is a brilliant story, with gentle humour lurking amongst the crime on every page. Unlike many stories of this type, Richard Osman has managed to create a good crime drama, while still maintaining the humour. The four friends are great characters, each with their own unique quirks. Joyce has to be my favourite, with her diary entries making me laugh out loud!

Great story and one to keep you entertained from beginning to end. Richard Osman has done it again.