This is a worthy sequel to The Thursday Murder Club, which I really enjoyed. The four friends, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, become embroiled in trouble when Ibrahim is attacked and his phone stolen. He’s been kicked and has broken ribs and a sore head. Fingered for the theft is a local young drug dealer.
Elizabeth’s ex-husband turns up too, and she’s drawn back into her old life in MI5 and the others – particularly Joyce, develop well as characters. The plots shifts and turns as the gang, the local police, and the reader, find out more. Local criminals, twenty million pounds’ worth of diamonds, and a mafia boss spice up the story. I really enjoyed the ride, and the ending was excellent.

What can I even say? The Thursday Murder Club was hands down my favourite book of 2020, and this one was just as wonderful.

Joyce is possibly my favourite character in any book ever, she's a delight. All the characters are so sympathetically written and you really get to feel like you know them.

Richard Osman's writing is the perfect blend of gripping plot and humour, and I lost count of the amount of times I laughed out loud and read out little snippets for my husband (usually things that Joyce has said!)

I don't have a bad word to say about this book and am wishing with everything that I have that there will be a third.

How do you follow up a publishing phenomenon like The Thursday Murder Club…well, The Man Who Died Twice certainly ticks the box. Our retirement village quartet are back with an other adventurous romp involving diamonds, drugs and double crossing . The story is a jigsaw puzzle of delights - we know that this isn’t some menacing scandi tale or dark gangland city saga but it is a unique approach to the crime genre that hooks us with its plot and comedy. It is ultimately the characterisation that makes this book like it’s predecessor a total gem ( no plot pun intended) Joyce is a comic creation, Elizabeth the tough cookie with an emerging soft centre ,Ron is the likely lad with the heart of gold and Ibrahim is the wisdom and the subtle eyes and ears of the group who really wants to break free; even Chris and Donna from the local police force have become ffavourites and let’s not forget Bogdan the chess playing chap who seems to have many “useful “ skills and connections. As stated in the review for The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman has this quintessential “ Englishness “ in his observation of the minutiae of life that turns what could be everyday or mundane into something moving and beautiful- in many ways like Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood. How many retirement village residents would love to have this excitement… and Alan has to be a leading character in book 3!
Another winner

Loved the first one, loved this one even more!! The characters are amazing, struggle to pick a favourite, but definitely want to be part of their gang. Getting to know them better in this book is fab and I can't wait for the third book.

If you love books with humour, warmth, character, humanity, sadness, plot twists and a few dead bodies thrown into the mix then you'll love The Thursday Murder Club and The Man Who Died Twice. Im only giving it 5 stars because I can't give it more!!

Thanks to Penguin, Richard Osman and Netgalley for the ARC.

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
Firstly, if you haven’t read The Thursday Murder Club you may want to stop and do so before you read this novel as it will make so much more sense. Everyone’s favourite septuagenarians are off on their adventures again led, as always, by Elizabeth.
The main characters, Elizabeth, (a former MI5 operative) Joyce,( a former nurse and now almost full time puzzle solver) Ibrahim, (a former psychiatrist) and Ron, (an ex union leader and left wing anti Thatcherite) are on the trail of diamonds purportedly stolen by Douglas, Elizabeth’s ex-husband.
Then one of their own is attacked and robbed in a mindless act of violence and the team swing into action again. They are ably assisted by Donna and Chris, from the Fairhaven police force, and are soon on the trail of the attacker. There are however many twists and turns before we arrive at a very satisfactory ending.
The pace is fast and the characters grow as you read on and you find yourself rooting for them and their ability to solve seemingly impossible problems. This book gives you an intriguing mystery to solve and although it might feel like a cosy story they are dealing with some truly ruthless people.
I would thoroughly recommend this novel and would like oto thank the author, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

I was excited to receive a copy of this book as I loved The Thursday Murder Club. I am pleased to say that this book is even better. The characters are wonderful, and are developed even further in this book, and the story is very funny and clever. The gentle humour and great dialogue are the icing on the cake which makes this book such a joy. Please, please Richard Osman, write another book as I am missing Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Ron and Joyce already!

Oh my goodness, all I can say is buy this book!! You will not be disappointed.

Firstly I should probably admit that it has been on my wishlist since I read the first Thursday Murder Club book and it did not disappoint. Remarkable in my experience of follow up books that just can't live up to the hype. Honestly it really was fabulous and just such a treat to read.

We return to our favourite characters-Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron as well as the wonderful Donna, Chris and the always fabulous Bogdan. They are as beautifully depicted as in the previous novel and I was utterly transported away from the everyday into glorious capers with these fabulous retirees and their friends.

This wonderful book is at times touching and tender, at others hilarious, I will not spoil any of the plot with its twists and turns, it suffices to say that this is my book of the year! Buy it!!

If you enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club, you’ll love this follow up. If you haven’t read it, it’s easy to pick up the thread. The same motley crew of pensioners, who all live in a retirement village, get involved in solving a crime. This time, it’s a murder or two involving MI5, a criminal mastermind and a missing twenty million dollars. Elizabeth is just the woman to investigate, being ex MI5 herself. Doddery Ron, pedantic Ibrahim and gentle Joyce do their best to help. Great fun!

Well after living the first book in the series I was delighted to be sent a copy of the sequel via NetGalley!

TTMC consists of 4 members, all elderly and living within a retirement complex. Elizabeth is the most complex and the leader; Joyce is (unintentionally) the funniest; Ibrahim is a retired psychiatrist who likes to stay close to home and Ron is a Londoner who supports West Ham and is happy to take part in Elizabeth’s schemes,

The story follows a blast from the past or Elizabeth and quickly embroils the whole gang in murder.

This book made me laugh out loud more than once and shook me with the twisty plot. I was kept guessing right up until the big reveal.

Already looking forward to the third instalment,

I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. I wasn’t convinced that Richard Osman could follow the success of his first novel, but how wrong was I? The old murder club gang are back and off on another murder filled adventure. This book has it all - great characters, believable plot, laughter, suspense and empathy. I devoured it in 2 sittings and was sad when it ended. Hurry up and write the next one please Mr Osman! It’s like being sucked into a great crime caper and you just want to be a part of it the whole way through.

What a brilliant sequel to The Thursday Murder Club! Richard Osman has done it again. Our quartet of retirement home detectives mix with the police, MI5, the Mafia and assorted local villains. There are diamonds and cups of tea with cake and biscuits plus plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. There is a darker element to the mystery too that stops us from getting too comfortable and cosy. And there’s romance! This was a terrific read and I gobbled it up like a dinner at Le Pont Noir. No ‘difficult second book’ problems here - I predict just as much success for The Man who Died Twice as the first book.

I read this in one sitting- with a quick break to eat. Richard Osman's characters are wonderful- feisty senior citizens, with bags of wit, charm, intelligence and curiosity.
Read this book- read The Thursday Murder Club first, if you haven't already, to know more about the characters, but this is a lovely stand alone.

Very entertaining but not as credible as the previous book ( Bogdan tackling 3 armed men & overpowering them is so unbelievable ).
Also what sentence did Ryan get eventually?

How wonderful to read a second novel that is better than the first one. This is funnier, crazier, blacker and even more thought and mirth provoking. It's Brookmyre without the language or Scottish background.

We meet the protagonists from the first novel and see quite a lot more of Chris, Donna and Bogdan.

As well as mystery we have morality, old age, love, families, secrets and mortality to consider. This is an excellent read and deeper than it first appears.

And, in spite of the murder and carnage everything is fairly neatly resolved with the door left open for novel three. Hurrah.

The Thursday Murder Club are back in action but this time it’s personal for Elizabeth. Her ex husband is back and needs help. Diamonds are missing but how can a mirror help you find them?
A truly wonderful read. Once again these brilliant characters are back in our lives. Great book and great follow up. Enjoy every page, I did.

I've been waiting for the next bookfrom Richard Osman ever since I finished his first book, The Thursday Murder Club. I absolutely loved it and I hoped the second book would be as good.

I knew as soon as i started reading it I was in for a treat.

Back with Joyce and the gang. Elizabeth gets a mysterious letter from a man she knew was dead, she had buried him years ago. He comes back for a favour! it's her ex husband!

What I love about these books is that they aren't just about following the murder plot. The characters in the book are brilliant, you get to know them as well and it all fits together perfectly.

One of my favourite and funniest parts is where Joyce is trying to hide something from Elizabeth. Elizabeth knows she is hiding something and while Joyce is rambling along, trying to change the subject, Elizabeth works it out.

I love Joyce, her mannerisms are just brilliant to read. It's like she's talking to the reader. She is actually writing a diary but it just feels like she's speaking direct. Her Instagram account name made me chuckle. Of course I had to look it up too! It made my day.

Although this is the second book in the series you can quite easily read this as a standalone but if you love cosy murder/mystery books you might as well start at book one. I absolutey love this series and I can't wait for the next book.

Richard Osman is a terrific writer. I read this book in one sitting, the story and writing drew me in and kept me entertained for over 4 hours. The Thursday Murder Club group are so well written that I can picture them - I definitely know who I'd like to play them in a film - they are so diverse yet so compatible.

Loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

I wrote, of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club “[It]… is wonderful. It made me laugh and it made me cry”. I am delighted to report that his new book, The Man Who Died Twice, is just as good. Laugh? Imagine a video call to a stereotypical New York mafia boss who appears on a screen, snarling and banging his fist on a desk, to be met with “Frank, you’re on mute, I think.” Cry? Yep, several times. I was so wound up with tension at the end of the book that I even laughed and cried at Richard Osman’s acknowledgments that follow the novel. “Despite repeated requests to my publishers, I am not allowed to score people out of 10 according to how helpful they have been”. I have never seen such eloquent loving generosity from an author. To a friend who departed during 2020, “Kourosh, you will forever be an honorary member of the Thursday Murder Club.”

Osman is also an author who slips into the narrative a sign in an independent bookshop “Your Local Bookshop – Use it Or Lose it’. In his acknowledgements at the end of the book, he asks us to support our local bookshops. Quire right. Osman uses City Books in Hove, I use Gullivers Bookshop in Wimborne. Both are civilised refuges in an unquiet world.

What’s the book about? I am delighted to report that the four members of the Coopers Chase retirement village’s Thursday Murder Club are back. Ibrahim, Ron, Joyce and Elizabeth may be in their seventies, but they can compete with MI5. Their two allies in the local police force, Donna and Chris, together with the local builder, Bogdan, also play major parts. An old acquaintance contacts Elizabeth. There are £20m of diamonds missing and he’s suspected of taking them from a very senior, highly respected member of the underworld, Martin Lomax. Unfortunately, Lomax wasn’t the owner. They belonged to the New York mafia – and they would like them back, urgently.

Elizabeth’s formidable intelligence cracks the problem, but Osman makes sure we know it’s teamwork. One of the messages surfacing at times through the novel is that we all need friends. Joyce knits friendship bracelets and hands them to people in return for a charitable donation. Even Elizabeth realises what friends are. When Ibrahim is hurt, he says “I don’t believe in revenge.” “I do”, says Ron. “As do I”, says Elizabeth. And what excellent revenge it is!

Osman show tremendous skill in portraying the characters: intelligent Elizabeth, mumsy Joyce, gentle Ibrahim with his amazing retention of detail, bluff Ron, taciturn Bogdan, PC Donna. Whichever character is speaking, Osman gets the mannerisms and the vocabulary note-perfect. The characters live in your head – you can see and hear them speaking. Some chapters are narrated by Joyce and the tone, the language, the content are those of a woman in her late seventies. Admittedly, in this case, one who picks up a pair of kitchen knives to deal with murderous intruders and who asks a baddie “Would you like some painkillers?” then happily says “Shame, I don’t have any”.

Flaws? Ummm… None. This book is simply perfect. I laughed, I cried. I was on the edge of my seat, reading as fast as I could. I didn’t want it to end. And now I’m going to read it all over again…
#TheManWhoDiedTwice #NetGalley