Richard Osman built his literary career on the idea that older people are interesting, capable, and funny, and that mystery novels are the perfect vehicle for proving it. The Thursday Murder Club series became a publishing phenomenon by combining cozy mystery mechanics with deeply likable characters and a warmth that never curdled into condescension. We Solve Murders, his first novel outside that series, expands the scope while keeping the formula. The premise pairs Steve Wheeler, a quiet, recently retired widower from the English countryside, with his daughter-in-law Amy, a globe-trotting private security consultant, after they stumble into a conspiracy involving a hitman, a bestselling author, and a trail of bodies across multiple continents.
The book arrived in September 2024 to strong sales and a reception that was warm if slightly less rapturous than his Thursday Murder Club debut. Readers praised the pace and the character dynamics while noting that the wider canvas occasionally stretched the plot thin.
The Odd Couple Takes the Case
The Steve and Amy dynamic is the book’s engine, and it runs clean. Steve is dry, observant, and more capable than he initially appears, a man whose quiet retirement life hasn’t dulled his intelligence. Amy is his opposite in almost every way: physical, decisive, comfortable with danger, and accustomed to a life that moves fast. They’re thrown together by circumstance and gradually discover that their complementary skills make them an effective team. Osman writes their relationship with genuine affection and an understanding of how family bonds work, including the awkwardness that comes from being related by marriage rather than blood.
Osman’s greatest skill as a writer is pace control. The book moves quickly, cycling through locations and set pieces with the efficiency of an action film screenplay. Chapters are short, cliffhangers are frequent, and the plot rarely goes more than twenty pages without a twist, a revelation, or a change of location. For readers who want a book that pulls them through its pages, the construction is nearly flawless. It’s the kind of novel where “just one more chapter” turns into three more without effort.
The humor lands consistently. Osman has a distinctive comic voice that blends observational wit, character-specific running jokes, and a willingness to poke fun at genre conventions without undercutting the story. Steve’s internal monologue is frequently funny in a low-key, specifically English way, and his reactions to Amy’s high-stakes lifestyle provide a steady stream of comedy that keeps the tone light even when the body count rises.
The globe-trotting element gives the book a different energy from the Thursday Murder Club’s village-bound coziness. Scenes set in South Carolina, Dublin, the South of France, and other locations give Osman room to write fish-out-of-water comedy and to vary the atmosphere across chapters. The settings are sketched efficiently rather than deeply described, which matches the pace and keeps the focus on character and plot.
Supporting characters are handled with the same economy Osman brought to his previous work. Each one is drawn in a few vivid strokes, given a memorable trait or line of dialogue, and then folded into the plot where needed. The best of them, including a social media mogul and a local police officer, add texture without slowing the narrative.
Where the Plot Passport Gets Stamped Too Quickly
The globe-trotting structure that gives the book its energy also creates its biggest weakness: shallowness. Moving between countries and set pieces every few chapters means no single location gets the atmospheric depth that the Thursday Murder Club’s retirement village setting had. The settings function as backdrops rather than worlds, and readers looking for the kind of sense of place that defines the best mystery fiction may find the approach too superficial.
The villain is adequate rather than memorable. The conspiracy at the book’s center involves enough moving parts to sustain the plot, but the antagonist lacks the personal connection to the protagonists that would make the stakes feel higher. Compared to the Thursday Murder Club’s best villains, who were rooted in the same community as the heroes, the opposition here is more like a plot mechanism that needs to be neutralized than a character whose defeat feels cathartic.
Convenience is a recurring issue in the plotting. Steve and Amy find themselves in the right place at the right time with enough regularity that the coincidences become noticeable. Osman’s charm and pace carry you past most of these moments, but readers who think about plot mechanics will spot the scaffolding holding things together. The final act in particular relies on a chain of events that stretches plausibility beyond what the lighter tone can absorb.
The book’s commitment to breeziness occasionally works against its dramatic moments. When the story calls for genuine emotional weight, characters who have been quipping their way through danger suddenly need to feel real fear or sadness, and the transitions don’t always land. Osman is skilled at emotional beats, as the Thursday Murder Club proved, but the faster pace here gives those beats less room to develop.
Some readers who loved the ensemble dynamics of the Thursday Murder Club missed having a larger cast to rotate between. Steve and Amy are excellent company, but two protagonists carry less variety than four, and the supporting cast, while entertaining, isn’t given enough page time to fill that gap.
The Beach Read That Knows What It Is
We Solve Murders is the literary equivalent of a well-constructed blockbuster: it’s designed to entertain, it knows its audience, and it hits its marks with professional precision. Osman isn’t trying to reinvent the mystery genre or write something that will appear on prize shortlists. He’s trying to write a book that people enjoy reading, and the degree to which he succeeds at that modest goal is what makes his work noteworthy. In an era when literary fiction dominates critical conversation, Osman’s commitment to populist, character-driven entertainment is its own kind of statement.
The Steve-and-Amy foundation is strong enough to support a series, and a sequel seems inevitable. If Osman can deepen the characterization and tighten the plotting in subsequent entries, this could become a franchise as durable as the one he’s already built.
Should You Read We Solve Murders?
If the Thursday Murder Club was your idea of a perfect read, you’ll find the same authorial voice applied to a bigger canvas here. Readers who enjoy Janet Evanovich, Lee Child, or Alexander McCall Smith will find a kindred spirit. It’s ideal for holidays, plane journeys, or any situation where you want a book that demands nothing but your attention and rewards it with consistent pleasure. Skip it if you’re looking for literary depth, richly realized settings, or a mystery that challenges you intellectually. We Solve Murders aims for enjoyment rather than excellence, and it hits the target squarely.
The Verdict on We Solve Murders
We Solve Murders is a book that knows exactly what it’s for and delivers it with the confidence of a writer who has found his audience. The Steve and Amy partnership is funny, warm, and worth following across 432 pages. The pacing is relentless, the humor is consistent, and Osman’s gift for making readers care about his characters remains his sharpest tool. The globe-trotting plot sacrifices depth for speed, and the villain won’t live in anyone’s memory. But as a page-turner built for pleasure, it does everything its readers are asking for. Osman has earned the right to keep writing books exactly like this, and millions of readers will be glad he does.