The Bullet That Missed: (The Thursday Murder Club 3)

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While Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim chase down the clues with help from old friends and new. But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again? I love these characters: Elizabeth whose husband Stephen is slowly succumbing to dementia; Joyce and her dog Alan; Bogdan who provides muscle when needed and unobtrusively babysits Stephen when Elizabeth is otherwise occupied.

Everyone has their favorite character, and mine is retired MI6 Agent Elizabeth Best. The woman is a hoot. Joyce Meadowcroft is a retired nurse, and Ibrahim Arif a renown psychiatrist. The fourth member is Ron Ritchie, a union organizer. The four get themselves involved in a cold case, money laundering, tax evasion scheme that resulted in an unsolved murder. An ex-KGB spy and an eccentric, jailed, drug dealer round out the band of major characters.

I can find no “cons” for this book because the writing is great, the characters well described and interesting and the mystery was not an easy one to solve. I was completely stumped – in a good way!! Meanwhile ConnieJohnson runs a multi million dollar drugs gang from prison she finds it easy as guards are paid handsomely for their help. Bethany Waites was a brilliant young reporter who was investigating a big story on VAT fraud. Whatever happens tonight, she would be sad to leave Mike Waghorn behind. He is a good friend. A kind and funny man. That's why the viewers love him. The Thursday Murder Club meets every Thursday at 11am in the jigsaw room - except for one notable Thursday when they met at 8am, much to Ibrahim's consternation - to solve murders. They manage to do this rather well, although they usually manage to produce a few more bodies along the way. And it doesn't hurt that they have a couple of tame police officers in their outer circle.

Life is about understanding opportunities. Understanding how rarely they come along, and then rising to meet them when they do. She pours herself a drink, and takes one final look at the bullet. Really, she has no choice at all. Elizabeth, Osman’s retired spy, has other problems to deal with. Not only is her beloved Stephen slipping deeper into the clutches of dementia, but she’s kidnapped and charged with carrying out a hit herself. As ever, she takes it in her stride. “Things have been too quiet recently. A retired optometrist crashed his moped into a tree, and there has been a row about milk bottles, but that was about it for excitement. The simple life is all well and good, but, in this moment, with a murder to investigate, and threatening texts arriving daily, Elizabeth realises she has missed trouble.” Writing genuinely funny prose is not at all easy; it is rare that I find a book that has me actually laughing out loud The audiobook narrator Fiona Shaw makes a wonderful effort with gender voicing and delivering the appropriate voice inflections with the dialog to ensure a consistent listening experience, especially when it comes to the hints of humor. I do miss narrator Lesley Manville from book 2, but both ladies have done a remarkable job and have made my preference of the audiobook format for this series an easy win!The mysteries are complex, the characters vivid, and the whole thing is laced with warm humor and—remarkably, considering the body count—good feeling. Your next must-read mystery series.” I was once called to give evidence to the Defence Select Committee,’ says Elizabeth. ‘But, legally, they had to blur my face. And I was once in a hostage video.’”

The ensemble of the Thursday Murder Club is at it again, only this time they are attempting to solve the murder/disappearance of a tv journalist. It isn't the story that caught Joyce's eye as much as the opportunity to meet the local newscaster and former co-anchor, Mike Waghorn, but he plays right into their soft and veiny hands. She writes her message and presses send. He won't reply tonight; it's late. That's probably for the best. She can hear his voice now: 'Who texts at ten p.m.? Millennials and sex pests, that's who.' Other ‘associates’ we’ve met before are Elizabeth’s beloved husband, Stephen, who has dementia but who can still win a mean game of chess against Bogdan – when he remembers he knows how to play. His now-and-then memory is useful, but Elizabeth despairs about his future.

I have been Googling but there's not much there. I got so desperate I even used Bing but the results were the same if a bit slower. - Joyce

The one small gripe I have is that this one might have run a little too long, and occasionally the pacing lagged, just a tiny bit- but of course, there is always something going on and my attention was never divided- it just felt like it took me a while to finish the book, this time around. But that’s a very small quibble. I think she is a hoot, plus – as Elizabeth notes – she may be naïve, but that isn’t the same as stupid She is smart and has great instincts for ferreting things out. Osman concocts a satisfyingly complex whodunit full of neat twists and wrong turns. But unlike most crime novelists, he ensures his book’s strength and momentum stem not from its plot or its thrills but rather its perfectly formed characters. Once again, the quartet of friends makes for delightful company… Heartwarming and enthralling. ‘They carried a kind of magic, the four of them,’ a policeman muses. That magic is still there in abundance.” Besides this mystery, Elizabeth has had an “encounter” with a man they are calling “The Viking”. He has a proposition for Elizabeth, he wants a certain person killed or else he will kill her and one of her friends. A new mystery is afoot in thethird bookin the Thursday Murder Club series from million-copy bestselling author Richard Osman.Each book in the Thursday Murder Club series gets better and better. The mysteries are more intricately plotted and there are more interesting characters introduced. It can be hard to run a multimillion-pound drugs gang from a prison cell. But it is not, as Connie Johnson is discovering, impossible.