‘A Kind Of Magic’: The Bullet That Missed By Richard Osman

It’s amazing how things start and how expectations are met or even exceeded. The first of the three novels by Richard Osman was funny and quirky and I loved it.

But now, ‘It had all seemed a bit of a jape.’ Those few words could sum up the trio of books, because The Bullet the Missed, the third opus, is actually far more poignant than you would have ever expected when you read page one of the first. The gang is all still there, thankfully: Elizabeth is still using all the tools of her trade yet knows that her dementia-ridden husband, Stephen, is slipping further and further away from her, despite having a few, particularly useful, lucid moments; Joyce has found a new love, Alan, but since he’s an adorable rescue dog, she still flirts, at every opportunity, with the men who come into her radar; Ron is in love, as is Bogdan, and Donna and Chris have both found happiness – though not with each other. It seems wedding bells may yet ring out and Joyce will need another new cardigan. Ibrahim is back on form, interviewing a criminal mastermind and solving puzzles with his young friend. Arch criminal, Connie Johnson, makes a reappearance and proves that prison life does not have to be the purgatory it is supposed to be. She still has plans for revenge on at least one of the gang, however, so we do not view her too favourably, and her scheming does not impress.

The residents of Cooper’s Chase are every speaker’s nightmare, with their endless interruptions and questions, as Chief Constable Andrew Everton discovers, but the Thursday Murder Club are a particular breed of bête noire when they want to make a useful ally of the top brass policeman.

Never be heard to say ‘Things have been too quiet recently’ because it’s tempting fate; after all, the excitement is just about to start. The intrepid sleuths are crime solving once again, this time reopening the ten-year-old murder case of a young television reporter and, as her one-time screen partner, Mike Waghorn, soon discovers, ‘The wine is never free’, even from ‘four harmless pensioners’. He has been lured, by Joyce, to meet ‘the gang’ who want to ask him a few questions about messages he received from Bethany before she was driven off the edge of a cliff.

Her body was never recovered from the tumultuous waters below and her murder never solved. The danger appears to escalate, however, when Elizabeth and Stephen are kidnapped and Joyce is threatened. The addition of Viktor, an ex-KGB hitman, who still holds a candle for his former lover, Elizabeth, and The Viking, a towering Swede who wields a gun and is ‘the best money launderer in the world’, creates more than a hint of menace – for a while. Money Laundering, cryptocurrency, murder (there is more than one), romance (there is more than one), truth and justice: this novel has them all. The villain is someone you least expect although a penchant for anagrams may help you solve the case more quickly. Joanna’s accountancy talents prove particularly useful in this mystery as she hunts for the money which has been laundered so cleverly that none of our team seem able to find it; accounts and bookkeeping have always been an anathema to me but if you trace back to the start, you can usually find the mistake – apparently.

There is still plenty of gentle wit and laugh aloud humour both in the asides and in Joyce’s commentary but somehow, this time, it’s all a little more serious, the danger a little more real. The novel could be read as a standalone but there is no doubt that the reader benefits from having read the first two in the series, especially to understand the developing relationships, to enjoy the company once more of characters who have become real, and to witness the heart-wrenching deterioration of Stephen, who realises he is losing the battle and is suffocating in the clutches of dementia. The tough Elizabeth and equally tough Bogdan both struggle with that one although Osman does not overplay his hand. It is Stephen after all who, in a lucid moment, supplies a vital clue.

A murder mystery perhaps, where justice is sought, but once again, Osman explores the nature of true friendship. The puzzle might be there to solve but the real worth of this book is in the characters, particularly the principal players. However diverse they may appear at first glance, each brings something unique to the stage and each complements the rest. I loved it.