Grey power sleuths

by Ben Soton

The Bullet That Missed: The Thursday Murder Club 3) by Richard Osman. Hardback: Viking, 2022; 432pp, rrp £20. Paperback: Penguin, 2023; 432pp, rrp £9.99.

We meet up once again with the septuagenarian sleuths Ron, Elizabeth, Joyce and Ibrahim; who between them make up the Thursday Murder Club. Richard Osman, former presenter of the successful television quiz show Pointless, has written his third novel: The Bullet That Missed. The underlying theme of this series of novels is never under-estimate the elderly, as this rather diverse group solve crimes that the police have so-far failed to.
    The Bullet That Missed delves into the world of money laundering and crypto currency, whilst at the same time the group uncover the murder of a television journalist.
    Elizabeth, the former MI6 spook, is re-united with Vicktor Ilyich, a former KGB man from the 1980s with whom it is apparent that she had a brief affair. It turns out that Ron, a trade union leader from the 1970s, was on a KGB list of those who might have been sympathetic to the Soviet cause. The author doesn’t really develop this aspect of the story however, instead making reference to the KGB man being politically disillusioned.
    Ibrahim, the mild-mannered psychologist, gains the trust of Connie Johnson, a dangerous criminal on remand who featured in the previous novel, The Man Who Died Twice. In the end it is Joyce the retired nurse, who solves the murder mystery as well as having a money launderer threaten to kill her.
    Another aspect of the story focuses on Stephen, Elizabeth’s husband, who is drifting further into dementia. He still manages to locate the whereabouts of the money launderer who is threatening Joyce however, although towards the end of the story he slips further into dementia. The story contains elements of sadness as well as mystery and humour.
    Meanwhile, with some of the characters having a limited shelf-life, Osman manages to involve younger characters in the development of what is becoming a highly popular franchise. These include Bogdan, the chess-playing handy man from the retirement home who occasionally acts as muscle for the crime-solving pensioners. There are also the police officers from the previous novels, Donna and her partner Chris, who between them play the Inspector Japp role to a collective Poirot.
    The story ends with the mystery of the missing television journalist solved; all be it with a twist. the There are still a number of loose ends that need to be resolved however, opening the possibility of another novel.