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A Novel
by Richard Osman
Book Reviewed by:Solving murders. It's a family business.
Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He still does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him at home. His days of adventure are over. Adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy's job now.
Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. Working in private security, every day is dangerous. She's currently on a remote island protecting mega-bestselling author Rosie D'Antonio, until a dead body and a bag of money mean trouble in paradise. So she sends an SOS to the only person she trusts ...
As a thrilling race around the world begins, can Amy and Steve outrun and outsmart a killer?
Excerpt
We Solve Murders
You must leave as few clues as possible. That's the only rule.
You have to talk to people sometimes; it's inevitable. There are orders to be given, shipments to be arranged, people to be killed, etc., etc.
You cannot exist in a vacuum, for goodness' sake. You need to ring François Loubet? In an absolute emergency? You'll get a phone with a voice-changer built-in. And, by the way, if it's not an absolute emergency, you'll regret ringing very soon.
But most communication is by message or email. High-end criminals are much like millennials in that way.
Everything is encrypted, naturally, but what if the authorities break the code? It happens. A lot of very good criminals are in prison right now because a nerd with a laptop had too much time on their hands. So you must hide as well as you can.
You can hide your IP address — that is very easy. François Loubet's emails go through a world tour of different locations before being sent. Even a nerd with a ...
The protagonists are richly drawn, to be sure, and Rosie in particular is a hoot as a Jackie Collins clone. I especially enjoyed the fact that the two women are portrayed as largely cool-headed; it's the recently widowed Steve who is the sensitive one of the group and this character's journey through his grief adds depth to the story. Beyond the major characters, the narrative abounds with others that are equally well-rounded. An airport security officer who appears on just a few pages leaves an indelible image, and the same is true of a taxi driver, a flight attendant, a drug dealer, and a self-help guru named Barb the Gray Panther. Although even the minor characters are memorable, there are a lot of them, and from time to time I had to go back to remind myself who was who. The mystery at the heart of the book is overly complex, too, and a few of the plot points are a bit outlandish when all's said and done. I must admit, though, that I honestly didn't care about these flaws. The book was just so much darn fun that it left me smiling in a way few do these days; it was the perfect escape...continued
Full Review
(878 words)
(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
In Richard Osman's thriller We Solve Murders, a series of murders surrounds Maximum Impact Security, a close-protection agency, or a company that provides bodyguards to paying clients. The concept of employing a select group of individuals to guard an important person isn't a new one by any means. Many believe that this sort of quid pro quo — you protect me, I'll give you [food, tools, money] — has existed as long as there have been humans on the planet.
One early recorded security force is ancient Egypt's Medjai or Medjay. Mentioned in texts from the Old Kingdom (2649-2130 BCE), these were men from Nubia (modern-day Sudan) who were expert archers and horsemen. They developed a reputation for being intensely loyal and...
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