I wasn’t delighted when I learned that Richard Osman was setting his Thursday Murder Club crew aside for a little while to write a new series. The adventures of Elizabeth, Ron and co might not be fiercely plotted, hardcore crime stories, but they bring a little slice of joy and warmth on a yearly basis. I needn’t have worried. Osman’s new series, which kicks off with this book, is written with just as light a touch and gently humorous tone.
Amy is a private security officer currently protecting Rosie D’Antonio, “the world’s bestselling novelist, ‘if you don’t count Lee Child’”. They’re on an exclusive island – a nice change for tough nut Amy, who, “for various operational reasons”, once “had to spend the best part of a month living inside an abandoned oil pipeline in Syria”. Amy’s father-in-law, Steve, with whom she regularly talks on the phone (the deep and understated love between them pair is the beating heart of this novel), is a widower and retired police officer, living in the New Forest and regularly noting strange goings-on on his dictaphone. “Steve hadn’t been hoodwinked by the hollyhocks and the cupcakes and the cheery ‘Good morning’ greetings,” writes Osman. “Steve had seen secrets behind every pastel front door, seen corpses in every back alley.”
