Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - We Solve Murders

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We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

22 reviews

jefferz's review

funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Well known for his long-running series The Thursday Murder Club, We Solve Murders is the first entry in a new series featuring completely new characters, stories and themes. Despite the fresh start, in many ways We Solve Murders is quite similar in tone and style to The Thursday Murder Club as a light-hearted cozy murder mystery novel filled with subtle cheeky humor. I haven't read the subsequent books in The Thursday Murder Club series to compare to, but We Solve Murders feels like a more polished, refined, and focused novel that has a clearer direction for the kind of reading experience its trying to do. Unlike his past novels that were firmly in the cozy mystery territory, We Solve Murders crosses over into the thriller genre (on paper anyway) with elements of spies, mobs, hitmen, fraud, etc. That being said, I personally found We Solve Murders to be a bit overwritten and slow at times, and the characters/focal mystery felt a little underwhelming and too cozy for my personal taste.

I previously commented in my review for The Thursday Murder Club that I enjoyed Osman's writing style and tone but felt the plotting and story was trying to do too much without fully connecting the dots and clues together. There were also so many different storylines that didn't always work well off each other, resulting in a rather convoluted and messy 2nd half. Fortunately, We Solve Murders is an huge improvement in that regard, featuring a much more focused story and straightforward plotting. The gist of the story is a personal bodyguard Amy Wheeler is on the run from various hitmen/people with her current client, best-selling author Rosie D'Antonio, along for the ride. To make matter worse, the personal security firm she works for has had several past clients murdered, all suspiciously connected back to Amy. On the run, she enlists the help of her father in-law Steven Wheeler who is a retired policeman to help her solve who's behind these murders. Despite featuring various locations around the world and a fairly large cast of characters, the story remains focused on the core mystery which has an exciting and comedic start when Amy is almost killed at Rosie's private island. The mystery is quite tightly plotted and all the possible suspects and clues are clearly in play for the duration of the book.

Despite the focused narrative and compelling mystery premise, I found myself often wanting more from the novel and constantly wished that the mystery investigation and plot would move faster. Osman has a habit of overwriting which I previously did not mind in The Thursday Murder Club due to the senior shenanigans angle and its willingness to explore more nuanced topics like terminal illnesses, grief, and family. We Solve Murders has glimpses of this via Steven's recurring habit of speaking to his late wife via an old Dictaphone, but generally doesn't delve very deep into it, keeping the story casual and easygoing. However the lack of depth left the narrative writing a bit dry, turning into a lot of "he/she does this, thinks this, and wonders about this". I often wished that more of the characters' thoughts and ideas were written via dialogue rather than the 3rd person narrated descriptions or alternatively, would just get on with the story.

The other issue I had with this novel is again with Osman's commitment to an ensemble cast perspective presentation. The story constantly shifts between perspectives every chapter often between the main characters Amy and Steve, but also to every other side character in the story. While this can be a benefit to fully immerse the reader across all the different parties and groups, similar to its use in The Thursday Murder Club, there are just too many perspectives and characters for the presentation to be effective. Side characters such as Felicity, Tom, and some of the "villains" felt redundant while Bonnie and Max Highfield's perspectives were entirely unnecessary (apart from making the reader feel bad for Bonnie), and their chapters often disrupted the momentum the story was building. Unlike The Thursday Murder Club, I found the characterizations to be quite shallow, generic and underdeveloped which made the ensemble perspective shifts seem less interesting and distinctive. Older characters generally had much better characterizations compared to middle-aged characters, which is not really surprising given Osman's previous work. For me, Amy and Steven didn't have very memorable or noteworthy personalities to begin with (particularly Amy), but they often felt like they were being sidelined and upstaged by the side characters or one-off minor ones (the border patrol agent at the airport was an absolute scene-stealer). I have a sneaking suspicion that this approach was used to try and expand the story as there really isn't very much plot or investigations to stretch across 400 pages, but it just felt like the pacing and story was dragging constantly. With some trimming and editing, a more condensed 300 page novel would've likely felt more appropriate.

On the plus side, Osman's signature low-key humor that's equal parts silly and clever works wonders to carry the slower sections of the story. Unlike his previous novels that largely featured older characters who were tech illiterate, We Solve Murders does the opposite and fully incorporates social media trends and pop culture interests. From the focal crime mystery involving social media influencers to the the main villain using ChatGPT to cloak their narration in a "friendly English gentleman" style, this novel feels like a modernized and refined take vs Osman's previous works. The jokes and witty one-liners consistently land and the overall tone comes off as a light-hearted, bumbling around affair + guns. This is a great novel for readers that want a cozy fun read without heavy violence, suspense, or depictions of murders (despite the name, they mostly all happen vaguely off-screen).

At the end of the day despite being the start of a new series, We Solve Murders is more or less the same style of the Thursday Murder Club and what you would expect from Richard Osman. Light-hearted, accessible, comical, and entirely cozy, the story and mystery is well-plotted and the general investigation is a notable improvement over what I've previously read in The Thursday Murder Club. Unfortunately it also carries over most of the same issues I had with Osman's previous novels of having too many characters and perspectives, unnecessarily slow and overwritten pacing, and a slight lack of urgency or narrative hook. I also generally prefer the Thursday Murder Club over We Solve Murders due to the more mature topics and themes it explores at the senior living community. However, I admit that the last point is more of a subjective personal taste item and I'm starting to realize that cozy reads are probably just not for me and I should stick to more intense stories, fans of cozy reads will likely enjoy this one a lot!

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booksandbabble's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I enjoyed this to the point that the bad guy was not a good reveal?

like I know he was mentioned a bit in the book but not enough for the reveal to be interested or shocking

I did like Rosie and Steve and all that, the crew was quite cute but the reveal was lacking it's impact

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yvo_about_books's review

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

4.75

Finished reading: January 12th 2025

“If you have any sort of personality, someone will eventually want to kill you.”

I'm a big fan of the Thursday Murder Club series as I love the writing, characters and humor, so I couldn't resist adding this new series to my wishlist immediately. I admit that part of me was a bit worried that We Solve Murders wouldn't be quite as good as a new sequel of a series that is already a favorite... I ended up being wrong though, because I ended up loving We Solved Murders even more! The characters, the humor, the murder mystery, the writing, the international travel... There was so much to love in this first book, and I already can't wait to see what the characters will be up to next. We Solve Murders is in part a cozy mystery, although there is quite a lot of action and danger to be found along the way. I think the key is in the balance of that danger with lighter moments and a humor that was simply spot on for me. The cast of characters was amazing, and this made it really easy to start rooting for them from the very beginning. Both Amy and Steve make for such a great team, but my favorite character is without a doubt Rosie. She is such a hoot! There were some surprises along the way, and while I did guess part of the truth I personally didn't mind as I was too busy having fun following the characters around the world. I know it is still early in the year, but I'm having a sneaking feeling that We Solve Murders will end up on my list of 2025 favorites.

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cheryl_gager's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I just loved this. It was absolutely bonkers and all over the place, so I didn’t predict the ending and the reveal seemed to come out of nowhere, but it didn’t matter. I was nervous going into this because of my love of the Thursday murder club and I wasn’t sure how this would live up to it. However, there was no need to worry as it gave me the same vibes as the first book in that series but with more travel and more money. This was brilliant and would highly recommend.

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prairieraven's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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magpi3's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

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hakins259's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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gillianengelbrecht's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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its_erin's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Another truly delicious work by Osman. I love sinking my teeth into an engaging novel, but I like it better when it sinks it's teeth into me. And We Solve Murders took a bite and didn't let go. An absolute pleasure to read, and was delightfully satisfying - I want more but I'm also completely sated by what I received. If you enjoy a good whodunnit or any of Osman's previous works, you'll find this to be a perfect space for you.

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