The Man Who Died Twice

The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club #2) by Richard Osman (2021 Penguin-Viking softcover 424pp)

 

When I read it almost a year ago now, the original “Thursday Murder Club” seemed like a warm hug of a cosy crime novel. A group of 70-plus year-old characters found themselves involved in a caper and along the way we had amusing looks at modern life from a different perspective. The follow-up, I’m sad to say, doesn’t quite live up to the first volume.

The same gang of characters are still around – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron again take the stage and they’re supported by Chris and Donna the local police detectives we met last time. Also back is Bogdan the eastern european odd-job man who seems strangely capable at all he does. A new pair of characters, Lance and Sue, both working for MI5 are introduced but barely fleshed-out.

The plot involves a man from Elizabeth’s past who arrives asking for help and soon involves the team in a fresh adventure involving stolen diamonds, spies, a crooked banker to criminals and even the Mafia. Meanwhile Ibrahim has been mugged by a local wayward teen and a local drug dealer has been evading police efforts to bring her to justice. Eventually all these things merge.

This is where I think things begin to go wrong – things barely hinted at and mentioned as asides in the first book are suddenly front and centre. Elizabeth and her past with the security services pretty much take over the book. I’m not sure I’m comfortable knowing she was essentially the female James Bond and still viewed with awe by the current generation of agents. The whole spy aspect is somewhat cartoony in the plot. Ex-Nurse Joyce who in the first book was the caring human face of the team is somewhat reduced to being Elizabeth’s sidekick and in the chapters that are her diary entries, seems to be portrayed as something of a ditz -well even more so than the in the first book. Ron and Ibrahim get a few crucial moments but mainly seem to disappear into the background for the duration.

Having said all that, it’s still an enjoyable read. Its drifted further from realism but maybe escapism is what we need. It was good to see these characters again and spend time in their world, even though I didn’t quite agree with the direction Osman took. A third book in the series is promised on the last page, I know I’ll probably read it too.

 

The Mauritius Command

The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels Volume 1: The Mauritius Command by Patrick O’Brian (2016 Harper Collins hardcover 324pp)

 

 

 

First an apology – It’s been close to a month since I finished reading this book and plenty of other things have happened in the meantime. So as a result, I don’t have a crystal-clear memory of the story synopsis and this review will be brief and to the point.

The fourth Aubrey-Maturin novel begins with ‘Lucky Jack’ Aubrey once again land-bound. He’s living the domestic life with his new bride, their new twin babies and his Mother-in-law in a small run-down cottage in the English countryside. He longs for life on the high-seas and after a visit from Stephen Maturin he gets his wishes. He is given a temporary promotion to the rank of Commodore and takes command of a small fleet of ships tasked with taking control the French Indian Ocean island possesions.

In this volume gone are the long passages detailing the arduous sailing journeys to far-flung destinations. Instead, we seem to dart between locations from paragraph to paragraph. I found this change disconcerting and feel it lost something as a result. However, the author had a story he wanted to tell and some economies of words were probably warranted.

This time out Aubrey doesn’t really have much chance to show off his sailing skills, instead he’s reduced to over-seeing the strategic situation. He must coordinate the various Royal Navy captains and the land forces to be used in the combined operations, something that turns out to be akin to ‘herding cats’.

When the actions come, the detail is fine and for the first time we see, through Stephen’s eyes, a British failure and what it costs them in man and material. O’Brian doesn’t spare us the gory details of the result of combat.

In the end, as in history, the Fleet succeeds – but not entirely by force of arms alone. Maturin runs what we’d now call ‘PsyOps” against the defending French forces and their allies. Many lose the will to fight and surrender outright.

I felt this was perhaps a lesser book in the series (having only read 4, maybe I’m not in a good position to judge yet), we catch up with a few old friends, some action occurs but not much changes for the main characters in the end. If you’re a fan by this stage you’ll read it regardless.