We Solve Murders: What You Need to Know

My We Solve Murders: What You Need to Know post discusses it all! How does We Solve Murders compare to the Thursday Murder Club books? Is We Solve Murders part of a series? Are the books connected? I have THEORIES. Let’s talk about it!

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman: Jen’s Quick Take

• Very similar vibe and structure to the Thursday Murder Club: characters, narrative structure, themes. I’ll discuss this more below.
• But We Solve Murders is NOT part of The Thursday Murder Club series.
• All Osman’s books are cozy mysteries with police procedural elements and often have characters who are ex-police or ex-intelligence agents.
• But there’s a difference: most of We Solve Murders takes place outside the UK
• We Solve Murders is for fans of Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn and The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman: Overview

• Published on September 17, 2024 by Pamela Dorman Books; 400 pages
• I read this book in September 2024
• More books by Richard Osman: The Thursday Murder Club series. I have reviewed book four The Last Devil to Die!

We Solve Murders : What You Need to Know

Here are my most important questions about this book and I hope you’ll share yours.

Does this mean the end of the Thursday Murder Club Series? Is the series over?

Is The Thursday Murder Club series over? NO!

In his acknowledgments for We Solve Murders, Osman says he’s giving the TMC cast a year off.

Is We Solve Murders Going to be a Series?

Is We Solve Murders the first book in a new series? YES.

We Solve Murders is listed on Goodreads as a series and in his acknowledgments, Osman says the charaacters in We Solve Murders “will be returning soon.”

What does that mean? I have more to say on this topic below!

How Does We Solve Murders Compare to Thursday Murder Club?

I’ve read all the Thursday Murder Club series, and also wrote a series plot summary for the first three Thursday Murder Club books. Writing this gave me a great overview of the books, and I’ll update it before book five comes out.

I’ll also admit that I didn’t LOVE the first book in the TMC series. (People on Reddit agree with me!)

Osman likes to throw at lot at the reader: a lot of characters, a lot of shady side characters, a lot of POVs, a lot of plot. I feel like the Thursday Murder Club series took a couple of books to really gel, and then I loved the series.

I got the same feeling reading We Solve Murders: that there will be something really amazing here, but that it hadn’t gelled 100% yet. Some people on Goodreads agree with me, but most people loved the book. This could be for one interesting reason:

We Solve Murders feels very similar to The Thursday Murder Club Books

The Characters:

We have Amy, a cool-headed bodyguard, who feels a bit like a young Elizabeth. She’s trying to support her recently widowed (widowered?) father-in-law Steve.

Steve, a former police officer, is a bit like Ibrahim (a lot of phobias and some possible PTSD) with the cool analytical skills of Elizabeth. According to the clues he gives us in the book, Steve is in his late fifties, and below I will explain why this is IMPORTANT.

Rosie, the third member of this intrepid mystery-solving crew, is a famous and successful writer “of a certain age.” It’s a running joke in the book that the other characters try to figure out her age. I was getting Jackie Collins vibes from her. Jackie died in 2015 but would be in her late eighties if she were alive. RIP Jackie!

We Solve Murders is like The Thursday Murder Club series in that it:

• gently pokes fun at its characters
• has a large cast of colorful characters that includes dangerous yet quirky baddies who like to pontificate on things like the proper color of egg yolks
• has short chapters and many POV characters
• has a plot that revolves around money laundering. Not my thing and I could use more variety but OK

We Solve Murders is NOT like The Thursday Murder Club series in that it:

• mostly takes place outside the UK in places like St Lucia, South Carolina, and Dubai
• does not have an official police investigation aspect. Steve is ex-police who now runs a small detective agency, but he’s drawn into the book by his daughter-in-law, a bodyguard for hire.

My Two Non-Spoiler, Possibly Controversial Theories About We Solve Murders:

If you disagree, that is fine. Tell me in the comments 🙂

Theory One: Richard Osman is being practical (the new dog theory)

If you’re a dog lover, you know that people with an older dog often get a younger dog. Not exactly a replacement dog, but we all know what’s happening.

The Thursday Murder Club characters are quite elderly and most of the characters in We Solve Murder are quite a bit younger. New dog. Just saying.

Theory Two: these books will eventually have a shared universe.

Is Osman doing a Connelly?

I developed the shared universe theory quite a bit into We Solve Murders and I’d love to know what you think because I don’t have time to re-read all the books until the spooky season is over.

But here’s my evidence for the theory (so far):

In his acknowledgments, Osman says, “I did feel, as I began to write We Solve Murders, that I was somewhat cheating on my other characters… But I was soon certain that they are all happily living in the same world as each other.” Emphasis mine and HMMMMM…..

Does Elizabeth from Thursday Murder Club have a cameo in We Solve Murders?

I think YES!!!! And Craig (in comments) agrees with me. Craig, I like how you think 🙂

One of the secondary characters in We Solve Murders is in a London private club and sees “a woman in her eighties reading a book on the philosophy of grief. She clocked him as he came in.”

I think this is Elizabeth. She is EXACTLY the type of person to sit in a club in London and read a philosophy of grief book.

I tried to search the other Thursday Murder Club books to see if there was a private club in London mentioned, but had limited time and (so far) no success. Based on the acknowledgments, which were a treasure trove of juicy details, the name of the club (The Wilberforce, named after William Wilberforce, a former MP) seems to be unique to We Solve Murders.

If you noticed any other TMC Easter Eggs in We Solve Murders, please leave a comment and let’s gather evidence!

Finally, where are both book series located?

I am American so I laughed when Steve went to South Carolina and didn’t understand highways etc. I feel this way reading British books: most of the geography is lost on me. BUT:

While Cooper’s Chase seems to be a fictional place, The Thursday Murder Club Books are set in Kent and, according to this article in “Kent Live News,” (who should know!) take place somewhere near Tunbridge Wells.

Meanwhile Steve and his detective agency are located in the charming village of Axley, which also seems to be fictional. The book suggests that Axley is a) in Hampshire and b) near The New Forest, which (according to Steve) is around two hours from Cooper’s Chase and has trails and wildlife and PONIES.

Could it be near The New Forest National Park in Hampshire/Wiltshire? This map is APPROXIMATE but gives you an idea.

Just guessing and have only been to London, so if you think I got this wrong, please tell me in comments! I did use Apple Maps and honestly, they are sometimes unreliable!

Would you love a plot summary and spoiler discussion for We Solve Murders? I’m on it, but if you want me to hurry up, leave me a comment. There’s a LOT to discuss!