We solve murders by Richard Osman

Amy Wheeler is on an island off California, owned by novelist Rosie D’Antonio, the world’s second best crime thriller writer. 

Amy is a high class bodyguard, hired by the rich and famous when threatened. And this client has fallen foul of a Russian oligarch, Vasily Karpan, who wants her dead. There is only one other person on the island, the chef, an ex Navy Seal, Kevin.  But he has been offered more money than Amy’s boss, Jeff Nolan, and as Amy fights to the death with Kevin, Rosie joins in, excited at being part of the action. Kevin is dispatched and the women board a boat back to the mainland, but it takes in a lot of water in the shark infested sea. Three influencers, clients of Jeff, have been murdered and each time, Amy has been within calling distance. And with her blood found at the scene, she feels threatened. With Rosie in tow, her father in law, Steve is the only person she trusts. 

Exiting, fast paced ad incredibly intriguing, this laugh out loud thriller will grab all readers as they are taken into the modern world of celebrities, Russian oligarchs, influencers, ChatGPT, money laundering and murder brokers. 

Amy is in daily contact with Steve a policeman settling into retirement through the local quiz night, watching local cats, talking to his dead wife, Debbie, with some local sleuthing on the side. A desperate call from Amy sees him flying to USA, something he never thought he would do. Landing at a small airport to be greeted by an impassive border security guard, Carlos Moss, is priceless. You can almost hear Osmond chuckling, thinking up the most improbable of sequences, coincidences and conversations for his characters.

And the humour keeps flowing. 

Followed by someone hired to kill her, Amy, Rosie and now Steve must think one step ahead of the killer. They land in St Lucia, then Dublin all the while Amy putting clues together to get to the heart of Francois Loubet, someone who uses ChatGPT to hide his identity, and is determined to kill her. Steve has a friend interview the owner of the Vivid Viral Media Agency and finds this company of one person is a front to hire people who think they are influencers to do a job which seems to gets them killed. One of these influencers it still alive, serving a ten year sentence in a Dubai jail, so Amy asks her husband, Adam, there for a diamond conference to interview her to get some answers. But she is already dead. So, back to basics. 

Characters flash across the page like fireworks, each having a part in the whole, and each delightfully different. I listened to this book via Audible, wonderfully read by Nicola Walker (Spooks, Unforgotten and Annika) And would heartily recommend it.

Themes: Crime, Influencers, Murder, Humour.

Fran Knight