Published: September 17, 2024
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Series: We Solve Murders #1
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 400 (Kindle)
My Rating: 3 Stars
Synopsis:
A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve…
Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.
Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job…
Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?
After the resounding success of the Thursday Murder Club series, which I completely adored, I was SO excited to see what Richard Osman had in store for readers next. We Solve Murders is, as one might guess, about the characters solving murders but not in the way you might think. This isn’t some Sherlock and Watson duo, but rather a bodyguard, her retired father-in-law, and the famous author being guarded.
Amy Wheeler is supposed to be guarding the world renowned author, Rosie D’Antonio, on a private island in South Carolina but when a series of influencers her company was supposed to be responsible for turn up dead, she begins to think something more is going on. This becomes a certainty when someone tries to kill her instead of Rosie. The duo go on the run, trying to stay ahead of whoever is now after Amy. Amy recruits her father-in-law Steve, a former investigator, to look into some things back home thus drawing him into the perilous situation.
I’ll be honest, I expected to love this book based on my feelings toward the Thursday Murder Club but I really thought We Solve Murders was quite mediocre. All the individual characters are likable and I have nothing against them, but it took them a while to really grow on me. The story itself was quite hard for me to get into as well and it took me nearly a month to finish what was approximately an 8 hour audiobook. The set up wasn’t all that engaging and I constantly felt like I was forcing myself through the first third of the book. Once I got a bit further things did start to pick up and I became more interested in the plot and characters, though! I seem to be the minority in my feelings toward this book because the average rating is sitting at 4.24 as I type this.
Overall, I was quite disappointed with this, but it seems to be more of a me problem. I think if you like the sound of the synopsis or enjoyed the Thursday Murder Club, you should definitely check it out.
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