Review: We Solve Murders

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked it but didn't love it.

I liked the hapless ex-cop Steve, dragged willy-nilly into a round-the-world pursuit of clues to several murders that look like someone is trying to pin them on his beloved daughter-in-law Amy. He just wants a small, quiet life back in his village with his mates in the pub and his cat. I get it, and I don't think he's wrong to want that. I liked his mate Tony, an ordinary bloke with a garage, as well, for much the same reasons.

I didn't like Amy nearly as much. She is disengaged from her emotions because of a traumatic childhood, and scored high on her boss's homemade "psychopath test". She's not actually a psychopath; she knows right from wrong and which one she's pursuing, but she doesn't indulge in feelings about it. This leaves her a bit superficial as a character, especially since she's mostly reactive rather than proactive.

I didn't like her boss much either, for similar reasons.

I disliked the bestselling novelist, Rosie, considerably. She's so rich she's not even sure whether or not she owns a helicopter. She's still (in approximately her 70s, probably, but she refuses to say) living the same lifestyle of sex and drugs and private jets that she started on in the 1980s, and feels fine about it.

The other viewpoint characters I don't think I was meant to like, apart from the hapless and clueless would-be influencer Bonnie (just a young mother trying to do what she loves in a way that will help her kids have a better life) and the head-in-the-sand talent agent who is being used by the villains. There's a self-regarding action movie actor who's awful in various ways. The villains are obsessed with money and casual about ruining or ending people's lives, more so than I was expecting from a cozy author, though I haven't read contemporary cozy previously. Most of my mystery and thriller reading has been of books from a century or more ago.

The whole thing reminded me of one of Dave Barry's novels; general comedic/bantering tone, casually nasty criminals, hapless ordinary protagonists (apart from the ones who are basically superheroes). It didn't mesh well with my taste overall, but I appreciated that it was well executed and well edited.

I do still intend to try the Thursday Murder Club, which may be closer to my idea of cozy, but my hopes are lower for it now, and I won't be continuing with this series. Again, this is about my taste, not the quality of the work.

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