I am so glad I downloaded this as an audio book because Lesley Manville brings a great atmosphere as the narrator of this brilliant story by Richard Osman, yes the big fella off the TV.
Tongue in cheek, or deliberately written as a comedy, I have no idea but I got a lot of strange looks walking down the road, with my earbuds in, laughing out loud.
Cosy Crime is not my usual genre, and by the nature of the characters and the setting, this can’t be classed as anything else, but it is a tremendous listen.
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim, all in or close to their 80’s, live in a care community in the leafy south east of England. Every Thursday they meet up and try to solve cold case murders, in a very Miss Marples type of way, but always around the table.
A visit by a local Police Officer, Donna DeFraites, I think that’s how it’s spelt ( the problem with audio books ) is boring to the residents, they’ve had enough advice about window locks, so they ask for juicy stories.
A few days later there is a real murder, right on their doorstep, and the four pensioners swing into action. Which is more than Donna can do because as a junior uniform, and dare I say it female officer, she’s just tasked with making the tea.
Until the murder club hatch a plot to get her bosses to let her take part in the investigation. Their only real motivation being they need an inside source because they are going to investigate a real murder.
What follows is a cross between an Agatha Christie story and something from the pen of the writers of the Vicar of Dibley, and it’s is hilarious.
Osman writes the way a lot of people think. There are times when he makes little connections and send the characters mind or mouth rambling around a subject.
He gets away with some borderline political incorrectness because, actually it’s not incorrect, it’s what most of us think.
I hope this is the start of a new series. The characters are great, and the setting will allow peripheral characters to drift in,a new out, or inevitably fill the void left by those that “ move on “
nigeladamsbookworm 