Don’t expect another version of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club with We Solve Murders. In fact, it reminds me more of Deanna Raybourn’s Killers of a Certain Age. We Solve Murders was a little slow in starting, but once Rosie D’Antonio stepped in, it picked up speed and became funny.

Steve Wheeler retired after twenty-five years as a policeman. After his wife died, his world narrowed, and he’s happy just puttering around the small village where he lives, and going to the pub quiz once a week. On the other hand, his daughter-in-law, Amy, lives for the adrenaline rush of a good fight. She’s in the close-protection business, working for Maximum Impact Solutions, and the man who taught her everything she knows, Jeff Nolan. Her current assignment is to protect Rosie D’Antonio, one of the world’s bestselling authors. They’re on an island with just a Navy SEAL, since Rosie was threatened by a Russian she named in one of her books.

When an influencer is killed, Amy realizes he was the company’s third client to die in a dramatic fashion with a bag of money found near the body. When Jeff disappears, and Amy is attacked, she knows she’s in trouble. She still has to protect Rosie, but there’s only one person Amy can trust to help her. She turns to her quiet, unassuming father-in-law, Steve, who is reluctant to leave home. But, Rosie is pushy enough to send her private plane to pick him up, and the quiet man knows how to get around authorities and make friends in unlikely places.

Someone’s out to ruin Maximum Impact and kill Amy Wheeler. Is it the world’s biggest money smuggler? What about Henk von Veen, Jeff’s former partner? In a fast-paced caper that moves from America to Dublin to Dubai, with stops in between, Amy, Rosie, and Steve are on the run, looking for a killer while trying to stay alive.

Fans of The Thursday Murder Club might be a little disappointed. The characters in We Solve Murders don’t seem to have the same depth, but this is the first in a new series, and it takes time to develop the characters. But, Rosie is a hoot, and Steve has unusual depths. It appears that Osman’s next book may bring back his characters from The Thursday Murder Club series. We’ll just have to wait to get to know Steve, Amy and Rosie a little better.

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman. Pamela Dorman Books, 2024. ISBN 9780593653277 (hardcover), 400p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley through NetGalley in order to review the book for a journal.