If the man hasn’t been resuscitated , somebody who knows the operation might be the one who wrote that letter! Due to circumstance, I happened to read book three ( The Bullet That Missed), then went back for second helpings (haha, see what I did there? First off I have to comment on how wonderful it is to be reunited with all these familiar characters.

All these events and the people associated with them get woven into a tangled and sometimes very helpful mess. I’ve missed their camaraderie, their hilarious conversations, their individual foibles and their ability to behave badly without arousing suspicion. He explains that his life is in danger, that an international crime broker says he stole diamonds from him that belong to the New York Mafia. Add in twenty million quids worth of stolen diamonds and it’s game on for our intrepid group of septuagenarians and their loyal pals.Elizabeth decides that this is the perfect project for The Thursday Murder Club, and quickly enlists the help of Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron. The personal story of Ibrahim is quite touching and, unfortunately, a horrific reminder that assaults like this do happen to our seniors. The twinkle that could make you walk down the aisle with a man almost ten years your junior, and regret it within months. Or when my kids get all upset and ask me why I sent them the sarcastic smiley face emoji when all I was trying to do was send a smiley face because forfuckssake how can you tell the difference between smiley face emojis they all look the same!

Ibrahim, though homebound, has a meaningful role to play in aiding his friends while dealing with his own trauma from his attack. We had to head back to the station but, on the way, I bought some chocolate for Ibrahim and some beer for Ron.This series has much more depth than is perhaps suggested from the synopsis and has occasionally found itself labeled as a cozy- (I think I even categorized the first book as such) Though this book does meet the ‘cozy’ criteria of ‘no graphic violence’, the mystery and the dialogue are whip smart, with an equal balance of intelligence to match the humor and the occasionally seriousness. This one is not quite as cozy as the first, with some new baddies, a mafia angle, stolen diamonds, cryptic messages, a lady drug dealer, spies and a perplexing double murder! They’re bittersweet, tinged with sadness but there’s so much love there too and Stephen is literally just “oh right, guys with guns, you’ll be wanting Elizabeth then lads, she’ll be along soon” which I do not wholly attribute to his current medical status. It's all terribly amusing and Oscar Wilde-ish, lots of banter and disarming openness that conceals all sorts of shenanigans.