The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman Review: A Sharper, Warmer Cozy Mystery Sequel

The Man Who Died Twice is the second novel in Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series, following the quartet of retired amateur detectives — Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim — who meet weekly at Coopers Chase, a retirement village in Kent, to review cold cases. In this installment, the four are drawn into a new and escalating mystery, once again pitting their combined wit and life experience against adversaries who consistently underestimate them. Osman has said he conceived the group with The A-Team in mind, and that ensemble spirit — each member contributing distinct skills and personality — drives the narrative engine of each book. The audiobook edition runs 11 hours and 49 minutes in its unabridged form, narrated by Lesley Manville and released through Penguin Audio.

The mystery at the heart of the novel involves a man who, by the story's premise, has apparently died twice — a conceit that allows Osman to build the kind of interlocking, surprise-laden plot that defines the series. The four sleuths are pulled into a case that escalates well beyond the cozy confines of their retirement village, involving higher-stakes criminality than the first book. Jeffery Deaver, the #1 international bestselling author of The Final Twist, described the novel as "by turns moving, hilarious, and brilliantly suspenseful," and noted that it "keeps us flipping pages from start to finish." The Penguin Random House synopsis characterizes it as "action-packed," with the quartet joining forces amid "wit, friendship, and derring-do."

The book arrived with significant momentum, and reception from published sources has been strong. People wrote that "these septuagenarian sleuths of the Thursday Murder Club don't miss a beat," while Malcolm Forbes in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune called it "the perfect book with which to unwind" and described the quartet as "eccentric British crime solvers." Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author, offered perhaps the most emphatic endorsement in the publisher's materials: "Osman's novels are so much more than just brilliantly engineered mysteries… They're also funny, warm, and big-hearted… These books are absolute gold." On the Audible platform, the audiobook ranks among the top titles in the Cozy Mysteries and Amateur Sleuth Mysteries categories. Wikipedia's reception summary notes that critic Kerridge observed Osman "manages to keep the novel rooted in truth by focusing on his central characters' everyday concerns."

The Penguin Audio edition, narrated by actress Lesley Manville, is the format under review here. An audiobook clocking in at just under twelve hours is a substantial listen, but the unabridged format preserves the full texture of Osman's character-driven storytelling. Manville is a celebrated stage and screen actress, and her involvement lends the production a level of performance craft that audio editions of popular fiction don't always receive. The edition is also Whispersync for Voice-ready, meaning listeners can switch between the audiobook and Kindle text editions without losing their place — a practical feature for those who move between reading and listening environments.

Osman — best known as a British television presenter and comedian before turning to crime fiction — has, in the span of two books, built a series with genuine crossover appeal: it satisfies genre fans looking for well-constructed mysteries while also drawing in readers who might not typically reach for crime fiction. The Thursday Murder Club books are designed to function as a series, and while familiarity with the first book enriches the character dynamics here, the novel is structured around its own self-contained mystery. Readers who enjoy cozy mysteries centered on older protagonists, dry wit, and emotional resonance alongside the puzzle-solving will find this second outing serves those appetites well. Those seeking a grittier, darker procedural may find the warm, village-set tone a deliberate contrast to that tradition — which is precisely the point for its core audience.