Ponder: The Man Who Died Twice

The Man Who Died Twice ©2021 by Richard Osman is the second book in his Thursday Murder Club Mystery series. From my 2/25/24 post about the first book:

The club is made up of four septuagenarians -- Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim -- who live in a retirement village called Coopers Chase. They meet in the Jigsaw Room weekly to solve cold case murders.  

Although I found his first book "a humorous delight to read" and rated it four stars, my opinion has changed, reading his second book of the series. The cold case murders become real-time murders not only involving the local police but also expanding to include the British intelligence spy agencies of James Bond fame MI5 (intelligence efforts inside the UK) and MI6 (countering threats from abroad). I can buy in to a couple local police officials buddying up and respecting the input of four elderly residents from an old folks' home, but pushing that scenario to include professionals from national and international agencies is going a bit too far. I have read and enjoyed books in the fantasy genre and I can suspend disbelief to enjoy them. But the Thursday Murder Club Mystery series is meant to take place in the real world with comedic twists, twists I found ludicrous.

Also cited in my 2/25/24 post is my opinion of the diary entries of Joyce in the first book:

Joyce, one of the four, keeps a diary. Her musings seem to run a bit astray sometimes and do not always advance the plot; but they certainly do evoke a chuckle or two from the reader. The diary entries are well worth including since they are a creative mechanism for not only providing a useful consolidation of facts but also delivering a delightful sprinkling of tongue-in-cheek views of the residents and suspects.

Once again I have changed my opinion. It is possible to have too much of a good thing. The diary entries in The Man Who Died Twice are too rambling and too numerous. What was once endearing, morphed to become annoying. I plodded through the second book of the series. I did finish it, only because other friends with whom I share similar literary tastes liked it. I did not. I will not be pursuing the third and fourth books of the series. I rate The Man Who Died Twice two stars.

 

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it