Murder, they wrote
The Bullet
That Missed **** by Richard Osman (Viking, £20)
Brilliant young reporter Bethany Waites has been missing, presumed dead, since her car went over a cliff near Dover nearly a decade ago.
The rising star of regional TV news programme South East Tonight had been investigating a multimillion pound VAT fraud involving gangster Jack Mason when she disappeared.
Detectives were unable to find either her body or enough evidence to convict the crime boss. But his accomplice, Heather Garbutt, confessed to the fraud and was jailed for 10 years.
At a deluxe retirement village in Kent, The Thursday Murder Club members Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron meet weekly to solve cold cases. After reading about the anniversary of Bethany Waites’ disappearance, they decide to investigate.
Joyce is delighted, as this gives her the chance to meet local TV news legend Mike Waghorn, who saw Bethany as his protégé. But their investigation becomes more complicated when Garbutt is found dead in her prison cell.
Then former MI6 spook Elizabeth’s past returns to haunt her and she’s given an ultimatum – kill a target from her old life or someone close to her will die. Can she track down her nemesis in time to keep her nearest and dearest safe?
The third instalment of the record-breaking Thursday Murder Club series from former Pointless co-presenter Richard Osman is another witty, charming and hugely entertaining read that just might be his best yet.
Marple: Twelve New Stories **** by various authors (Harpercollins, £20)
This collection of original short stories featuring Agatha Christie’s much-loved sleuth Jane Marple has been written by 12 current bestselling authors aiming to introduce the old lady with a sparkle in her eye to a new generation.
The tales, many set in Miss Marple’s quiet village of St Mary Mead and featuring her nephew Raymond West and his wife Joan, will delight fans, old and new, of arguably the
Queen of Crime’s finest creation.
It’s the British authors who do the best job of breathing fresh life into the fictional national treasure as Christie wrote her, but there’s not a dud among the stories.
Everyone will have their own favourites. Mine was Kate Mosse’s majestic The Mystery Of The Acid Soil, which sees Marple on holiday in Sussex visiting her dear friend Emmeline Strickert. During the train journey from London she meets a young curate worrying about the disappearance of the woman he loves, and decides to investigate.
Dreda Say Mitchell’s Deadly Wedding Day is also an absolute delight, with the sleuth teaming up with Miss Bella to uncover the killer of a young guest at the wedding of her friend’s niece to a baronet’s son at a stately home.
Elly Griffiths’ Murder At The Villa Rosa, which sees Miss Marple go on holiday to Italy’s Amalfi Coast, Ruth Ware’s Miss Marple’s Christmas and Lucy Foley’s Evil In Small Places are also devilishly good. This collection is an unexpected treat for Christie’s legion of fans.