The peddler of cosy contemporary crime novels turns peddler of cosy airport thriller ... I read We Solve Murders in a few pleasured gulps. It’s amusing rather than outright funny, involved rather than actually ever tense: everyone here is too ready with a pithy quip or a deft rejoinder for their safety to feel too pressing a concern ... Even if my heart rate was never raised, I was always interested in what came next. Osman doesn’t cheat on his plotting, even if he can be too quick to explain his characters rather than let them just be, sometimes shoehorning in sentiment as he does so ... Osman writes exactly the densely plotted, highly accessible book he wants to. One character’s diatribe, about poached eggs, is structured with a punchline like a full-blown comedy routine. Osman could be funnier if he wanted to be, could be gnarlier if he wanted to be, but he knows he would leave some people behind en route.
Read Full Review >>