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We had to wait a bit longer for this fifth book in the Thursday Murder Club series because Richard Osman began another series (We Solve Murders), but we did at least get to enjoy the movie based on the first book. (Look for a funny little Easter egg in this new book that winks at the film.)
At the start of The Impossible Fortune, Elizabeth is navigating grief over the loss of her husband, Joyce’s only daughter is getting married (finally!), Ibrahim is still providing therapy to ex-con (but still active criminal) Connie, and Ron’s daughter is finally calling it quits with her abusive husband (also a criminal).
The book spends a lot of time on all of these various plot lines, and getting them established means the murder angle isn’t introduced for a while. That’s just fine by me: these books are all about the people, especially by now. But yes, the murder part of this murder mystery starts getting its legs at the wedding reception of Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, and her new husband, Paul. One of Paul’s friends, Nick Silver, takes Elizabeth aside and says he’s found a bomb under his car, and he needs help.
Later, another car bomb actually does kill someone, and the club has another murder to solve. But all the individual characters’ plot threads are thickly woven around the murder thread, meaning a lot is going on here.
The Impossible Fortune has just what I’d hope for in another Thursday Murder Club outing: cleverness, wit, and warmth. In The Last Devil to Die, Elizabeth’s husband dies after experiencing dementia for the whole series. The two tough topics (dementia and death) are handled so delicately and poignantly, and here we get more of that deft handling with the topic of grief. Here, too, we get the same sensitive attention given to the topic of domestic violence. You can see how Osman loves his characters, and he is so skilled at bringing these topics into the story with a light touch.
I decided to listen to The Impossible Fortune using my Spotify Premium subscription because it was available right away, and my hold at the library for the ebook would take probably a couple of months. It was extra fun to hear the characterizations done by actress Fiona Shaw. I don’t often listen to audiobooks, but I do admit this is one that does make it even more entertaining!
So, worth the wait.
Rated: Mild. Profanity includes a few uses of mild language, about 10 instances of the name of Deity in vain, and a few uses of British (bl-) profanity. Violence is regular but usually fairly mild, including a killing by a car bomb, threatenings with guns, a couple of attempted killings, and references to domestic violence.
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