“We Solve Murders” is the first in a new series of books from acclaimed murder mystery author Richard Osman. Fans will recognize the name because of his “Thursday Murder Club Series,” which debuted in 2020 and went on to become a commercial phenomenon. Those books include “The Thursday Murder Club” (2020), “The Man Who Died Twice” (2021), “The Bullet That Missed” (2022), “The Last Devil to Die” (2023) and “The Impossible Fortune” (2025). 

What unites these books is the insight we gain into the lives of four retirees who find social cohesion by solving cold-case murders. Although they come from vastly different backgrounds, these differences work to their advantage as they use their unique vantage points to outwit both the local police and a seasoned band of criminals. 

What begins as an amateur bit of sleuthing in the puzzle room of the idyllic Cooper’s Chase retirement village quickly turns into real-life detective work when murders begin occurring right on their doorstep, compelling them to find second lives as a crack team of crime solvers. What strikes the reader is how capable these minds are, and how society’s underestimation of them as doddering pensioners becomes the crucial element of their success.

In August 2025, Netflix released the first film adaptation of the series, “The Thursday Murder Club.” The film controversially deviated significantly from the source material, most notably altering the trajectory of the much-loved Polish handyman Bogdan ( Henry Lloyd-Hughes), and completely removing several other popular characters, leaving fans and critics alike in dismay about how the source material was handled by the screenwriter Suzane Heathcote (“Fear The Walking Dead”) and the film’s director Chris Colombus, working alongside the comedian Katy Brand. Their aim was to preserve the book’s underlying satire and humor, but in doing so, this team of writers failed to capture its more subtle dynamics and character development.

It seems evident that the lack of Osman’s direct involvement in the adaptation had a materia effect here, as fan interest appears to have waned significantly after its Netflix release. While it held the top spot on Netflix in its first week—it had 24.7 million views in its first four days—it dropped to fifth on Netflix’s most-watched film chart within a week of debuting. 

At the moment there are no specific plans to adapt future books in the series despite an avid fanbase and enthusiasm for the cast itself, especially with Dame Helen Mirren’s casting in the lead role of Elizabeth, the book’s main protagonist, followed closely by Pierce Brosnan as Ron, Sir Ben Kingsley as Ibrahim, and Celia Imrie as Joyce. As an ensemble, they convincingly captured the group’s unique camaraderie while maintaining the one-to-one relationship chemistry of the book’s beloved characters, even if the material they were given sometimes reduced their characters to parodies of themselves. 

The average age of the four main core cast members is currently 78, so the timing of the adaptations is crucial to keep them in play for potential future adaptations in the series. Despite all of this uncertainty, Osman insists he enjoyed the project and getting to meet his idols through the book’s filmmaking and remains inspired to write more of the “Thursday Murder Club” series. 

In 2024, Osman decided to take a break from his mystery-cracking seniors at Cooper’s Chase to cast his imagination toward a new cast of characters in the new “We Solve Murders” series. 

Here, the Wheeler family takes the stage in the form of a father-in-law and daughter-in-law duo who find themselves suddenly immersed in a globetrotting mystery. As the new novel opens, Steve Wheeler is a retired police officer living a quiet life in the New Forest. By contrast, Amy, his daughter-in-law, is an adrenaline-seeking private security bodyguard for a high-end global firm. Small but physically fierce, she is chosen to protect Rosie D’Antonio, a bestselling author who needs added muscle, after offending the Russian oligarch, Vasiliy Karpin, by including a thinly disguised, highly unflattering character based on him in her blockbuster crime novel, “Dead Men & Diamonds,” which sounds remarkably like a title from the “Thursday Murder Club” series. 

The book trades on these meta elements: D’Antonio just happens to write crime fiction, Amy just happens to work for an ultra-luxury private security firm called “Maximum Impact.” This humorous lack of subtlety plays into fans used to it from Osman’s previous series. The same applies to Axley, the quiet village in the New Forest, where Steve lives a life of rigid comfort bordering on regiment, following the death of his wife, Debbie, which explains to a degree his closeness to his daughter-in-law as the family together navigates and reconfigures emotionally around her loss.

As for Steve and Amy, their two lifestyles couldn’t be more different, and yet their close bond moves Steve away from the pub quiz and stirrings of his cat aptly called Trouble to enter Amy’s professional high-stakes world of private chefs, posh jets and larger-than-life personalities to conduct what starts as low-level private investigative work as a favor to her. This quickly escalates into his being involved in a plot of international intrigue. All the while, Steve is haplessly attempting to get home. 

Themes of chosen family feature heavily in both series, as do intergenerational friendship, down-on-their-luck coppers, shady businessmen, quirky celebrities and, indeed, budding romance amid the mayhem of murder that, of course, somehow finds its way back to what would otherwise be a quiet village. 

The sequel to “We Solve Murders,” “We Chase Shadows,” is scheduled for release on September 15. Spoilers: the dramedic chemistry between Steve, Amy, and Rosie is set to fizz into action once again in the premise of a newly formed detective agency. Expect more eccentric clientele, joined by even more over-the-top suspects, forcing the gang to leave England as the investigations refuse to stay in one place, much to the chagrin of Steve, who likely still longs for a pint in his village local and a night in with his cat.

Speaking of staying with the trouble, Netflix has positioned itself as the exclusive streaming home of both of these major book series, in what it has dubbed the Richard Osman cinematic universe, in a nod to other big-budget book-to-screen franchises. 

These will be massive flagship projects, and like the “Thursday Murder Club” series, expect top British talent to feature in this newest book series, whose rights Netflix secured before the first book was released. It is unclear whether the first two books will become feature-length films or part of a series for the streaming service. In the meantime, if these books are new to you, the change of season is the perfect time to get stuck in!

About the writer

Stephanie Polsky is an unabashed fan of both series, with her favorite character being Ron Ritchie; if she had a cat, village, or otherwise, this would be the first name she’d choose. She admires a character who knows exactly how to read a room, manipulate a crowd, or bluff his way through a tense negotiation, which, not incidentally, helps the group put the squeeze on crims, and speaking of which, are not half-bad skills for an academic.