Richard Osman on the "new challenge" of his next major book release
"This book absolutely has the same sensibility, the same warmth and humour based in characters."
Richard Osman is a man in demand – both today and for the foreseeable future. "I’ve just done a Christmas interview, so I’m now in the world of pigs-in-blankets," says the TV producer and presenter turned wildly successful novelist.
Having spent 30 years creating TV shows before finding teatime telly fame on Pointless and House of Games, Osman is now four years into his new career as a literary phenomenon. The Thursday Murder Club series – featuring Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce and Ibrahim, a quartet of crime-busting pensioners living in a well-heeled retirement village – has sold more than ten million copies worldwide since it was first published in September 2020. All four books – The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed and The Last Devil to Die – were in the top 20 UK bestsellers of last year.
If it sounds like the kind of success that can be life-changing, Osman seems terribly grounded about it all: "In some ways my life hasn’t changed at all, because I’m doing the thing I love and that I’m proud of," he says. "I certainly spend more time locked away in a room with a cat on my lap. I’m used to working in big teams in telly, and this is just me in front of a computer screen. I worried that it wouldn’t suit me, but it seems to."
Indeed, it does. The scale of Osman’s success makes the launch of a new book series a major literary event. We Solve Murders features two new protagonists: Steve Wheeler, an ex-policeman turned reluctant private investigator, and his daughter-in-law Amy, a private security officer who thrives on adventure and adrenaline.
When Amy is tasked with protecting glamorous celebrity author Rosie D’Antonio – "basically Jackie Collins" – on an exclusive and remote island, things take a dangerous turn. She calls on Steve for help, and he reluctantly tears himself away from the sofa and the Sudoku puzzle to embark on a deadly race around the world.
"Steve doesn’t want to go anywhere," Osman explains. "But Amy finds herself targeted by a murderer, and she only has one person she can trust – so poor Steve has to jump on a private jet. He discovers, to his horror, that you can’t even get a Scotch egg on the island…"
Scotch egg aside, this sounds more like the world of James Bond than cosy English retirement village. "It’s a bit more airport thriller-y than The Thursday Murder Club," Osman agrees.
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"I knew I wanted to set myself a new challenge, but this book absolutely has the same sensibility, the same warmth and humour based in characters. I get to go around the world with it, which is nice, but Steve has no interest in that. I thought a fun character to send on a cat-and-mouse chase around the world would be somebody who’s thinking, 'I hope we get this done by Tuesday because I want to get back for the pub quiz.'"
Isn’t it a little scary, trying to follow up such a runaway success as The Thursday Murder Club? "I honestly don’t feel any pressure in terms of sales," he says. "I’ve had a career where I’ve had successes and a lot more failures, and there’s less pressure when there’s a success. You just have to write what comes from your heart. That’s always been my rule: never write to impress, never write to be successful. Just write the thing that you want to write and then you can’t go too far wrong."
The book is the first in what will become the We Solve Murders series – "Because of my background in TV, I like the idea that if you do something people enjoy, you can do it again for them" – but Osman isn’t abandoning his gang of ageing sleuths.
"Yesterday, I wrote The Thursday Murder Club 5 on the top of a bit of paper. I suspect in about ten months’ time it will finally be done. That’s the next book. I’m going to leapfrog these two series. I’m not going to put The Thursday Murder Club out to pasture anytime soon, don’t worry about that!"
In any case, the novels will soon have a parallel life on the screen. The first Thursday Murder Club movie is currently being filmed with Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Sir Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie in the four main roles. Chris Columbus is directing, and the producer is Steven Spielberg. Is Osman eyeing up a cameo appearance?
"I get to go down to the set occasionally and everyone’s very lovely to me and it’s amazing to see those actors, but I’m staying one step removed. Making a film is very, very different from writing a book. They have to do their vision of what this is, and they don’t need me sticking my oar in. I’ll sit back and see what they come up with."
The Thursday Murder Club is yet to confirm a release date on Netflix – Richard Osman's books are available to purchase now.
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