Tag: The Thursday Murder Club

Book Reviews

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman Book Review

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you all enjoy my book review of the third book in the Thursday Murder Club series, The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman.

In this book review, I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to avoid spoilers, but as a review of a book in a series there might be one or two.

The Bullet That Missed Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I have a love hate relationship with this series of books. First, I struggle with how the author got published so easily because he is a celebrity and I feel that the books do reflect this, if they weren’t famous a few of the plot lines I do not think would have been published. As a fan of murder mysteries I will read all the books that come out, however, I often find in this series there are too many strands within it. I said to someone after I read the second in the series, it is like the author threw the kitchen sink at it.

In the Bullet That Missed I did enjoy it more than the second book, it had a clearer sense of the murder in the plot. If it veered from the subject it soon came back to it and the surrounding investigation which I liked.

The Bullet That Missed Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I do love the characters in this series, each one has their own personality and by the third book in a series you really do feel as though you know them. I would have liked to see more character development in this book for Ron, he didn’t seem to feature or do much.

The Bullet That Missed writing and dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I think it is pretty obvious by now that Richard Osman can write, and he can write well. I do think that the books are straying form the cosy crime genre that it is pitched as being so I would like to see a return to that.

The Bullet That Missed Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Blurb/Synopsis:

It is an ordinary Thursday, and things should finally be returning to normal.

Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club are concerned. A local news legend is on the hunt for a sensational headline, and soon the gang are hot on the trail of two murders, ten years apart.

To make matters worse, a new nemesis pays Elizabeth a visit, presenting her with a deadly mission: kill or be killed…

While Elizabeth grapples with her conscience (and a gun), the gang and their unlikely new friends (including TV stars, money launderers and ex-KGB colonels) unravel a new mystery. But can they catch the culprit and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?

friday first and lasts

Friday First and Lasts!

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Happy Friday bookish people! I know it has been a long time since I did one of these but I am bringing back my Friday First and Last segments where I take random numbers, one corresponding with a first sentence from a book and one that corresponds with the last sentence in a different book, I put them together and see what I can make from them. And yes, it took me a very, very long time to write out all the sentences and put them with a number.

I used to do five of these per post but I am only going to be doing three each time for the moment and see how that goes.

So, onto the first set of sentences!

Numbers 333 – which I think was from The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and number 111 -from The Six Tudor Queens: Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir

Which creates “Well let’s start with Elizabeth shall we, her skin was rather sallow” – this is quite the pairing. It sounds like an insult you’d get when you were in high school or on one of those roasting shows. If somebody started a book with this I’d think this book was going to have a character with a lot of attitude about them.

Number 424 – from The Library of the Unwritten by A J Hackwith and number 121 – I can’t actually remember what book this one is from because I didn’t write it down next to it

Which gives us “This is my last entry in the librarians log, we dreamed of carving our dragons”

This one also works really well together. It turns what could be an uninteresting statement into a fantastical, want to know more story. I would love to read a book about a librarian who had a relationship with some sort of dragon, I can imagine it being there in the corner of the library, turning the pages with it’s dragon paws and trying not to sneeze and burn the pages.

And finally, number 18 – from The Upside of Unrequieted by Becky Albertalli and number 36 – from Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

Which gives us “I’m on the toilet at the 9:30 club, I hope somebody is listening”

… okay, first I have to say these numbers are chosen at random and I have no idea what to say about that last one other than if I was in that character’s position I would hate for somebody to be listening.

Okay, That’s it for this set of first and last sentences, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Book Quotes

Favourite Book Quotes – 100-91

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Happy Friday bookish people! This post is going up later than I would have liked it to, this week has been super busy for me with my job, University, hospital etc.. and this morning I got my second Covid jab so hopefully I’ll get this written before any side effects kick in.

I’m starting a little series (in case you didn’t notice by the title of this post…) where I show and maybe talk about, depending on my mood, my 100 favourite quotes from books. But doing ALL 100 in one post might have been a bit much so I’m splitting it down into sections of ten. Also it will give it a bit of mystery, you’ll be thinking ooh I wonder what’s going to be on the next set of ten and I wonder what quote will take the top spot – no? Just me? Okay…

Well, with all that said lets go to the first set of ten.

In last place at 100 we have a classic from….

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

100. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” – I really dislike Wuthering Heights but this quote just managed to squeeze into my top 100.

Coming in at 99 we have a quote from….

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

99. “Fate […] is a very weighty word to throw around before breakfast” – I mean yes, it certainly is. I don’t usually eat breakfast so if you want to talk to me about fate you’re going to have to wait until after I’ve eaten something for lunch.

Speaking of food we have number 98…

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

98. “It was a well known fact that there were no calories in homemade cakes” – if only that was true.

Quote 97 is one that came from a series of books I read in my early years at Secondary school….

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

97. “Dreams, dreams. I walk them; I live them. I delude myself with them” – I can definitely relate to the deluding yourself with dreams part, I’m well known for daydreaming.

A much more serious quote at 96…

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

96. “The only way to learn is to live”

At the halfway point for this first installment of favourite quotes is one from a favourite series of mine…

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

95. “There were shipwrecks more graceful than Tella” – I am more graceful than Tella and I need more than ten fingers to count the amount of times I fall and trip each day.

At 94 is a quote that reminds me of a few people who I know….

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

94. “It’s not exciting if nothing can go wrong” – I completely disagree with this statement and that’s not at all because I’m scared of everything, including people. Some particular people.

Moving on quickly. 93 is a quote that I wrote down on a sticky note while I was reading the book because of how much it caught my attention….

Spin The Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

93. “Seize the wind, don’t become the kite that never flies” – as illogical as trying to catch hold of actual wind is, this is still a beautiful quote.

Up next is a quote from a book that has vampires in…

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

92. “She was no lamb, she was a lion” – I won’t tell you the character name who says this but this quote sums up her character arc very well.

and the final quote of this first installment is…..

How The King Of Elfhame Learned To Hate Stories by Holly Black

91. “A heart of stone can still be broken” – simple and a little sad this quote tells you a lot about two characters – the one who says it and the one they are saying it to.

That’s it for this blog post, I hope you all enjoyed the first installment – have you seen any of your favourite quotes yet? Are there any quotes you are hoping might show up further up my list? Let me know in the comments.

I’ll be back soon with quotes 90-81!