‘Thursday Murder Club’ writer Richard Osman introduces a new series

Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim and Joyce — the so-called “harmless pensioners” who are members of the Thursday Murder Club in Richard Osman’s best-selling series of the same name — are on hiatus, making way for a new team of crime solvers in Osman’s new book, “We Solve Murders.”

(Don’t dismay! Osman promises the old gang will be back together in a new mystery a year from now, plus Chris Columbus, the director of the first two Harry Potter movies, “Home Alone” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” just finished filming a movie for Netflix based on “The Thursday Murder Club.”)

The new mystery, fondly described as “frothy” on the Thrilling Detective website, features British security specialist Amy Wheeler and Steve Wheeler, her father-in-law, a former police officer enjoying his retirement in a peaceful English village. Hired to guard Rosie D’Antonio, a wealthy romance writer hiding from a would-be assassin on a private island off South Carolina, Amy calls on Steve for help after a dead body and a lot of money are found on a yacht.

Closely tailed by a series of bad guys, the Wheelers travel to a Caribbean island, Ireland, Dubai, Mexico and Steve’s hometown to unravel who did what to whom and why. Danger be damned, grande dame Rosie declares: “I’d rather be murdered than bored,” and packs her acerbic wit and tags along. As in his earlier mysteries, Osman introduces a plethora of memorable characters, some of whom end up dead.

Osman, 53, said in an email interview that his inspiration for a new team of crime solvers came from a book he could not find. “I was in a bookshop looking for a high-stakes international thriller that also tells some truths about the world we live in now and makes you laugh in the way that ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ does,” he said.

“I couldn’t quite find one, so I thought I should write one myself. A sort of Thursday Murder Club meets ’The DaVinci Code,’ [but] written by Lee Child. It changed a lot from that initial thought, but that’s where it all started.”

Osman described his new team this way: “Amy is the sort of person who wants to go everywhere and experience everything. To live every minute of every day, and always be on the move. Whereas Steve, very much like me, just wants to stay safely at home and, very happily, do nothing. I think a lot of humor comes from pairing characters together who are very different, but who also really love each other, and that’s Amy and Steve.”

Clearly, doing “nothing” is not Osman’s style. In addition to writing mysteries and a handful of nonfiction books, he has worked as a comedian, television producer and director and also the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One’s television quiz show “Pointless.” He lives in London.

Osman admitted his TV career has influenced his writing. He told Next Avenue, “In television formats you have to grab people’s attention, and you have to keep it. People will read maybe 30 pages of a new book before making their mind up. They’ll probably watch about 30 seconds of a new TV show, before switching over to ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ reruns.”

He noted that on a quiz show, “you grab people quickly, you explain the rules quickly, you give viewers a reason to stay to the end (Who’s going to win? How much?) and then you give them a host and contestants who they want to spend a bit of time with. I suppose that’s naturally how I went about writing.”

He continued, “Grab them, then entertain them, and then give the answer they were looking for. I worry that if I started describing the color of the sky for a page and a half, people would simply put the book down and watch ‘Judge Judy’ instead. And I wouldn’t blame them.”

Back to the beloved characters from “The Thursday Murder Club,” series, which comprises “The Thursday Murder Club,” “The Man Who Died Twice,” “The Bullet that Missed” and “The Last Devil to Die.”

Mistakenly viewed as “harmless pensioners” by many a crafty criminal, the group includes Elizabeth, a former member of the British counterpart of the CIA; Ibrahim, a psychiatrist; Ron, a trades union official; and Joyce, an avid baker of traditional English sweets and a diarist.

Working with (and sometimes, without) the police in their small town to solve crimes large and small, the engaging foursome meets once a week (guess which day?) in the Jigsaw Room at their retirement community, just after the art history class and before conversational French. Of course, they do not advertise the true purpose of their meetings.

Osman identifies with each of the four characters, though “that changes from book to book — even day to day, really, scene to scene,” he said. “I often have Ibrahim days, but I think my essential base level is Joyce. I would love to be Elizabeth, but it’s impossible. And when I’m angry, like if I’m in a queue or something, then I turn into Ron. I think, probably, I’m 40% Ibrahim, 40% Joyce, 15% Ron, 5% Elizabeth.”

In “The Bullet That Missed,” the third book in the series, wily Chief Constable of Kent Andrew Everton speaks to residents at Coopers Chase about his book, which he fervently wishes Netflix would pick up. Was Osman indulging in foreshadowing? Highly likely.

As part of Netflix and Amblin’s film partnership, production of the movie based on the first book in the series wrapped Sept. 11 at Shepperton Studios, Netflix’s base in England. No release date has been announced.

“We’ve got a great cast — Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, Sir Ben Kingsley — just incredible,” Osman said. “I think Ron would be delighted to know that he’s being played by James Bond.” Osman added that he visited the set a few times, but “I’m leaving them to it.”

Just one day after filming ended, Osman told a British radio host he had started writing the fifth Thursday Murder Club book. “They’re just like such old friends of mine, and I’m just joining them again at the start of this next one,” he said to Chris Evans. “And I’m the same as anyone. I’m thinking, ‘I wonder what you’ve been up to?’”