The Impossible Fortune (The Thursday Murder Club #5)
Hi Readers! I love Septembers & Octobers. For the last few years, these years meant that either a new Seishi Yokomizo book is out or a Richard Osman book is out. Last year broke the habit a bit, because somehow I couldn’t focus enough to read Yokomizo’s ‘The Little Sparrow Murders’ (still haven’t read it!) and there was no Thursday Murder Club book. But, I did read Osman first book in a new series titled ‘We Solve Murders’. Still, not quite the same. So, when I knew this year, the fifth installment of the Thursday Murder Club was going to come in, I was super excited! And, here we are now with the review!
~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~
Who’s got time to think about murder when there’s a wedding to plan?
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who’s in trouble, kidnap and death are hot on their heels once more. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code, and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into action once more, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?
~~THOUGHTS~~
I know I say this in every review of this series, so as custom has it, here it goes: I love being with these characters!! Whether it’s Joyce’s timid humour, or the mature yet immature male friendship between Ron and Ibrahim or just Elizabeth being Elizabeth. All of it has become such a familiar environment that I can easily imagine being there. And after seeing the movie adaptation of the first book, I can visualize them easily too. And it’s because the readers feel so close to these characters, their personal lives were explored more than the murder in the fifth book.
We see Elizabeth living with grief after her husband Stephen dies. We see how Ron must feel that his family might look at him as an aging vulnerable old man, who should be protected by not telling him the entire truth. We also see how the ever-wise Ibrahim feels lonely in the absence of a partner and family. We see how Joyce takes childlike pride and joy in introducing Paul as her ‘son-in-law, the professor’. We also see newlyweds Joanna and Paul having the tiniest bits of doubts on how well do they know each other, because they got married after knowing each other for 6 months. We see how the drug dealer criminal Connie can also have emotions. We see Suzi making a decision to leave her abusive husband. It’s just like Joyce mentions towards the end of the book:
“It’s the story of those quiet corners. The stories that don’t get told, because no one is there to hear them, or people are too distracted by louder noises.”
The murder part of it was quite interesting as well, if not a bit simple. During the wedding, Paul’s best man Nick Silver approaches Elizabeth because he claimed someone was trying to kill him. This leads us to his business partner Holly Lewis. They both have codes which are safely locked in cold storage deep underground, and in that locker contains a chit of paper which could lead to an impossible fortune! We have two major suspects, one death, one disappearance and two codes to find. Looking back, I can see how uncovering it was somewhat fun.
We don’t see much of Chris or Donna in this one. We also don’t see too many murders or death threats or unpredictability. It may not be as adventurous or complicated as previous books, but I liked this quiet book in a series of loud books. I have rated The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman at 4/5 stars!
~~PREVIOUS BOOKS & REVIEWS IN THE SERIES~~
The Thursday Murder Club
The Man Who Died Twice
The Bullet that Missed
The Last Devil to Die
Until next time,
About The Author
Aishwarya Shenolikar
Hello! I'm Aishwarya, an Introverted bookworm & writer. I have been reviewing books since 6 years on my blog - Mindscape in Words. My favourite genres are Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers, Magical Realism, Poetry, Fantasy & Memoirs. I like the kind of books which evoke emotions on several levels leaving me wrecked, but also incredibly content. I'm dreaming for the world to paint a landscape full of words, more like Mindscape in Words. Hope you enjoy the view.
