The Bullet That Missed

APPLE BOOKS REVIEW

The crime-cracking residents of Cooper’s Chase retirement village are back—and third time around, the stakes are even higher for Richard Osman’s ageing amateur detectives. A drug baron is plotting deadly vengeance. A powerful gangster wants his diamonds back and is prepared to kill to get them. Our unlikely sleuths are soon caught up in a tangled web of spies, smugglers, blackmailers and money launderers. Somehow in the midst of all this intrigue, they’re also investigating the unsolved murder of a local reporter—except their prime suspects keep dying in dodgy circumstances. The body count climbs. Plot twists keep coming. Supporting characters from the first two books return, fleshing out Osman’s richly realised fictional world. New arrivals include an Alan Partridge-alike TV presenter, a rock ’n’ roll make-up artist and scene-stealer Joyce’s new dog. Osman is an astute chronicler of loss, loneliness and the idiosyncrasies of the elderly—but combines such home-spun wisdom with modern touches. Cryptocurrency and Instagram provide crucial plot points. There are sweet romantic subplots but this is ultimately a paean to the power of friendship. Wryly funny, ingeniously plotted, and another silver-haired hit.