الجوائز-

• Libby Award Finalist
  OverDrive

مقتطفات-

• From the cover You must leave as few clues as possible. That’s the only rule.
  
  You have to talk to people sometimes; it’s inevitable. There are orders to be given, shipments to be arranged, people to be killed, etc., etc.
  
  You cannot exist in a vacuum, for goodness’ sake.
  
  You need to ring François Loubet? In an absolute emergency? You’ll get a phone with a voice-changer built-in. And, by the way, if it’s not an absolute emergency, you’ll regret ringing very soon.
  
  But most communication is by message or email. High-end criminals are much like millennials in that way.
  
  Everything is encrypted, naturally, but what if the authorities break the code? It happens. A lot of very good criminals are in prison right now because a nerd with a laptop had too much time on their hands. So you must hide as well as you can.
  
  You can hide your IP address — that is very easy. François Loubet’s emails go through a world tour of different locations before being sent. Even a nerd with a laptop would never be able to discover from where they were actually sent.
  
  But everyone’s language leaves a unique signature. A particular use of words, a rhythm, a personality. Someone could read an email, and then read a postcard you sent in 2009 and know for a fact they were sent by the same person. Science, you see. So often the enemy of the honest criminal.
  
  That’s why ChatGPT has been such a godsend. After writing an email, a text, anything really, you can simply run the whole thing through ChatGPT and it instantly deletes your personality. It flattens you out, irons your creases, washes you away, quirk by quirk, until you disappear.
  
  “ChatGPT, rewrite this email as a friendly English gentleman, please.” That is always Loubet’s prompt.
  
  Handy, because if these emails were written in François Loubet’s own language, it would all become much more obvious. Too obvious.
  
  But, as it stands, you might find a thousand emails, but you would still have no way of knowing where François Loubet was and you would still have no way of knowing who François Loubet is.
  You would, of course, know what François Loubet does, but there would be precious little you could do about it.
  
  
  3
  
  
  "Cat, ginger, unapproachable. Haughty even, the little bugger. Mason’s Lane. Contact attempted but rebuffed. 3:58 a.m.”
  
  Steve puts his Dictaphone back in his pocket. He hears the sound of the ginger cat inexpertly scaling a back fence. It was not often he saw an unfamiliar cat on his walk. It was almost certainly nothing, but almost everything was almost certainly nothing, wasn’t it? And yet some things did eventually turn out to be something. He once caught an armed robber because of a Twix wrapper in a blast furnace. One rarely knows the significance of things at the time, and it doesn’t cost a penny piece to note things down.
  
  Steve turns left on to the top of the High Street, and sees it stretch out like an unspooling gray ribbon before him, lit by the dim bulb of the moon. If you were to visit Axley — and you should, you’d like it — you might think you had found the perfect English village. A gently sloping High Street, looping around a touch at the bottom where it skirts the bank of the village pond. There are two pubs, The Brass Monkey and The Flagon, identical to the tourists but teeming with subtle and important differences to the locals. For example, one flies a Union Jack and the other the Ukrainian flag. There’s a butcher, a baker. No candlestick‑maker, but you will find a...

المراجعات-

• British actress Nicola Walker's subdued tone, unhurried cadence, and restrained use of accents perfectly suits the characters and situations in Richard Osman's newest mystery. The story revolves around jet-setting bodyguard Amy Wheeler and her widowed father-in-law, Steve, a former London cop she's close with. Also featured is Amy's current client, the fabulously wealthy bestselling author Rosie D'Antonio. The incidents and personalities are even more outlandish and unconventional than in Osman's previous series, The Thursday Murder Club, but his obvious affection for them and Walker's emotionally connected performance keep them from becoming over-the-top. Walker captures all the suspense and humor. Listeners will be eager for the next installment. S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
• 

  Starred review from August 12, 2024
  Bestseller Osman (the Thursday Murder Club mysteries) launches a promising new series with this sprightly tale of a father- and daughter-in-law who join forces to take down a shadowy killer. At the outset, bodyguard Amy Wheeler is on an island off the coast of South Carolina shielding bestselling novelist Rosie D’Antonio from a Russian oligarch who threatened to kill her after she used his real name in her latest book. While Amy and Rosie discuss the recent deaths of two popular influencers, someone takes a shot at them, and they narrowly escape. Meanwhile, private detective Steve Wheeler—father to Amy’s husband, Adam—is in the Hampshire village of Axley searching for a client’s lost dog when Amy calls to ask for his backup. He agrees, and as he helps Amy try to determine who tried to kill her (and why), more influencer bodies start piling up, the crime scenes strewn with evidence framing Amy for the murders. Steve and Amy then embark on a globetrotting quest to pin down their adversary that takes them from Ireland to Dubai. Osman pulls off the tricky task of making his leads both zany and human, with a sufficiently brain-teasing mystery to boot. This series is sure to garner a loyal following. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency.

• 

  December 6, 2024
  

  Osman's ("The Thursday Murder Club" series) latest offering introduces a new set of sleuths--Steve Wheeler and his daughter-in-law Amy. Steve, a retired police officer, has just lost his beloved wife and is living a predictable life in the quaint English village of Axley. His main activities are sitting on a bench, talking to his deceased wife, and frequenting the local pub. Amy works for Maximum Impact Solutions, a high-end private security firm. Her latest assignment is to protect novelist Rosie D'Antonio from a Russian oligarch who threatened her life after she used his real name in her last novel. All is idyllic and safe on the private South Carolina island where Rosie lives until the former Navy SEAL hired by Maximum Impact for backup tries to kill Amy. Coincidentally, three other clients have also turned up dead while Amy was in the vicinity. Not knowing whom to trust, Amy turns to Steve for help. Nicola Walker narrates, offering an expressive performance and adding an extra dimension to the story, especially with her vibrant portrayal of feisty Rosie. VERDICT Quirky characters and fast-paced action make this rollicking mystery a sure bet for Osman's fans and those who enjoyed Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age.--Ilka Gordon

  Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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