The Bullet That Missed

A Thursday Murder Club Mystery, Book 3

By: Richard Osman

Narrated by: Fiona Shaw, Richard Osman, Steph McGovern

The third installment in the beloved and New York Times bestselling series from Richard Osman, also author of We Solve Murders

“The quartet of aging amateur sleuths…remain wonderful company.” —The New York Times Book Review

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 decade-old cold case—their favorite kind--leads them to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers.

Then a new foe pays Elizabeth a visit. Her mission? Kill or be killed. Suddenly the cold case has become red hot.

While Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim chase down the clues with help from old friends and new. But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?

From an upmarket spa to a prison cell complete with espresso machine to a luxury penthouse high in the sky, this third adventure of the Thursday Murder Club is full of the cleverness, intrigue, and irresistible charm that readers have come to expect from Richard Osman’s bestselling series.

“The Bullet That Missed hits on every front.” —the Wall Street Journal

©2022 Richard Osman (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Osman concocts a satisfyingly complex whodunit full of neat twists and wrong turns. But unlike most crime novelists, he ensures his book’s strength and momentum stem not from its plot or its thrills but rather its perfectly formed characters. Once again, the quartet of friends makes for delightful company… Heartwarming and enthralling. ‘They carried a kind of magic, the four of them,’ a policeman muses. That magic is still there in abundance.”—Washington Post

“The Bullet That Missed hits on every front. Its quandaries stymie, its solutions thrill, its banter is worth reciting and its characters exemplify an admirable camaraderie. One can only hope that the Thursday Murder Club’s next outing appears before long.”—Wall Street Journal

“The Thursday Murder Club is back, and that should make everyone happy—except, of course, murderers. Richard Osman's engaging series about a group of crime-solving retirees has delighted readers since the first book. The Thursday Murder Club, an international bestseller, was funny, original, baffling, poignant and thoroughly engaging. That's a high bar to set from the get-go, but Osman has easily achieved it in subsequent books… This book is as delightful as the others. A remarkable achievement, Osman up there effortlessly balancing on that very high bar.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

The bullet that missed is the audiobook narrator

Richard Osman’s creativity and writing continue to delight in this third installment of his Thursday Murder Club series.

My pleasure was considerably diminished, however, by the poor narration of the audiobook version of The Bullet That Missed.
I was very disappointed that Lesley Manville was not the narrator for the audiobook version, as she had been for The Thursday Murder Club and for The Man Who Died Twice.

The substitute actor simply was not up to the job. Bogdan and Victor sound exactly the same as “performed” by Fiona Shaw; Shaw pronounces character names differently than Manville did; Shaw is inconsistent with her accents (at times Elizabeth sounds like Joyce and vice versa); listening to Shaw is not as pleasant an experience as listening to Manville.

I understand that Ms. Manville had other commitments that prevented her from meeting the publication schedule set for this book; better to alter the publication schedule than the narrator.

I would be happy to wait and have Lesley Manville narrate each of these audiobooks, than have an earlier release date but with an inferior actor pinch-hitting as narrator.

Please bring back Lesley Manville.

Great story but bad narration

I have loved all of the Thursday Murder Club books but this narrator made it difficult to listen to. I was constantly rewinding and/or changing the volume. She whispered and talked in a low voice to represent the thoughts of a person but for the most part they were inaudible. I almost gave up on the book because it was so frustrating.

Why change narrators this far in???

The store is as fun as ever, but I couldn’t get past the narrator change from the previous books. The voice was more subdued and lacked the spunk of the previous narrator. It kind of ruined the experience for me.

Miss original narrator

The original narrator really made the novels sing. Don’t care for this one. All the breathy reading drove me crazy. Almost returned it.

Much anticipated 3rd instalment...

I really enjoyed the story of this book, meeting some new characters and visiting original characters again. It flowed along nicely with some very funny parts and some more sombre moments. However, I was very disappointed that the original narrator, Lesley Manville, had been replaced. This new narrator is fine, but there is way too much whispering, I kept turning the volume up to hear her, then down, then up again. Yikes! The producer of this audiobook really failed their job on this one.

Retired Detectives love this series.

Can’t wait for book 4, both my wife and I are retired police detectives and love this series.

Best in the series so far!

The series just gets better and better, glad to know #4 is underway. The twists were great and there were plenty of funny and sad/sweet moments.

Brilliant writing and characters subpar narration

I love the gang of detectives and the other characters. This audio book. however, takes a step backward due to the change in narrator. Leslie was the voice of Joyce and Elizabeth and always will be. The author writes these characters beautifully and you almost feel like you know them Get the original narrator back and it is 5 stars across the board.

bring original narrator back!

Fabulous entry for this series, but I'm not a fan of Fiona Shaw's narration.

Always love TMC!

This was the easiest of the books in the series to follow, which I guess can be considered good, or bad, if you think it’s too simplistic. But the characters, charm, and humor make the particulars of the plot secondary IMO, and the narration is absolutely perfect. I eagerly await each new release.