Things have just settled back down from the events of the first book for the four members of the Thursday Murder Club, and were, perhaps, even getting a little too quiet when a figure from Elizabeth’s mysterious past makes an appearance. Douglas Middlemiss, her ex-husband and still an active operative for MI5, shows up with Poppy, his handler, hiding in one of the empty units, a safe house, right there in the Coopers Chase retirement village. Douglas is being hidden by his employer from a local bad guy who believes Douglas has stolen 20 million pounds in diamonds that he was holding in escrow for an American mafia boss who now wants them back. However, now that Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron know about the missing and, most certainly, ill-gotten diamonds, they want to find them for themselves first!

However, while on his own in Fairhaven one morning, Ibrahim is badly injured when he is the victim of a mugging. But even though he can identify his attacker, the police are unable to make the charges stick and the street punk responsible goes free. The rest of the Thursday Murder Club isn’t going to take this sitting down and set out to exact their own brand of justice.

Meanwhile, PC Donna De Freitas has her own problems. In book one, Donna introduced her lonely boss, DCI Chris Hudson, to her equally available mother, Patrice. However, as Chris and Patrice’s relationship takes off, Donna feels like she’s lost her only friend and mentor. Their stake-outs and investigation into the new local drug lord, Connie Johnson, just aren’t as fun as they used to be.              

Finally, the fabulously entertaining quartet of the Thursday Murder Club is back, and are they ready for action! This time readers get a glimpse into Elizabeth’s shadowy past beginning with the appearance of her devilishly handsome ex-husband, Douglas. As Douglas is quite the modern rogue, it was great fun watching his back and forth with Elizabeth and her attempts to unravel the riddles he leaves in his wake. Joyce continues to chronicle the group’s activities and her life at Coopers Chase in her hilarious diary entries. Her latest venture into the online world of social media had me in tears (from laughter!) Ron remains his bluff self but is slowly evolving with the times and his exposure to these wonderful friends but just to a point. However, it is Ibrahim who keeps the group and the reader grounded in the reality of aging as he copes with what happened to him in Fairhaven.

Similar to the first book in the series, THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE by Richard Osman takes readers on a couple of interesting routes following some great subplots before coming to a very satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend this book to readers that enjoyed THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB and any reader who likes humorous cozy mysteries especially those featuring more mature sleuths. In fact, if you haven't read the first book in the series yet, grab it, too!