British mystery writer Richard Osman has a new series up his sleeve.
The author of the bestselling Thursday Murder Club books told BBC News that he’s writing a new novel, the first of a planned series, that’s partially inspired by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
“I’d love one of those books that’s a caper around the world, but that also has some truth about the world, and also makes you laugh and has also has some of the aesthetic of Thursday Murder Club, but it’s Da Vinci Code,” he said. “And I couldn’t quite find one. So I thought I’d quite like to do that.”
Osman was best known in the U.K. as a comedian and quiz show host when he published The Thursday Murder Club in 2020. The novel, about British retirees trying to solve a murder before the police can, became a huge hit, and he’s since followed it up with another book in the series, The Man Who Died Twice. A third installment, The Bullet That Missed, is set for publication in September.
All three books received starred reviews from Kirkus, and a film based on the first novel is being produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, with Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) attached to write and direct.
Osman told the BBC that he’s a fan of Brown’s novel, even though some literary observers have turned their noses up at it.
“Whatever people say about The Da Vinci Code, I devoured it and loved it,” he said. “And when people say, ‘Oh, it’s so badly written,’ you think, so many people have tried to write that book, [but] he wrote it better than anybody else. I love what that book did, which is to take you around the world.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
