Richard Osman has revealed all in an interview with Metro (Picture: Getty)
Richard Osman, 53, is the author of the bestselling The Thursday Murder Club series about four residents of a retirement home who solve murders.
He presents Richard Osman’s House Of Games and is the creator and former co-presenter of Pointless. The first Thursday Murder Club novel is currently being made into a film and a theatre show – both expected in 2025. He’s married to actor Ingrid Oliver and they live in West London.
In this weekend’s 60 Seconds, Richard talks to Graeme Green about meeting Pierce Brosnan, food addiction, and his latest novel We Solve Murders, the first in a new series of murder mysteries…
Why did you want to write a book in a new series, rather than another The Thursday Murder Club book?
At some point, you want to explore different worlds and characters. I’d done the first quartet of Thursday Murder Club books, and I genuinely think they need a year off because I’ve put them through quite a lot.
I wanted to go into different worlds and have fun as a writer. It turns out that my brain remains exactly the same, so if anyone likes The Thursday Murder Club, they’ll love this, I think. But, at least, the palette is different.
There is huge excitement for the Netflix adaptation of one of his books (Picture: Netflix)
What’s We Solve Murders about?
I wanted to write something globetrotting. My first thought was ‘Who would it be funny to send around the world?’ And I thought ‘Someone who really, really doesn’t want to go around the world’ I’ve got a retired cop, Steve Wheeler, who lives in the New Forest, has a cat he loves and a pub quiz that’s very important to him – he doesn’t want to leave his village.
His daughter-in-law, Amy Wheeler, is a bodyguard, looking after celebrities and billionaires. A murderer targets Amy. She can only go to one person, so poor Steve has to leave the New Forest and get on a private jet. They travel the world to try to catch a murderer.
Did you have to travel to lots of exotic locations for research?
No, I’m not a huge fan of doing research – I like to stay at home. I set the book in places we’d already been to – St Lucia, Dubai, Ireland… I didn’t have to go to Barbados for research. Looking back, I should’ve done, right? Maybe for the next book, I can travel and make it tax-deductible.
So, your book has a main character who owns cats (like you), loves quizzes, and doesn’t like to travel – was that a real stretch for you?
How dare you! Yes, you have to bring a bit of yourself to one of your characters. Steve definitely started with a bit of me in him. But he’s a big Van Halen fan. That’s where he and I part company.
Richard has released several murder mystery novels (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
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Source:: Metro
