Love this series with likeable characters. ( )

As with the other books in the series, we get twisty twisty mystery, shades of Elizabeth's shady past, and a range of small exitements for the core four characters. I love that while there are police involved, they aren't the important characters. I also love that we have elderly main characters who are honest about need for companionship and are actively interested in exploring options.

I like Osman's characters better than I like their plots. I'm intrigued by the plots, but I also hit a 'eh, bored' point where I feel that attempts are made to add too many details.

And, particularly in this one, I didn't believe the culpability of the criminal. I fully believe I was supposed to accept them as The One, but it was unconvincing. The take down, in a nicely twisted modern adaptation of an Agatha Christie 'gather them all in a room', while tidying up many plot threads, didn't help there, because too much time is spent on the surroundings.

standard content warnings for murder mystery and criminal undertakings apply: murder, suicide references, drug use, death. Non-standard: dementia. ( )

The Bullet That Missed is the third entry in this somewhat fun cozy mystery series featuring supposedly harmless pensioners. And while I did enjoy the book, I have to admit that this one seemed to have some very loose plot lines, and I found the dialogue between the characters far more tedious than in previous instalments. And it also felt like the author didn't know what to do with some of his characters as they simply seemed to disappear for pages, without explanation, and then suddenly they were there again.

First of all, although touted as a mystery, this is primarily a character-driven book, following the lives of four pensioners and a couple of police detectives as they work together to solve interesting crimes. Personally, I loved the focus on the four main characters, with glimpses into the lives of the police officers, but prefer the focus to be on our favourite pensioners, especially Joyce, who, I have learned, is the one we really need to watch. Her journal entries are the heart and soul of the books, but they were a bit lacking in this instalment, something I missed quite a bit.

Unfortunately, the number of characters has grown considerably, and I feel like the author doesn't quite know how to fit them all into his plot lines, and they are getting away from him, removing the charm that was in the first book from this one. As I've already mentioned, some core characters disappear completely from the story, only to suddenly reappear without explanation as to where they have been. Personally, I just found them a lot less interesting, and I wasn't as invested in learning more about these characters as I was in the first two books.

There were moments that were really good in this book, but there were moments that made me cringe as well. At first, I enjoyed the spy mystery involving Elizabeth, but it eventually turned into something a bit silly and I couldn't help rolling my eyes at some of the things that were happening in this book. I know the book is meant to be satirical in nature, but there were points where it became farcical; it made me question whether I should continue or just call it quits. I can handle satire, but the silliness got to me after a while.

Verdict
The Bullet That Missed is one of those books where I love the main characters, but struggled to enjoy the plot and thought the author was trying way to hard to include information about his characters and the plot that weren't really needed, through additional boring dialogue that made the book feel sluggish and slow. The book included a number of extra characters that really took away from the charm of the first book, and I missed the simpler story lines featuring our main characters. The characters no longer feel genuine, and everything seems to be working out for everyone. Just not for me as I don't think I will be continuing this series. ( )

Local television compere Mike Waghorn has come to interview members of the Thursday Murder Club at Cooper's Chase for South East Tonight. It was all Joyce's idea. Mike intends his focus to be on retirement communities, he doesn't know he is meeting the Thursday Murder Club. They hope to pump him for information about a former colleague whose body has never been found. Fate seems to have stepped in when Mike himself suggests her name for their attention.

There are a number of continuing characters in this series, so it really does help to have read the earlier books.

One of the aspects that I enjoy about these geezer lit stories is the underlying gentle humour. ( )

I thoroughly enjoy this humorous series, and I hope Osman continues to write a few more!

The only potential drawback compared to the first book is that at times there are so many characters and subplots, there isn't as much depth given to certain relationships. ( )