‘I’m ever so sorry to interrupt,’ she says. ‘But I don’t suppose anyone here knows anything about twenty million pounds from Antwerp?’
Acknowledgements
Well, well, well, well, well. And there we have it, The Man Who Died Twice.
I hope you liked the ending? I read a book about thirty years ago where the very last line was integral to the plot, and I’d always liked that as an idea.
In that book we discover in the final line that a package the villain has been carrying throughout the book contains the cryogenically frozen brain of Adolf Hitler. I’m not sure that specific reveal would have worked here, but it certainly stayed with me.
Thinking back, the last line of The Thursday Murder Club was about Joyce’s gooseberry crumble, so I really feel I am growing as a writer.
OK, acknowledgements. Once again, I have so many people to thank. Despite repeated requests to my publishers, I am not allowed to score people out of ten according to how helpful they have been, so I will just list them instead.
Thank you to my wonderful editor, Katy Loftus, for her crucial combination of wisdom and enthusiasm, and for often asking, ‘Would Ron really say that?’ A great editor is a gift, and Katy is a very great gift. I am so lucky to work with an incredible team at Viking. We’ve all had such fun together since the release of The Thursday Murder Club, and I’m so glad they all stuck around for The Man Who Died Twice. Olivia Mead and Chloe Davies, Georgia Taylor, Ellie Hudson, Amelia Fairney and Vikki Moynes, you are very much HASHTAGTheThursdayMurderClubClub.
Thank you to the incredible sales team, led by Sam Fanaken, who just kept coming back with steeper and steeper graphs and wider and wider eyes. Richard Bravery and Joel Holland are responsible for the perfect front cover, and special thanks to Richard Bravery for providing me with the ideal pen-name should I ever decide to write an SAS thriller. Thank you also to the DeadGood team, the PageTurners team, the amazing audio team, to Sam Parker from the Penguin UK website and to the unstoppable Annie Underwood.
Final Viking thanks to Natalie Wall and to the master copy-editor Trevor Horwood. Trevor, is it OK that I started a sentence with ‘And’ just now? Let me know.
Incidentally, Barack Obama is also published by Viking, but you never see him in reception.
I am blessed with an incredible agent, Juliet Mushens. Rarely have I worked with anyone who can be so professional and so excited at the same time. Thank you for everything, Juliet, I couldn’t do it without you. And thank you to the brilliant Liza DeBlock, who used to be Juliet’s assistant, but gets more senior by the day, and soon won’t speak to me at all.
I am also indebted to my American gang, Pamela Dorman, Jeramie Orton, Jenny Bent, Kristina Fazzalaro, Nora Alice Demick and Marie Michels. Pamela told me I couldn’t call this book The Following Thursday and on this, as on so much else, she was right. Pamela and her team are so smart and supportive and, as soon as it’s legally permissible, I will fly over and thank them in person.
I am lucky to have so many brilliant foreign publishers too. I am so happy that you have taken this very British story around the world, and that Joyce is now famous in China. I wonder what she would make of it?
My deepest gratitude to Mark Billingham, Lucy Prebble, Professor Katy Shaw, Caroline Kepnes, Andi Osho, Sarah Pinborough and Annabel Jones. Always on hand for help and advice. There is no question small or stupid enough that one of them won’t answer it for me. Any writer, or indeed any human being, with that sort of firepower to call upon is very lucky indeed.
For a number of specific plot points I am also very grateful to HHJ Angela Rafferty QC and the Recorder of London HHJ Mark Lucraft QC. Thank you for answering the question ‘But could this actually happen?’ with ‘Yes, it could.’ That was a relief.
Thank you to the amazing booksellers up and down the country who have been so supportive, and so quick with tea and biscuits every time I came in to do signings. City Books in Hove appears in this book, but there are so many more I could have mentioned, and I’m sure I will do in future stories. Please support your local bookshops. ‘Use it or lose it’ is quite right.
And thank you to all the frontline workers who looked after us during lockdown. What you did will never be forgotten.
Thank you to the amazing Ramita Navai for keeping me sane and safe through a difficult year for us all. I know we will still be best friends when we are in a retirement village of our own. And my gratitude to the whole Navai clan, Laya, Ramin and Paola, for being the best Iranian/Colombian gang any man could wish for. And a special dedication to a very special man, whom we lost in 2020: Kourosh Navai. With your wit and charm, your kindness and strength, your sense of mischief and your sense of loyalty, Kourosh, you will forever be an honorary member of the Thursday Murder Club.
Finally, as always, thank you to my family. To my mum for the love and support, and for the endless supply of material. Thank you to Mat and Anissa, and to Jan Wright, you all mean a great deal to me, and I don’t say that often enough. I thanked my wonderful late grandparents, Fred and Jessie, last time and I shall do so again. And will keep on doing so for as long as I write.
And finally, thank you to my children. I know I dedicated this book to you as well, but you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Even better than when Fulham beat Juventus 4–1. Love you.
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published by Viking in 2021
Copyright © Richard Osman, 2021
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover lettering by Joel Holland
ISBN: 978-0-241-98825-1
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Table of Contents
Title Page
About the Author
Praise
Dedication
Epigraph
PART ONE: Your Friends are Sure to Visit Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
PART TWO: At Times, You Won’t Believe Your Eyes Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
PART THREE: So Many Day Trips for You to Enjoy Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Acknowledgements
Copyright