Flautopiccolo

This morning I finished The Impossible Fortune, the fifth book in the Thursday Murder Club Mysteries by Richard Osman. It was available at Minuteman immediately; in fact there were dozens of copies. As usual, it was another fun, twisty book. It was nice to see Joyce’s daughter Joanna involved and part of the team. And I like Joanna’s new husband, Paul.

Full names:

• Elizabeth Best
• Joyce Meadowcroft
• Ron Ritchie
• Ibrahim Arif

Highlights:

• Joanna’s idea of a small wedding = Joyce’s idea of a large wedding = 200
• Something told Elizabeth it was time to start again: She thought perhaps it was the prospect of seeing love at first hand, but, no, it was far better than that. It was a best man with a death threat.
• Fairhaven’s newest vegan café: Mad About the Soy. There are now more vegan cafés in Fairhaven than there are non- vegan cafés.
• Fairhaven’s fifth-largest vegan café: Anything with a Pulse.
• Ron still refuses to pay with anything other than cash, and now the only places in Fairhaven where he can actually buy anything are the bookmakers and the pubs. Which is fine by Ron.
• Ron is now used to every single criminal on the South Coast being personally acquainted with Jason.
• Elizabeth will be impressed with his observation skills. Ron would love to be Columbo, he really would.
• Connie leads them out of the yoga annex, past the pool and solarium, skirts the snooker room, and takes a shortcut through the cinema and into the whisky bar.
• Joanna asks Donna if she knows everyone Bogdan has ever dated: He’s got tattoos of most of them. He’s a people-pleaser.
• Tia and Kendrick crack the code, impressing Elizabeth (and Tia is recruited for spy work): Don’T WOrry, I’m safe nO NEed mate Can’t ring thiS EVENing A test oF OUR friendship WheN I NEed you most Sorry iF I’VE offended you
• Elizabeth to Ron: Your plan is to travel in a small cage with a woman who has threatened to kill you, to an underground vault, whereupon you’ll retrieve a piece of paper worth a quarter of a billion pounds?
• Lord Townes: He was born into an impossible fortune; all he had had to do was not waste it.
• Joyce, about Nick Silver: They still haven’t found him. Davey Noakes has a plan to find him that involves drones, and Elizabeth has a plan that involves a new machine to do with DNA that she’s not allowed to tell me about but did.
• Paul lets Nick it’s all clear via a radio show play request: This one’s from Paul in London. Paul wants us to play “The Key: The Secret” by Urban Cookie Collective for his old mate Nick Silver, that’s a great name, Nick Silver, that’s a pirate’s name. Paul says, “Nico, we’ve missed you, looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Hope you’re listening.”