April 8, 2022
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
The basics
Title: The Man Who Died Twice
Author: Richard Osman
Series: Thursday Murder Club #2
- The Thursday Murder Club (2020) - The Man Who Died Twice (2021) - The Bullet That Missed (2022)
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Goodreads Summary:
It's the following Thursday. Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life. As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus? But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn't bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?
Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel. If you need a recap of The Man Who Died Twice, then you’re in the right place!
What happened in The Man Who Died Twice?
- The TMC are gathered once again to discuss a cold case. The don’t like the new member of staff,
Poppy. She’s not very good at her job. - Elizabeth has received a letter from Marcus Carmichael, who will be moving into Coopers Chase
soon. He wants to meet with her. Elizabeth thought he was dead, because she was involved in
investigating his drowning in 1981. - Donna and Chris are investigating Connie Johnson, who is now the local drug dealer now that the
Antonio brothers have vanished. The detectives are wondering if Connie was behind their
disappearance. - Connie introduces herself to the detectives and shows that she’s got people watching them too.
- Elizabeth goes to meet Marcus, but it turns out it’s her ex-husband Douglas trying to get her
attention. It’s revealed that Marcus Carmichael was a false name used in the 80’s but he never
really existed. - Douglas asks for Elizabeth’s help, as he’s looking into a man called Martin Lomax, a money
launderer. - Joyce made friendship bracelets, which is kind of cute.
- A cyclist injures Ibrahim and steals his phone.
- Chris and Patrice are together when he receives a phone call from Donna about Ibrahim. He
leaves to go to the hospital. - Ibrahim tells the others that there were three people, one of them seemed to be called Ryan. The
detectives think this might be Ryan Baird, who is known to the police. - Douglas tells Elizabeth that he has scoped out Martin Lomax’s house which is great, except he
was probably caught on CCTV without a mask on. Martin is now claiming that £20 million worth of
diamonds have gone missing and “the Columbians” are angry. Thus, Douglas is hiding out. - Douglas admits he took the diamonds to sell.
- Elizabeth says she’ll help him, but she wants him to get information on Ryan for her.
- Elizabeth fills the TMC in on what’s been going on.
- Chris and Donna have Ryan in custody but they have to let him go because they don’t have any
evidence on him. - Poppy gives Elizabeth and Joyce a file on Ryan.
- A man breaks into Douglas’ room and threatens him. He wants to know where the diamonds are.
- Elizabeth calls to check on Douglas, and he’s thankfully still alive. Poppy showed up and killed the
assassin. MI5 show up and take the body away. Elizabeth goes with them. - Someone rings Ryan’s doorbell and he ignores it.
- MI5 ask Martin Lomax whether someone called Andrew has been working for him. Martin
confirms that Andrew works for him but wasn’t working that night. Apparently Andrew Hasting has
been killed because he was attempting to kl someone from MI5. - Bogdan sees a man wearing gloves go into Ruskin Court. Elizabeth tells Bogdan this guy is an
MI5 underwriter. Elizabeth asks for help acquiring £10k of coke. - Douglas, now living in Hove, reflects on how much he loves Elizabeth.
- Joyce invites Poppy’s mother over for tea.
- Ibrahim is released from hospital. His credit card goes missing.
- Bogdan rings Connie and says he wants to buy ck. Ron then puts the coke in Ryan’s toilet, along
with Ibrahim’s credit card. He rings Donna anonymously and says he’s found something in
someone’s toilet. - Joyce and Elizabeth go to see Douglas and Poppy at their safehouse. When they arrive, they
notice the back door is open and they find Douglas and Poppy’s bodies. - Ryan is arrested for possession and robbery.
- MI5 search Elizabeth’s flat. They allow Elizabeth to keep a locket that Douglas gave her.
Elizabeth can’t find any hidden messages in it. - The Americans ring Martin and tell him they want the diamonds by the end of the week.
- Elizabeth offers to help Martin get the diamonds back. He admits to threatening Douglas but says
he’s not behind the murder. - Elizabeth fills Sue, one of the MI5 lot, in on what she’s learnt. Elizabeth suspects that the bodies
weren’t actually of Douglas and Poppy, even though the DNA tests match up. - Elizabeth and the TMC find a letter from Douglas, explaining that he needed an out. The letter
says the diamonds are in a locker at a train station in Fairhaven. - Lance sees that Frank Andrade Jr has booked a flight from New Jersey to the UK. Frank is the
owner of the diamonds. - Elizabeth and Joyce head to the locker. The diamonds are gone, meaning Douglas is potentially
on his way to Antwerp. The pair meet with Donna and show her an empty bag of crisps, which
has a hidden message for Elizabeth. - There’s a stakeout outside Connie’s house. Nothing happens, but Connie shows up at Chris’
place and tells him to stop investigating. - Ibrahim and Kendrick watch the CCTV footage of the lockers. They spot a person wearing a
motorbike helmet open the locker, see the bag of crisps, and throw it back in. Kendrick sees that
the person is wearing one of Joyce’s friendship bracelets. It’s a big list. - Ryan doesn’t show up in Maidstone for his court hearing. He has fled to Scotland.
- There’s more CCTV footage, and the group sees that the motorcycle person is Siobhan. The
TMC shows Donna and Chris what they found. They think Poppy told Siobhan about the locker,
confronted Douglas, and faked her own death. - The TMC goes to Antwerp to see a guy who deals diamonds. This guy, Franco, says he hasn’t
seen Douglas in a month. - Elizabeth figures out a clue and goes to a different locker, and they find the diamonds along with
another letter saying Douglas is dd. - Elizabeth plans to meet with Martin and Frank the following day.
- Joyce tracks Ryan down.
- Bogdan asks Connie to take part in their plan with Frank and Martin, because Ron (pretending to
be a guy called Vic) needs someone trustworthy to help. - Elizabeth and Joyce go to the airport and intercept Frank.
- Everyone meets at the pier in Fairhaven. Frank asks to see the diamonds. Connie shows him
some, but Elizabeth didn’t give her all of them. There’s an argument and Martin is shoot in the
chest. Connie shoots Frank and tries to flee. Connie and Ryan are arrested. - Elizabeth and Joyce head to the morgue with Sue to look at Douglas and Poppy’s bodies again.
Elizabeth thinks Sue is the one behind all of this. - Elizabeth theorises that Sue and Douglas were together. Poppy found out and told Sue of the
diamond situation, as she should have. Sue realised that Douglas was going to betray her and
offed him, firstly trying to hire Andrew to do the job but then Sue did it herself. - Elizabeth, Joyce, and Sue arrive back at Coopers Chase. They head into Joyce’s house, where
three armed men are apparently waiting. Thankfully it’s just Bogdan, and he shoots Sue. - Some armed men did show up and started interrogating Stephen. Bogdan showed up and saved
the day. - Siobhan admits to being Sally Montague, one of Douglas’s ex girlfriends. Sue was an ex too, by
the way. - Chris tells Patrice he loves her.
- Joyce visits Ibrahim and tries to get him to leave the house. He’s scared after being attacked. He
and Joyce head to an animal rescue, though, and adopt a dog called Rusty. Adorable. - Bogdan wants to ask Donna out.
- Lance takes a couple of diamonds from the crime scene and spends the money on his flat and a
hair transplant. - £20 million is donated to the charity Living with Dementia.
That’s what happened in The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!
