I will be frank, I initially had no intention of reading The Man Who Died Twice because while the first book was fun, I had not followed the author and didn’t know the second book was already out, and anyway, I found the ending of the first book rather hard to follow and didn’t fancy going through that again. But when my boyfriend’s mum came and offered to lend me the book, telling me that it was even better than the first, I was too intrigued to resist.

After reading, can I just say that The Man Who Died Twice has indeed improved on The Thursday Murder Club? Although Joyce’s POV is still her diary rather than third person present like everyone else, it was not as jarring and I actually understood the ending without having to google for spoilers, which made the mystery all the more satisfying.

Speaking of the mystery, it’s centred around Elizabeth’s past. Her ex-husband is now under protection from a very dangerous mob middleman because he’s been suspected of stealing diamonds worth 20 million (he did). After he’s been found dead, the Thursday Murder Club springs into action to find the diamonds.

Despite the fact that the mafia and the MI5 are involved this time, no one is cowed. Everyone seems to take it as great fun, especially Joyce. I really liked that we got to see more of Elizabeth this time and find out more about her – she is seriously capable and I admired how she went about investigating. I felt that the two women of the club (and Bogdan) really stole the show.

The side plot concerns Ibrahim, who was mugged at the start of the book and is now trying to recover. I won’t say much more, but Ron’s grandson is involved and there are a few very sweet scenes. And if you remember the police officers Chris and Donna from the last book (I didn’t, ooops!), they also reappear and have their own story they are living out.

Overall, this was a fun book and I have to agree, better than the first. The characters are equally as charming and the book remains equally cosy, but now that the confusing ending of the first book has been swapped for something a lot clearer, it’s easy for a mystery reader to just pick up this book and keep reading to the end.