Richard Osman: I'm terrible at playing detective
Richard Osman: I'm terrible at playing detective
In just four years, Richard Osman has transformed himself from a TV presenter and producer into a best-selling author.
But despite having a knack for writing cosy crime, he admits to the BBC he is "terrible at playing detective".
"My grandfather solved crimes for a living and my mum would watch any Sunday night crime drama, and within five minutes know who done it.
"I think I'm brilliant but I'm always wrong. My wife and I think we know who did it and then at the end we both don't get it right," Osman says.
His hugely popular Thursday Murder Club mystery novels follow a group of elderly amateur sleuths living in a peaceful retirement village. The first book has already been snapped up by director Steven Spielberg, who is adapting it for Netflix.
Osman has now turned his attention to a new crime series.
We Solve Murders, sees Steve and Amy, a retired ex-cop and his bodyguard daughter-in-law, jet set across the world to solve a string of murders.
But the crime-busting duo couldn't be more different.
"Steve’s an ex-cop who just wants a quiet life, but he’s reluctantly dragged into this adventure by Amy, who’s got this energy and drive that pulls him along," explains Osman.
While most people's relationship with their in-laws is civil at best, Osman wanted to turn the stereotype on its head and explore the idea of found families.
"I find the idea very moving," Osman says. "I wanted to bring together two people who wouldn't naturally cross paths like Steve and Amy. They're an unlikely pair, but their relationship is filled with love and respect."
Although the backdrops of private jets and luxurious destinations is a marked difference from the quaint Kent village setting of his first crime series, Osman says the book has the same "warmth and type of characters".
One of the most humorous elements in Osman’s latest novel involves the use of AI, with the murderer concealing his identity by asking ChatGPT to write his emails in the style of a friendly English gentleman.
"I have finally found a good use for ChatGPT, because I don't think there's been one before," Osman says.
Despite pretending to use it in his books, Osman hasn't been tempted to see if it can help him write his next novel.
"It can certainly help you write a letter to your electricity company, but I'm sure it definitely can't write a book - it's so flat."
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He doesn't worry about AI replacing roles in the arts as he says: "AI is not going to write Succession anytime soon, or a Kate Atkinson novel. There's always going to be room for great culture that comes from the human heart rather than a machine's head."
In his new novel, Osman also touches on the world of social media influencers.
The murderer's victims are influencers - the kind flogging vitamin drinks and lip fillers in the search of fame and money, which Osman says makes them the perfect character.
"I was reading that influencers were being used to smuggle things because no one questions why they're going to Dubai or the Cayman Islands all the time with either no luggage, or lots of it.
"They spend their lives travelling around the world but actually if you look behind the curtain, they don't have any money so they are the perfect people to abuse if you're a criminal gang because you can always take advantage of someone like that."