About the Author
Richard Osman is an author, producer and television presenter. The Thursday Murder Club novels are a record-breaking, multi-million-copy, bestselling series around the world. The movie adaptation for The Thursday Murder Club, produced by Amblin Entertainment, is available to watch on Netflix. His new series, We Solve Murders, featuring a brand-new detective trio, is also an international bestseller. Richard promises there are more books to come in both series. He lives in London with his wife, Ingrid, and their cats, Liesl and Lottie.
PRAISE FOR
‘Funny, clever and achingly British’
ADAM KAY
‘A warm, wise and witty warning never to underestimate the elderly’
VAL McDERMID
‘Funny, clever and compelling. Mystery fans are going to be enthralled’
HARLAN COBEN
‘Utterly charming and very, very clever’
SARAH PINBOROUGH
‘Full of brilliantly observed humour, spot-on dialogue, and twists and turns aplenty’
NINA STIBBE
‘Robert Galbraith meets Tom Sharpe. Plot-driven with great characters … I don’t ever want to finish this book!’
PHILIPPA PERRY
‘A bundle of joy … Absolutely loved it’
JANE FALLON
‘Endearing characters, a page-turning mystery and sudden throat-lump moments of tenderness’
ABIGAIL DEAN
‘I read the first page, then put all else on hold to devour this pitch-perfect book in one sitting’
JEFFERY DEAVER
‘Marvellous … comfort, humour and smarts’
BELLA MACKIE
PRAISE FOR
‘This slick sequel will leave you buzzing’
THE TIMES
‘Balm for the soul’
DAILY EXPRESS
‘Superbly entertaining’
GUARDIAN
‘Darkly funny, offbeat and deftly written’
IRISH INDEPENDENT
‘So entertaining it’s a crime’
SAGA
‘Osman’s world is a soothing place to be’
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
‘Pure pleasure to read’
OBSERVER
‘This is the most perfect Sunday afternoon read’
RED
‘A joy’
WOMAN & HOME
‘Twisty, witty fun’
SUNDAY EXPRESS
‘Packed full of charm, warmth and a wonderful cast of characters’
MY WEEKLY
‘Clever, warm and very funny’
RICHARD AND JUDY, DAILY EXPRESS
PRAISE FOR
‘Unlike the bullet, Richard Osman seems incapable of missing’
THE TIMES
‘You’ll love the latest Richard Osman mystery’
YOURS MAGAZINE
‘I snickered so much reading this one that it was remarked upon by my family’
OBSERVER
‘Expect intrigue, red herrings and loads of charm’
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
‘One of the most purely enjoyable crime novels of the year’
IRISH TIMES
‘Intricate plots, humour and the most endearing cast of characters’
WOMAN’S WEEKLY
‘Delivered with the sharp wit that we associate with Osman’
FINANCIAL TIMES
‘Terrific … the writing is joyful, celebratory, tinged with nostalgia’
IRISH EXAMINER
PRAISE FOR
‘The biggest new fiction author of the decade’
GUARDIAN
‘Osman in irresistible form. Witty and at times heartbreaking, this devilishly entertaining read will delight fans of a juggernaut series’
SUNDAY EXPRESS
‘This moving, tightly plotted caper is [his] best book yet’
i
‘So terribly beguiling … the OAP Famous Five’
SUNDAY TIMES
‘Full of tension, danger and, of course, a few laughs’
WAITROSE WEEKEND
‘Comedy, pathos, pace, plot and social observation’
THE TIMES
‘An essential refuge from the cares of real life’
DAILY TELEGRAPH
‘Underestimate him at your own peril’
INDEPENDENT
‘Puts his finger on the deepest yearnings of our contemporary age’
SUNDAY TIMES
Richard Osman
THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTUNE
For Mat and Anissa
They show you how to make bombs on the internet. If you know where to look.
What to buy, where to buy it from. How to fit the whole thing together. There are even videos. Men in balaclavas with screwdrivers. Soldering wires on tidy workbenches in breeze-block garages.
They don’t really tell you about the risks. But the risks stand to reason. Be careful with explosives, that doesn’t need to be spelled out to anyone, surely? No one needs to say, ‘Don’t try this at home,’ do they?
There are instructions for big bombs, small bombs, nail bombs, chemical bombs, all the bombs you could ever want to make.
Small to medium was the right choice here. Stable enough to carry around, powerful enough to kill.
In the end the easiest thing to do was go to one of the websites that does all the work for you. Custom-make the bomb to your specifications, deliver it, even help you to place the thing if that’s what you need. This particular company had received very good reviews. They even offered a money-back guarantee if the bomb failed to go off. They’re called ‘Boom or Bust’.
It’s not cheap, when you add up the expertise, the manufacturing costs, the delivery and, most expensive of all, the secrecy of the whole thing. If you want to know the actual cost of a human life, it’s somewhere around twenty-seven thousand pounds. But no tax or VAT. For the obvious reasons.