57 pages • 1 hour read
Richard OsmanWe Solve Murders
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Personal Growth Arising from Challenges
The novel explores the character-building nature of challenging situations through the progression of the protagonists. Amy and Steve’s quest to solve the social media influencers’ murders involves physical challenges and confronting danger. However, Osman suggests that the inner conflicts they encounter are the most difficult aspect of their mission. Their experiences serve as a catalyst for confronting and overcoming their individual insecurities and limitations.
Amy’s unwillingness to admit to or engage with her vulnerabilities is illustrated at the Eternal Glade Wellness Retreat. Her declaration that she is most afraid of spiders deliberately evades expressing her deepest emotions. Amy’s largely suppressed memories suggest that she has been shaped by significant trauma and fear during her childhood. Osman implies that Amy’s development of an invulnerable exterior and the physical strength required of a bodyguard is a reaction to her feelings of powerlessness as a child. However, Amy experiences a troubling role reversal when Loubet’s hired assassins threaten her own life. Accustomed to protecting others, she realizes that she must rely on the strengths of her friends to survive. By asking for the help of Steve and Rosie, she embraces a new level of vulnerability and interdependence. In the course of the narrative, Amy grows more emotionally open, shedding some of her stoic armor and admitting to her fear of dying.
In contrast to Amy’s fear of death, Steve is initially presented as a character who is afraid of fully living. His resistance to new experiences and fear of straying beyond his comforting routine is illustrated by his insistence that he cannot miss pub quiz night and his reluctance to commit to the relatively short drive from the New Forest to Letchworth Garden City. Steve’s repeated claim that he does not solve murders underlines that he has left behind his former incarnation as a Metropolitan Police officer. However, his interest in the Andrew Fairbanks case suggests that his professional abilities and intellectual curiosity are unfulfilled in his current life. Steve’s involvement in the murder investigations forces him to stretch his personal boundaries, both geographically and emotionally. As well as braving international travel, he must overcome his fear of the unknown and unexpected. The disruption of Steve’s safe routine prompts him to become more adventurous, letting go of control and embracing the excitement of new places and experiences.
In We Solve Murders, Amy and Steve both face challenges that encourage them to rethink long-held and limiting beliefs about themselves. Osman’s novel ultimately suggests that confronting adversity—whether it is a matter of life or death or a more mundane situation—can be enriching and transformative at any stage of life.
The Importance of Friendship
The exploration of friendship in We Solve Murders highlights the profound importance of platonic human connection. The novel revolves around the intergenerational relationships between three unlikely friends—Amy, Steve, and Rosie. While their murder investigation initially unites the trio, their friendship deepens and evolves as they work together. The narrative underscores the power of affection and companionship to enhance and bring joy to one’s life.
The novel conveys the enriching nature of human connection by emphasizing the unique qualities of each protagonist and how these qualities are most powerful when used cooperatively. Their complementary traits make them stronger as a crime-solving team and also as friends. Each character values and appreciates the others for their strengths while compensating for any weaknesses. For example, Amy’s fearlessness and physicality and Rosie’s embracing of the unknown counteract Steve’s aversion to risk. However, Steve possesses the psychological and analytical insight and a wry caution that his daughter-in-law and Rosie lack. Furthermore, Osman illustrates how different friendships can bring diverse elements into one’s life. Rosie’s joie de vivre reinvigorates Steve’s sense of fun, while his friendship with Amy is an emotional anchor, providing both characters with comfort and support. The novel also highlights the crucial role of companionship in staving off the effects of solitude. Steve’s pub quiz team significantly consists of widows and divorcees, suggesting its vital role as a social support network for the lonely.
A key message of We Solve Murders is that it is never too late to form meaningful connections with others. Steve’s talent for making new friends almost amounts to a superpower and significantly aids the investigation. The profound impression he makes on those he meets is illustrated in Carlos Moss’s transformation from a stern border security officer to a devoted friend. Osman emphasizes that the essence of Steve’s charm is his authenticity and integrity, which are the vital ingredients of any friendship. Although Carlos is resistant to his initial attempts at friendly conversation, his search of Steve’s backpack prompts a genuine bond as they discover a shared love of cats, Van Halen, and airships. The importance of honesty in relationships is underlined by juxtaposing Steve’s impact with Eddie Flood’s failed attempt to befriend Carlos by falsely claiming a love of hip-hop music. While Amy lacks Steve’s social ease, her developing relationship with Rosie as they face life-or-death situations together illustrates how unexpected friendships can be forged through shared experiences. Thus, Amy is surprised to realize that a “woman old enough to be her grandmother” has “turned from being her ‘client’ to being something quite different” (331). The book briefly depicts an unlikely friendship formed in another generation when revealing that an apology from Lauren Gough has turned her from Mollie’s bully to Mollie’s friend. Once greed and money are foregone in this young relationship, friendship flourishes.
Through his characters’ relationships, Osman illustrates how friendship can provide strength, purpose, and a sense of belonging. The author underlines the idea that people need companionship to combat loneliness and that deep, lasting connections are essential to leading a fulfilling life. We Solve Murders reminds readers that meaningful human connections are not only vital in youth but can flourish throughout one’s life.
The Corrupting Influence of Money
The central plot of We Solve Murders revolves around money laundering, and a dark undercurrent of greed pervades the narrative. Through the motivations and actions of his characters, Osman underscores how financial incentives and the pursuit of wealth can erode morals. Presenting murder as the most extreme mercenary act, the author also explores the more subtle degrees of corruption prompted by the desire for money.
The notorious money launderer François Loubet, aka Mickey Moody, embodies the morally corrosive power of wealth. His character is portrayed as ruthlessly self-centered in his willingness to exploit, manipulate, and harm others to increase the fortune he has already amassed. Loubet’s perception of everyone else as disposable, from the influencers he uses as couriers to the murder broker he regularly plays golf with, underscores the moral degradation that often accompanies an unchecked pursuit of wealth. People and relationships are merely obstacles or assets to his ambitions. Loubet’s success in evading justice for his crimes lies largely in his surprisingly discreet lifestyle. By contrast with Rob Kenna, who displays his ill-gotten wealth through lavish status symbols such as expensive cars, Loubet’s lifestyle is relatively modest. His behavior suggests that it is not the material trappings of wealth that interest him but the power it affords. This point is underlined by the holdall full of money left beside Andrew Fairbanks’ body. Loubet intends this gesture to convey that his order of the murders is a matter of “principle.” For him, the purpose of great wealth is to exert absolute power.
Loubet’s wealth makes him feel invincible and also allows him to have people killed without dirtying his own hands. Consequently, he boasts, “There are many, many layers between me and these murders” (56). Osman depicts a chain of corruption, where each link is motivated by money, from hitmen who include police officers to characters whose involvement in the crimes is less direct. Susan Knox’s willingness to aid Loubet’s money-smuggling enterprise as “Joe Blow” reflects how the lure of wealth can erode one’s moral compass. Susan’s descent into corruption is gradual, as she compromises her integrity by providing couriers for Loubet. Osman utilizes Susan’s character to highlight the dangers of greed, demonstrating how it can drive individuals to commit irreversible acts. Although Susan is dismayed by the murders, Loubet points out that she has lost the right to take the moral high ground, asserting, “You cannot take my money and not expect a little blood on your hands!” (55). Meanwhile, Jeff’s outrage at Loubet’s actions is somewhat countered by his decision to accept the money smuggler as a client in the first place. Felicity Woollaston is also presented as, to some degree, complicit with Loubet. Her obliviousness to his crimes does not entirely excuse her acceptance of easy money without asking questions.
Osman’s novel is a commentary on the toxic influence of wealth and how it can lead people to betray their values and harm others. Exposing the dangers of unchecked greed, the story is also a cautionary reminder that the single-minded pursuit of wealth can be a catalyst for personal downfall. The fate of Rob Kenna demonstrates that, in an amoral world dominated by financial concerns, there is no true loyalty, and everyone is expendable. Meanwhile, Loubet’s eventual arrest and incarceration demonstrate that even the most wealthy and powerful are not indomitable.
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