By Leah Murphy, Emily Lavin, Georgia Rees, Chante-Marie Dante and Annamária Rátki
This September, Richard Osman returns with a brand-new mystery series, which kicks off on 12 September with the first instalment, We Solve Murders. The new novel from the number one bestselling author follows Steve Wheeler, who is pulled out of his cosy retirement when his daughter-in-law, Amy, becomes targeted by a killer while trying to keep a world-famous author alive – it’s fair to say fans can expect a similar level of chaos to the Thursday Murder Club series!
Osman’s first series currently stands at four instalments and has set literary records since the first book’s release in 2020; The Thursday Murder Club became the bestselling novel of the year within just three months of its release, while The Man Who Died Twice sold over 114,000 copies in its first week. From Osman announcing the new series in his popular newsletter, to Viking’s geographical tour of the book on Instagram to count-down to the release, this issue we take a look at the marketing campaign for We Solve Murders, which is sure to be another spectacular adventure for readers.
Social Media
A large marketing campaign was planned for Osman’s fifth novel, and first instalment of his new series, starting with a huge announcement on 1 February 2024, firstly to his newsletter subscribers and later in the day, an appearance on This Morning. What followed was a seven-month campaign with both Osman and his publisher, Viking, posting regularly about the upcoming We Solve Murders.
Just as we came to associate the fox with The Thursday Murder Club, a cat named Trouble is the mascot of this new series, featuring on all of the marketing materials. Osman takes inspiration from this himself, often posting photos of the book with his cats Lottie and Liesl. There were many competition incentives to pre-order the book: ten lucky winners would win a signed copy if they pre-ordered with Waterstones. Viking also announced that a pre-order in any format gave the purchaser a chance to win a hamper full of treats from the New Forest, a key location in the book.
The marketing campaign has also taken advantage of Osman’s celebrity status, posting a video of Osman talking about the book and offering a sneak peek into the story, as well as a behind the scenes of his podcast The Rest is Entertainment where he shared the inspiration behind the book cover.
With just one week to go, the countdown to publication was on. Viking teased three six-second Instagram reels introducing us to some key characters, including Steve, Amy and Rosie. In the five-day run-up, they shared five pivotal locations to the book alongside specially designed graphics of each location – featuring a cameo from Trouble the cat himself!
Bookshops
After the massive success of the Thursday Murder Club series, it is no surprise that bookshops are positively buzzing with excitement as We Solve Murders hits the shelves. The iconic book cover features Trouble the cat, who is taking over UK bookshop windows at an unprecedented pace. Most bookshops got a beautiful cut-out of the naughty feline, accompanied by red and white banners, and, in some cases, branded tote bags and bookmarks. It is hard to miss Mr. Osman’s new book as most shops have a centre table featuring it, alongside the matching decoration.
Bookshops also made sure to stock up on everything Richard Osman, like Waterstones Witney, who have the Thursday Murder Club series and House of Games board game in the window alongside the star of the show. If all this wasn’t enough, Penguin Random House went all out and hired some amazingly talented muralists to create some art for the book. Juliet Townsend transferred the cover flawlessly to the window of Suddenly Bookshop in Daventry, and Mark Harrop created a life-like chalk drawing of Osman himself and the book in Waterstones Warrington.
The Viking team made a great design choice with the striking cover and the recognisable cat, as these motifs are easily carried over for the decoration accompanying the book. It is safe to say that it’s impossible to go into a bookshop and not notice We Solve Murders for the next few weeks.