British mysteries are many things – atmospheric, well-plotted, full of details and twists and turns – but I’ve never read a series that is as much fun as Richard Osman’s young series, the Thursday Murder Club series.

One reviewer said it was a beacon of pleasure in the midst of gloom. I second that.

The Bullet That Missed is the third in Richard Osman’s clever and irresistibly charming stories.

It’s the perfect antidote for the news we are drowning in and the unwanted and desperate e-mails I’m getting from political candidates.

Elizabeth and her three friends live in a luxurious retirement community called Cooper’s Chase in a suburb of London.

She is the unofficial leader of the group and is the most mobile.

She is also a retired agent for MI6 and has all kinds of tricks and connections. She can handle a gun and still practices the craft of espionage.

(The book isn’t all fun and games; there is some reality about aging. Osman writes about Elizabeth’s beloved husband, Steven, who can still play a mean game of chess but has almost completely lost his memory to Dementia. Her devotion to him is touching.)

The club meets weekly and goes over “cold” murder cases and murders that remain unsolved, and they go to work solving them to the discomfort of the local police.

They’ve tricked and maneuvered two police officers into grudgingly helping them out.

Few people in the outside world take a bunch of octogenarians living in a retirement home seriously, but that is a mistake. This crew is intelligent, lovable, funny, and undeterrable. And is often in danger.

I loved the first two books in this series and would recommend beginning with them – The Thursday Murder Club and The Man Who Died Twice. I imagine you’ll get the new one soon enough.

Elizabeth is a great creation; she’s the Smiley. in the series.

Osman is fine at intrigue and plotting, as good English mystery writers are, but his portrayal of the club members — doddering and forgetful and grumpy and fearless– makes the books sing.

One is even a big sex-crazed.

Osman also has fun bringing these quarrelsome and determined people to life. There is never a doubt they will get their man  (or woman.)

I’ve put aside the serious and imaginative novel I was reading to get right into The Bullet That Missed. I love it already. It just feels good.