Richard Osman: "Cartels use influencers as mules because they travel a lot."

BarcelonaBritish actor Richard Osman (Billericay, 1970) triumphs in everything he does: he has been successful as a presenter, comedian, and television writer and producer. When he made the leap to writing novels, he became the king of crime. With the adventures of the adorable pensioners in the series The Thursday Murder Club, which will soon be adapted into a film, has already accumulated more than 11 million readers. The novel We solve murders (Planeta/Columna; translated into Catalan by Núria Parés Sellarès) is the start of a new series, but Osman doesn't abandon the elderly. The new heroes are Steve, a retired police officer who lives with his cat and goes to the pub for lunch every day; his younger sister, Amy, a bodyguard who always travels armed; and Rosie, a veteran bestselling writer, millionaire and very free, inspired by the novelist Jackie Collins.

It was a huge success with The Thursday Murder Club. He's decided to start a new series with new characters. Will the club quartet never return?

— The Thursday quartet are older and getting older, but I'll keep them around as long as I can. I wanted to write another series and give them a break. I love them very much and I'm not going to kill them.

The protagonists have changed, but with the exception of Amy, they remain older men and women with great vitality. They are heroes over seventy, something we don't see much of in fiction.

— I love writing about older people, people with a lot of experience who have been through so many things and had different relationships. They can share so much more than a 25-year-old. Blessed are the young, but if you have a 60- or 80-year-old character, they can offer so much more. I have a great time taking them on journeys and putting them in dangerous situations.

Advertising promotes eternal youth. It goes against the grain...

— But this is all ads and money. It's not true, there's no soul, no life, no nothing. They're not real humans. If we watch television, we see young boys in swimsuits on some island, but on the street, there's a huge diversity of bodies and ages. I prefer to write about the world as it is, not as it's sold to us. I write for readers, not for advertisers.

There's a lot of irony in his books. We're used to tortured, troubled detectives who take themselves very seriously. His investigators, above all, want to have a good time.

— There are also moments of sadness in my books. I place a lot of importance on friendship and human relationships, and I believe that heroes can be fun and that novels can contain a lot of optimism, love, and humor. I like my novels to exude all of this, even during difficult times.

In We solve murdersThe relationship between the father-in-law and the young woman is fantastic, idyllic. In fact, there's much more love and communication between father-in-law and young woman than between father and son, or between couples themselves.

— Yes... Steve and Amy aren't blood relatives, but they've found each other, and there's so much love between them. They care deeply for each other, even though they'll never admit it. I thought it was fantastic that they had that relationship, and that, in a way, Steve's son and Amy's husband is a little bit missing.

Most of the victims of We solve murders are influencersI don't know if we should do a second reading.

— No... I read that drug cartels often used the influencers as mules Because they travel a lot. They're perfect for cartels, because there are many who don't have much money. And, on the other hand, I like writing about older people, but I'm also fascinated by popular culture. I thought it was ideal, combining two elderly people and representatives of the world we live in today with the craze of social media.

You have a long history in mass culture and have had a lot of success on television, what do you think of the influencers?

— There's a very positive side to it, because they would never have had a chance in mainstream media, and now they can make themselves known and make money. Before, this would have been unthinkable. The thing is, the advertising world is always ridiculous, because it tries to sell us things we don't need. It's usually all pretty ridiculous, but I always try to find the positive side.

There is a lot of irony surrounding the influencers and also the action actors.

— Yes, because I've met a lot of actors. It's the world I come from, and I like to write about things I know. I write very short chapters and never know what the next one will be like. Often it's something I've seen on television or on the street the day before.

Is Rosie inspired by any particular woman?

— It wasn't supposed to be in the book. Amy is a bodyguard and had to keep an eye on someone... Rosie came along and I fell in love. She's inspired by the novelist Jackie Collins. She made her fortune in the 1980s writing novels, she was glamorous, she didn't care what people said about her, she was tough, funny, talented... And she did all this twenty years before women were somehow allowed to do all this.

Why did you decide to step back from television and dedicate yourself to writing novels?

— I've always written. At 16, I was already writing reviews for a music magazine, and later I mainly wrote scripts for television. I'd always thought about writing a novel, but it's like running the ultimate marathon. It's incredibly hard, and the easiest thing to do is write several thousand characters and throw in the towel. As I approached fifty, I wasn't working as many hours as I had in my twenties or thirties, and my children were grown, so I decided to give it a try. I hadn't tried before because I didn't have enough confidence, time, or knowledge. Now I'm very glad I did, because writing novels has given me great happiness.

Did any crime novelists inspire you?

— It's impossible to be British and not adore Agatha Christie, but I prefer Dorothy L. Sayers, a contemporary of hers who works in other settings, like advertising agencies. I also really like comic novels. I haven't found books that combine both as I'd like, and I've tried to do so with these series.

What novel has made you laugh lately?

— Barbara Pym She was a writer who painted magnificent portraits of everyday life. It's like reading a pamphlet, but by the third page you're laughing your head off.

Everything you do is a huge success, whether it's an audience or a readership. Do you have a special knack for detecting what people like, great powers of observation, or do you just do what you like without thinking about whether it will be liked or not?

— I love people. And I write to entertain. I always think about who will read me and how to keep them reading. I create characters with whom people can empathize and identify. If I have a special sense, it's knowing how to detect the prevailing trend, what might please or attract people. You may have all this in your head, but I also have it in my heart.