The four main characters are distinct, funny, and surprisingly moving.
I went in expecting comfort reading and got comfort reading plus a genuinely clever mystery. The plotting is tighter than it looks — Osman is doing something deceptively simple. The four main characters are distinct, funny, and surprisingly moving. My only minor complaint is that the younger detective characters are considerably less interesting than the older ones, which I suspect was intentional but still. Four stars. Would read the next one immediately.