Richard Osman has revealed he may have to amend his latest murder mystery after an unexpected group of readers spotted a glaring error that left them furious
Richard Osman has revealed he may have to make an unusual alteration to his latest novel after a seemingly minor detail sparked outrage among a group of particularly eagle-eyed readers.
The bestselling author, best known for his hugely successful Thursday Murder Club books, admitted that complaints about his latest mystery had reached his editor, leaving him facing a potential change to the paperback edition.
Speaking at the Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival on Saturday, Richard explained how the unexpected controversy had unfolded.
He said: “I had a thing today that came through that was Vern – this guy in a Tuscan villa is looking for a swift which is on the roof of one of his outbuildings – and the swift is looking for food for its family.
“My editor said there are a lot of furious birdwatchers out there because they’re saying that swifts do not eat worms.”
The author, whose novel We Chase Shadows features the disputed scene, continued: “They don’t look for worms, they don’t eat worms, so should we change it in the paperback to a blackbird or a robin?”
The passage depicts a swift swooping down to grab a worm in its beak, but the description did not escape the attention of readers familiar with the species.
Richard, who has written five Thursday Murder Club mysteries and sold around 17 million books, suggested the mistake should perhaps have been spotted before publication.
He also offered a possible explanation for the paperback, saying: “Actually now he thinks about it, Vern is not sure it’s a swift.”
The author apologised to ornithologists before joking about the bird’s diet, asking: “What the f*** are they eating?”
The mistake had already prompted discussion online, with readers questioning how such an obvious detail had made it into the finished book.
One reader wrote: “I’ve just got to the bit about the swift swooping down to eat a worm and I was just completely discombobulated.”
Another suggested: “Maybe they need bird advisers”.
A third wondered whether the error had been deliberate, writing: “it is such an obvious mistake I wondered if it was deliberate for some reason?”.
In reality, swifts feed on insects and spiders caught while airborne, rather than picking up worms from the ground. The birds nest in small cavities in buildings and typically leave the UK for Africa towards the end of summer.
Their numbers have also fallen sharply. According to the RSPB, the UK’s swift population declined to around three birds for every 10 recorded in 1995 by 2022. The species has since been placed on the UK’s Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern.
The literary controversy comes after Richard spoke about a more personal subject: his struggles with food addiction.
In an interview with The i Paper, the author admitted that discussing the issue made him uncomfortable, but said opening up had encouraged other people to share their own experiences.
He said: “I don’t want to talk about these things, I really don’t. It’s not comfortable. People… well, no, women come up to me and tell me their husbands heard me talking about it and then opened up about their own issues.”
Richard has previously spoken about bingeing on chocolate and the importance of confronting shame surrounding addiction.
Summing up his love of sweets, he once joked: “If they made heroin gummies, I’d get hooked – but to the sweets and not the heroin.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
