Thursday Murder Club: A Novel

The Thursday Murder Club is an absolute delight for mystery lovers! Set in a peaceful retirement community, it follows a group of quirky, lovable seniors who meet every Thursday to solve cold cases—until they find themselves in the middle of a real-life murder investigation. Richard Osman’s writing is sharp, witty, and full of warmth, making the characters feel like people you’d love to spend time with.

The mystery itself is cleverly plotted with enough twists and red herrings to keep you guessing without feeling overly complicated. The humor and heart at the center of the story balance the darker elements of crime-solving perfectly. I especially loved how the characters each brought something unique to the investigation, combining their life experience with their newfound detective skills.

Whether you’re a fan of cozy mysteries or simply enjoy a well-crafted story with memorable characters, this book is a must-read. I can’t wait to see what the Thursday Murder Club gets up to next!

I have to agree with other reviewers about this book. The quirky characters are the best part and whole concept to hook a reader in-a group of retirees who like to investigate cold case murders and try to solve them…until an actual murder takes place at their retirement home community. I had high hopes for this book as this is not a genre I read very often, I prefer historical fiction. So, I probably won’t be reading the other books in this series. If not for my bookclub, I would never have picked this up and that’s just what “The Thursday Murder Club” is-a bookclub-type of read.

“Well, let’s start with Elizabeth, shall we?” any good writer worth their salt knows the first line of your novel is critical. This is how you pull in your reader and keep them hooked. This is one of the best opening lines I’ve come across in a long time, unfortunately by the time I got to the end and the murder was solved, I was still confused over who had actually “dunnit” (kinda important if you’re writing a whodunnit novel!) and not really caring what the motive of the killer was. Neither were ever fully explained.

Elizabeth is the unofficial leader of this motley crew of septuagenarians who like to meet every Thursday to discuss cold case murders thanks to one of Elizabeth’s friends who used to work as a police officer here in England, where this story takes place. The opening line is being told from the point of view of Joyce and it might have been nice if our author had picked just one or maybe two or three but no more POVs to use in telling the story because every chapter (some were only a page or two long) jumped from one character’s head to another. Other reviewers have commented on how distracting this was. I agree. Then there were the dead bodies that kept popping up left and right.

We also interrupt this plot many times so one of the characters can tell a story and info dump about one of the dead bodies the Murder Club keeps discovering: the tragic love story of a priest and a nun, a young man murdered just because he knew too much, one of Joyce’s male friends here at the retirement community who just couldn’t go on without his beloved wife who passed away several years ago. All of these stories are supposed to trick the reader into thinking, “NOW the killer can finally be revealed!” Wrong. The story keeps going until the very end, a very anticlimactic reveal of the actual killer.
Then everyone went home.
The End

I don’t think I gave away anything important back there but I do recommend reading this book. It really was an entertaining and enjoyable read. There is very little swearing (gotta love the British and their cuss words vs American!) no graphic descriptions of any of the murders that occur. It is easy to root for Joyce and Elizabeth, their two male friends who make up the club and the two British police officers doing their best to investigate the murders while the Club keeps breathing down their necks but do we have to hear the story from every single one of them, every other chapter? A great pick for your bookclub but that’s about it.

Livro chegou rápido e muito bem embalado. A leitura é super gostosa e flui muito bem. Plot divertido, engraçado. Ótimo pra treinar o inglês. Já quero o 2!

I didn’t expect this murder mystery to make me laugh, lift my mood, and keep me reading until the early hours, but it did. The subject of the novel is a murder club that solves a murder involving their retirement community. Cooper’s Chase is a British retirement village that hosts many clubs within their communal meeting rooms. The Thursday Murder Club is a group of pensioners who get together to discuss cold murder cases. Each of the club members has a distinct personality and specialty. There’s Elizabeth, who keeps what she used to do private but organizes with military precision. Penny, a co-founder of the Club, has just been moved to a nursing home, which has left an opening. Newcomer Joyce, filling the space, is a former nurse. She’s useful in determining which knife wounds would be fatal and how long it would take for a person to bleed out from such injuries. She can also make a mean lemon drizzle cake and is looking for male companionship. Ibrahim is a psychiatrist, and Ron, a former labor organizer.
The Club investigates a murder that hits close to home when a local builder, Tony Curran, is found dead from a blunt force injury to the back of his head. Besides being a legitimate builder, Tony has been involved in running drug operations on the side. He was a rough character who had many unsavory connections. He was partners with Ian Ventham, the developer who built Cooper’s Chase. They were planning to expand the retirement community, which would involve removing an old convent graveyard and a peaceful gathering spot for quiet contemplation. The Cooper’s Chase community was adamantly opposed to the destruction of their private place. Tony’s murder has plenty of suspects from those opposed to his building to others in the drug world. Ian was also planning to cut Tony out of the development plans, making him a suspect too.
Police Constable Donna De Freitas is called to work the investigation with Chief Inspector Chris Hudson. For De Freitas, a liaison officer working on a murder investigation is a huge step. Formerly holding meetings with Cooper’s Chase on safety topics, she is thought to have the community’s trust. Unknown to her, while extracting information about Tony’s murder from residents, the Murder Club is busily mining information from her. Chief Inspector Hudson has no idea that the Murder Club has launched their own parallel investigation.
The murder mystery is a complicated one, giving the reader lots of false leads. What makes the book so much fun to read are the uncommonly wise and hysterically funny characters. My favorite scene is when De Freitas is sitting in the squad room as Hudson hands out assignments. She gets a text message from the Murder Club to tell her they are on their way to interview a suspect. The ending contains more than a few surprises. I hope Richard Osman continues to write about these people. Whether you’re a murder mystery fan or not, you’ll love the sharp dialogue and delightful personalities.

I got this series in Audio books – I love the story and have listened to them twice. Great series. It tells the story about 4 retired professionals in a retirement community (an X-police officer that made copies of unsolved murder cases before she retired gets the ball rolling . The gang consists of Joyce, a retired nurse; Elizabeth, a retire M-5 Spy; Ron a retired Union Steward; and Ibrahim a mostly retired Psychologist.
There is much humor but yet it’s not a comedy, there’s plenty of love but yet it’s not a love story . . . But overall it’s just a fun book to listen to.