📖 Review ~ The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

 

Penguin
2020

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves

A female cop with her first big case

A brutal murder

Welcome to…

The Thursday Murder Club

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late.

📖 My Thoughts...

Ok, so I'm a bit late to the party with this one as it came out in a flurry of excitement in September last year and I've no excuse for my tardiness other than using the saying too many books, too little time. So despite having an ecopy copy of the book lingering on my kindle, when I spotted the audio version narrated by Lesley Manville, well, I couldn't delay any longer.

Setting the story in a retirement village is such a great premise for a story, and to have four 'old folk' who have too much time on their hands, and who enjoy trying to outwit the local police detectives, well, it's a match made in heaven. I loved every minute of The Thursday Murder Club and am hard pushed to figure out amongst the four septuagenarians who my favourite character was, but I think, on reflection, Joyce is the one who I really looked forward to seeing on the page, her intuitive ponderings really brought the story to life, but equally, Elizabeth, Ron and Ibrahim brought such a sparkle to the story, they are, by a mile, some of the best fictional sleuths I've met in a long time. 

The audio version is expertly narrated by Lesley Manville who brings each of the characters alive in such a lovely, meaningful way that I became so immersed in the story I didn't notice time passing. Also at the end of the narration is a wonderful interview/chat between Richard Osman and Marian Keyes, which is absolutely worth listening too for a glorious insight into Richard's inspiration for the book and the sheer joy of listening to Marion.

The Thursday Murder Club is witty and funny, tender and compassionate, and the most joyous, murder mystery I have read in a long time. All I can say is read it, and then bring on book #2 in September 2021.

About the Author

Richard Osman is an English television presenter, producer, director, and novelist.

Twitter @richardosman

@PenguinUkBooks