The Thursday Murder Club

I'd heard so much about this book that I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I'm now firmly on the Richard Osman bandwagon.

The four friends who comprise the club are used to working on cold cases. When a "live" case happens in their retirement community, they pool their unique skills and experiences to solve the case.

They each have distinctive voices and different ways of viewing the world. Retirement is definitely not dull in this community.

Now I’m torn. Agnes Sharp and her housemates are delightful, but a friend of mine tells me that I am Joyce in this book. This series is one of the best I’ve read in the past few years, and this book is one of the best ones in the series.

I’ll gladly join septuagenarians Elizabeth (could she have worked for Scotland Yard?), Ibrahim (a psychologist), Ron (a brawling socialist organizer), and Joyce (gentle and perhaps not as naïve as she seems) at their posh retirement village as they discuss unsolved crimes each Thursday. And I’m definitely there to solve the… show more.

As a confirmed Anglophile, I became aware of Richard Osman’s wit and unique humor from watching British game shows where he appears as either a panelist or presenter. When I learned he had authored a book, I couldn’t wait to read it and had high expectations. The Thursday Murder Club did not disappoint.

The eclectic group of characters, from the Old Age Pensioners of the retirement village to the detectives they encounter (and frustrate), are engaging and richly developed. Even the evil-doers are written with more than the usual depth.

The plot is rich, with unexpected twists. I love a… show more.

I want to retire in Cooper’s Chase to join this wild bunch of retirees. Elderly Elizabeth leads an unruly and underestimated pack of pensioners who investigate murders. Elizabeth’s husband is losing the battle against dementia, so she treasures every second of time with him. She’s also the one person the others believe has killed as part of her previous work in MI-5.

Largely ignored by family, they band together, bickering all the way, to solve murders rather than face the boredom of waiting to die. They keep the local police on their toes, bend the rules, and play the ‘old… show more.

It’s a whodunnit with a twist; the heroes are retiring community residents. This is a smart, funny, fast-paced, good old British humor.

I picked this up in Heathrow airport to read on the plane, and judging by the looks from fellow passengers I think I may have been literally laughing out loud. This is upscale guilty pleasure, and it’s being turned into a movie so now is the time to read it.

This was a book that I picked up because my Mom recommended it. And she struck gold with this one. The book is set in a British retirement community, where a group of old-timers spend their time trying to solve cold cases. But over the course of the book, they get themselves caught up in one very hot case. 

The POV shifts between different characters, who all have interesting voices and skill sets.

I’m already envisioning this mystery as a TV series, which isn’t a stretch since Richard Osman’s had a long career in television. The idea of folks in a retirement community getting together to solve crimes isn’t new, but it’s always a hoot (reminds me of an episode of NCIS where Ducky was involved in “The Sherlocks”).

Osman doesn’t disappoint with his crew of senior sleuths in Coopers Chase, notably Elizabeth, the group’s leader, who isn’t intimidated by anything or anyone, and Joyce, her sidekick, a former nurse.

Short chapters and a shifting point of view made for a very fast… show more.

I fell madly in love with the four amateur detectives that comprise the membership of the Thursday Murder Club, not at least because they each represent one of the great sleuthing “types”: Elizabeth (the spy), Ibrahim (the Sherlockian intellectual), Joyce (the Marple-esque little old lady), and Ron (the gritty rule-breaker).

Gentle humor and real affection for the characters permeate this wonderful mystery, along with a tender recognition of the fragility of life. 

The Thursday Murder Club is the first book in a series by the same name. It establishes an ensemble cast of variously gifted characters – a quirky group of senior citizens in a local nursing home! – whose friendships and collective purpose involve the solving of murders.

The characters are realistic, humorous, distinctively gifted, and entirely believable; and the solutions to the murders are not easily detectable. The plots are very good, and the characters even better.

I kept hearing good things about The Thursday Murder Club, but it was only this year that I got around to reading it. What a treat!

Four delightful residents of a lush retirement village, each with unique talents, meet weekly to discuss cold cases. But when a real murder hits close to home, they switch from the theoretical to the actual with unexpected results.

This is a fun, clever mystery full of endearing characters. Dive in and enjoy.