-
Get a Free Issue
of our Ezine!
Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Book Reviewed by: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.
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?
1.
Joyce
Well, let's start with Elizabeth, shall we? And see where that gets us?
I knew who she was, of course; everybody here knows Elizabeth. She has one of the three-bedroom flats in Larkin Court. It's the one on the corner, with the decking? Also, I was once on a quiz team with Stephen, who, for a number of reasons, is Elizabeth's third husband.
I was at lunch, this is two or three months ago, and it must have been a Monday, because we were having shepherd's pie. Elizabeth said she could see that I was eating, but she wanted to ask me a question about knife wounds, if it wasn't inconvenient?
I said, "Not at all, of course, please," or words to that effect. I won't always remember everything exactly, I might as well tell you that now. So she opened a manila folder, and I saw some typed sheets and the edges of what looked like old photographs. Then she was straight into it.
Elizabeth asked me to imagine that a girl had been stabbed with a knife. I asked what sort of knife she had been ...
The Thursday Murder Club is equal parts intrigue, humor and pathos. On the periphery of the murder mystery are the sorrows and challenges of old age. Each member of the club has lost a spouse, or a close friend, or a profession, or his/her health to a degree. But in many ways, it's those losses that make the connections between them all the more poignant. The novel is a well-written, lively whodunit in the vein of Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard on this side of the pond or Kaye C. Hill's Lexy Lomax series on the other side...continued
Full Review
(647 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by Debbie Morrison).
A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
Loved every word. Loved the fleet, nimble plotting, as ingenious as top-shelf Agatha Christie; loved the boisterous cast of characters—think Fredrik Backman; loved the crisp, witty, Carl Hiaasen-caliber dialogue...yet above all, I love The Thursday Murder Club for its psychological texture, emotional depth, and luminous, fireside warmth. What a generous novel. Readers of Louise Penny and Kate Atkinson, rejoice. Alan Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
A rich, textured, twisted, and fabulously funny tale of murder and mayhem. Fiona Barton, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow
Grinning like a monkey having just finished The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Loved its clever, clever plot, great gags, Ealing comedy set ups and Elizabeth. Can't say more but I want to be her one day… Jeffery Deaver, #1 international bestselling author of The Goodbye Man
By turns hilarious and poignant, The Thursday Murder Club offers up a brilliant concept that's flawlessly executed and told in a unique, captivating voice. These are rare qualities in any novel, let alone a debut. I read the first page, then put all else on hold to devour this pitch-perfect book in one sitting. Bravo!
In Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club, the residents of the Coopers Chase retirement community are, in some ways, very much like any other group of retirees. They fawn over their grandchildren, they gather to discuss various aches and pains, and they frequently misunderstand technology. And like many other retirees, they also have decades of experience and expertise from their earlier lives and professions. One of the professions that stands out as particularly useful in the group's amateur pursuit of criminals is Red Ron's former life as a British Trade Union leader.
Although trade unions were not officially legal in the U.K. until the mid-19th century, the country had a prior history of movements for workers' rights, perhaps the ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked The Thursday Murder Club, try these:
by Danielle Arceneaux
Published 2023
The first in a vivid and charming crime series set in the Louisiana bayou, introducing the hilariously uncensored amateur sleuth Glory Broussard. Perfect for fans of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series.
by Elizabeth Strout
Published 2020
Winner of the 2019 BookBrowse Fiction Award
Prickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is "a compelling life force" (San Francisco Chronicle).
We'll Prescribe You a Cat
by Syou Ishida
Discover the bestselling Japanese novel celebrating the healing power of cats.
Before the Mango Ripens by Afabwaje Kurian
Both epic and intimate, this debut announces a brilliant new talent for readers of Imbolo Mbue and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
.png)