Title: The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1) by Richard Osman

Published: September 3, 2020

Genre(s): mystery, fiction, crime, murder mystery, cozy mystery

Read as: ebook, library loan

Rating: 4

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late? (Goodreads)

My first introduction to comedian/author Richard Osman was through the British Channel 4 program Taskmaster. While I found him enormously entertaining during his time on the show, I was surprised when I learned that he had written a well regarded murder mystery series. Naively, I decided that there was no way a comedian could write an engaging mystery and for several years just skimmed past it in my browsing. I don’t know what, exactly, finally pushed me to give this a try but I found myself clicking on it through Kindle Unlimited and diving in.

I am not too proud to say that I was wrong in my initial assumption and I ended up enjoying this book immensely!

In the past I have found myself enjoying quirky mystery novels where the detectives are from an elder generation (I’m thinking of the wonderful Bryant & May series by Christopher Fowler here). There is just something about them I find endearing. With The Thursday Murder Club, we have a group of retirees from various backgrounds who live in an upscale retirement village. They have formed a club that meets on Thursday evenings to discuss previously unsolved crimes and see what they can work out from the clues.

That is, until a murder occurs on their proverbial doorstep. That murder multiples into three and the group find themselves unravelling multi-national, and multi generational, murders. The way this group works together is wonderful. We have the strong willed woman with a history of catching criminals through various means, a man that gets to the heart of things through both verbal and physical intimidation, the psychologist that excels at studying the mind, and a nurse with a more quiet personality that leads people to trust her. Together they are a dynamic unit who, with the help of two detectives on the local police force, piece together the clues to solve the murders.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book and I intend on reading more of the series. I love the interactions between the characters, their loyalty to each other, and how their vastly different backgrounds and personalities work together beautifully. This read made me laugh, cry, and sit on the edge of my seat and I am very happy I gave Osman a try as an author.