Very pleased for it to not be as obvious as I thought it was going to be but it did take me a while to get into the novel with an extensive character list. A very admirable effort from a very clever man who has clearly worked hard to seamlessly weave in all the narrative threads.

Miss Marple meets Midsommer murders. A joyous tail of pensioners who have their best years ahead of themselves. Who buried the body? where is the Turkish Cypriot.? Who did the Murder? A real page turner. Loved it.
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This was just a quintessentially British old-school murder mystery. The plot was rock solid, and the characters – 4 septuagenarian friends in a retirement village club – were a complete riot from start to finish.

There was a real lightness and comedy aspect to the story, which was such a refreshing change to the usual grisly turn of events you get with this genre. And I think that, for the most part, it was down to the characters and their natural humour and rapport that did it for me.

Their individual skills and quirky ways melded together as they picked their way through the murder, and it really did feel like a group of friends meeting for tea and cakes every Thursday. Each character was brilliant in their own way, and their antics and methods as they tried to piece together the clues had me giggling throughout.

As with any novel with elderly main characters, there are a number of maladies, illnesses, death and grieving along the way, but it was handed so tastefully and respectfully by Osman that it added a real poignancy and intimacy with the characters, adding rather than detracting from the plot.

The story itself may have been a little long, and by the end there was maybe one suspect two many, but as a debut novel it was a stellar mystery and well worth a read and I can’t wait for the second in the series!

Read all my reviews at: http://thatbookishgem.com

I was apprehensive at with the writing style , but as the story line evolved I found that I couldn’t stop reading , characters unique , storyline compelling, sadness , humour , it had it all , would love this to be a series , because you grow to love the different personalities of the group , and I’m sure those who have read it have there own particular favourites , totally recommend this book , such an enjoyable read

I enjoyed this book which has the zaniest character list i have ever encountered in an underused setting. I loved that the pensioners led the police around by their noses solving everything before them and mostly witholding all information. At the same time there are plenty of twists in the plot - making it difficult to see where it is all going and therefore the reveals keep the reader interested. It would make a great TV series with Judi Dench, Celia Imrie and Julie Walters. Come on BBC get it made. (less)

I am glad i received as an ARC because i think £10 is very pricey for a kindle edition of the book

I absolutely adored this cosy murder mystery set in a retirement village. The characters were completely engaging and the mystery kept me involved from beginning to end. I can't wait to return to these incredible characters.

It might be billed as a murder mystery but actually The Thursday Murder Club is the feelgood read we all need in 2020!

Rchard Osman has created the retirement village we'd all like to end up in. His fictional village is clean and free from anything too nasty bar the odd murder of course. It is populated by 'characters' many of who have a mission to stop development of land in the area by those seeking big profits,

Definitely one to read if you are a bit jaded with the year as it is entertaining, has a well developed plot and a very 'nice' undertone.

When I first saw this I thought " another Celebrity has written a book " . after reading this I have seen that I was right to give it a chance on it's own merits.
Set in a retirement village a group of residents join together to form what becomes known as the Thursday Murder Club which eventually gets them involved in a series of real murders spanning 50 years or so .
The Developer /Owner of the village Ian Ventham is about to further his development by digging up and relocating graves of former Nuns of the convent which was on the site . The residents are opposed to this and form a protest as the diggers arrive . Ian collapses at the gate after a confrontation with one of the residents and dies . He has been injected with a lethal substance so it is murder . His business partner has also been murdered in his own home shortly after Ian tried to cut him out of the latest deal .. Suspicions abound and the local police investigate , but the Thursday Murder Club gets involved , especially when Bognan a foreign odd job man uncovers human bones outside a coffin in the burial site and enlists the help of the club to help him with what to do . A well written book in a softer style than most recent murder stories are in these days .

A really fun read. Reminded me of Agatha Raisin stories. Murder in a quiet village, solved by 4 mischievous pensioners who are just as good, if not more so, than the police. It could be the start of a long series of books for the amateur detectives and I’d love to read more.

A great who dunnit
Love the characters
Such an easy read
Completely gripped from start to finish
Can't wait to meet them all again
I just don't want to wait for September 21
I want to read it NOW

Thank you netgalley, Richard Osman and Viking for allowing me to read and review this book.

Richard Osman is a very funny man. I often get the impression that he knows that. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the Thursday Murder Club is very funny – full of one-liners and subversions of the expected lines but it does this almost completely without ‘jokes’ – it is just inherently humorous and entertaining, as a good murder story should be.
This novel has reminded me more of the uniformly excellent Caroline Graham Inspector Barnaby novels than any other writer, but sharper and pithier, which can only be a good thing, and with Richard Osman’s distinctive voice throughout - a distinctive voice in a first novel is certainly unusual.

But the thing to remember is that it is not a book to be found in the humour section (although it is much funnier than many you might find there). It is genuinely a ‘crime’ novel – not in a terrifying, gore-laden ‘modern’ crime way – but in a more gentle and understated but still gripping way and it does this very well. From the setup making you believe you know who the murder victim will be to the final denouement, it is nicely clever with a few unexpected twists and obligatory red herrings, but without ever feeling convoluted or irritatingly ‘smart’. I was going to say if you are a crime fan you will be hooked, but really, if you enjoy reading fiction at all you will not want to put this down. And if you don’t enjoy reading fiction, what are you doing reading this review?

The Thursday Murder Club has been on my radar for a while mainly because I love Richard Osman (yep, that guy from Pointless) so I was super excited to get an ARC courtesy of Viking.
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Set in a retirement village in a sleepy part of England we follow our four main characters Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim and Ron as they test their skills at becoming amateur detectives and solving crimes at their weekly Thursday Murder Club. Little do they know that they will soon be investigating a real life murder that takes place right on their doorstep.
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This book filled me with such joy. I loved the idea of these OAP's getting stuck in and solving a crime whilst still enjoying their afternoon wine sessions, pilates classes and card games. Don't be fooled into thinking that this could be a slow or sedate read. The action and the mystery keeps on coming right until the end. I had absolutely no clue what was going to happen or who the culprit was. For me the most amazing thing about this book were the characters. Joyce and Ron in particular I had a real fondness for. The humour was so quintessentially British and you could hear Osman's dry wit coming through the characters so well. I was tittering to myself the whole way through especially at Joyce's obsession with finding a shop to splash her cash in.
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One of the things that really struck me were the quieter reflective moments in the book when the characters talked of lost loved ones and the passing of friends made along the way and how we're all on a clock. This particular group of pensioners are determined to make the most of the years they have left and enjoying every last minute. Whether that's a sherry with friends "It's only Sainsbury's but it is taste the difference", posing as a nun to the police or chasing criminals to foreign countries. There's literally no stopping them!
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This really was a fantastic cosy crime book. I hope lots of people pick it up and enjoy being an honourary member of the Thursday Murder Club

This was a great first novel from Richard Osman and good news, that the next Murder Club book is also being written. How would you like to retire to the lovely Larkin Court Retirement Village. Independent living but surrounded by like minded people of shall we say a similar age!

But the highlight is the weekly meetings of the Thursday Murder Club.; 4 friends meet up each week to investigate old murders or cold cases. Where they find these; one of the group has some very influential contacts in lots of high places!

But they find themselves in the middle of a murder on their very doorstep, almost.

They ingratiate themselves with the local detectives assigned to the case, plying them with tea and cakes. And play a pivotal part in solving the murder, sorry murders!

A great read and I am looking forward to the gangs next case! It's bound to be a gud un!

So I'm not a great fan of so called cosy mysteries. Or celebrity fiction writers, because let's face it 85% of the time the celeb hasn't even written it and are just the face of a mediocre churned out story. But I love Richard Osman, for me he's the intelligent and funny face of daytime TV. So I was pretty sure this would be a winner. And in the most part I was right.

On the plus side this is funny and touching with fabulously written characters. If you don't love everyone in this book then you're wrong. On the negative side the actual plot itself is a bit forgettable. Whilst I remembered everyone of the many characters I often forgot what was actually happening! But I know Mr Osman is already well into the follow up to this and can categorically state, without a doubt I will be one of the first in line.

What a fun read!!!
This was a joy. I loved following Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron as the Thursday Murder Club as they solved the ever-increasing number of crimes in their sleepy retirement village. It was part cozy, part thriller, all-consuming, and just brilliant. I can't wait for the next installment!!

I did enjoy this book, certainly the first half of it - it struggled to hold my attention a little more in the second half. But I liked the voice and the gentle humour and observations and if it's a first novel, it's been really well done. Whether or not it deserves the hype I'm less sure about, but as a 'celebrity novel' at least it hasn't been ghostwritten. It's very readable and character-driven.

Although not really my cup of tea, there's a lot to like about this book.
The older characters are not all good, bad or quirky and are just as fallible as the younger ones.
There are quite s few funny bits. I loved the scene involving sunloungers and also the Tupperware dilemma.
In addition there are a couple of red herrings that
I fell for completely.
I think the acknowledgements are as good as the book.

Loved this book. A great cast of characters, lots of humour and a good old fashion style murder mystery to be solved.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Coopers Chase is a very smart retirement village in Kent, whose residents prefer to keep their minds and bodies in shape through a variety of pursuits, including monitoring with vigour the village’s car park. Joyce is approached one lunchtime by her fellow resident Elizabeth who invites her to join the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is a former nurse and so is full of useful information about knife wounds. Elizabeth, the leader of the group and with a colourful, secretive and very well-connected past, has acquired police files relating to cold cases and the Murder Club, now four in number with Joyce (as well as Ibrahim, a retired psychiatrist, and Ron, a former trade unionist and father of a famous boxer) work to solve them. All in their seventies at least, this is their way to keep their minds alert, to stave off the day when they must retire to the medical quarters as so many of their friends have already done.

When Tony Curran, a builder associated with Coopers Chase, is murdered and the owner of the development is suspected, the Thursday Murder Club leaps into action with far more relish than is seemly, eager to help DCI Chris Hudson and PC Donna de Freitas. It’s soon pretty clear who is in charge of the investigation, and it isn’t DCI Chris Hudson. As the case grows increasingly complex and dramatic, and the body count rises, its investigators, whether old or less old or even young, discover things about themselves and each other, about life and growing old, or even growing up, as they set about solving the murders in their own inimitable fashion.

The Thursday Murder Club has received a huge amount of attention and I must admit to being wary on initial approach but I can confirm that I knew from the very first page that this would be a novel I would adore. And I did. I loved absolutely everything about it. Richard Osman writes beautifully, with such a lightness of touch and real insight into his characters. Our six main characters – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, Ron, Chris Hudson and Donna – are enchanting, fully realised, individually distinct and complete charmers, especially Elizabeth and Joyce. I do believe Elizabeth could talk her way into – or out of – any situation. They are all immensely likeable and their interactions with others are wonderful. Elizabeth’s observations about her fellow residents are poignant and the secrecy hiding her past is fabulous! She surprises us constantly.

As far as the characters go, there’s a special place in my heart for DCI Chris Hudson, a middle-aged, overweight man, full of good intentions and unable to deliver on any of them, as he realises. He is such a kind man. Donna, who comes from the Met, misses city streets and regular murders, and is under 50, is a fish out of water but it is great to watch her slowly find her place. Her dialogue sparkles. Much of the conversation throughout the novel is witty, penetrating and valid.

There really is something very special about The Thursday Murder Club. I love how its focus is on older people. The characters who are so often in novels scene fillers or make cameo appearances are now given centre stage and this book shows just how much they deserve it. They might be living in a retirement village now but they all carry their past lives with them. There is a wisdom in this novel and there were one of two moments when I was extremely moved, especially when Joyce reflects on her feelings towards her daughter. As someone who has recently lost her mother, I can’t even think of those moments without tears, including now. There are some heart-wrenching memories and reflections on display here, and some real gentle care, including Elizabeth’s tenderness towards her ailing but marvellous husband. This is all fabulous! I also enjoyed how Joyce’s journal entries interweave through the narrative, with her wonderful wandering mind on full display.

I could go on and on…. I love the plot. It’s just the sort of thing to appeal to Agatha Christie fans or any readers of classic crime. I wouldn’t call it cosy because it’s much more than that, but it does provide comfort to the reader. The setting is perfect. The whole atmosphere is perfect. The Thursday Murder Club is a treasure of a novel, which deserves all of the attention and praise (not to mention sales) heaped upon it. It would make for a wonderful TV drama. And I can’t wait for the next novel in the series – may there be many more of them.

I was so excited to read this book as I love Richard Osman. He is a great presenter and now a very talented writer. I adored the characters and the idea of a group of elderly people working together to solve this murder mystery. You won't be able to put thie-down once you start reading it. I loved it