I really enjoyed this.

This book grabs you instantly, not because of vicious murder or intriguing descriptions, but through the characters. You cannot help but be drawn into the world of Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim and Ron. The whole story unfolds gently and the fantastic, warmly likeable characters are at the heart of this enjoyable read.

Richard Osman writes well, as you’d expect from a known intellectual. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and will look out for more in this series!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

Little did we really know what a talented bloke Richard Osman is, we may have guessed due to his humour and clever use of words but any doubt will be removed reading his debut novel.

Set in a retirement village, it is the story of four residents who come together to form the Thursday Murder Club. Initially, using a retired police inspector’s old case notes of unsolved murder investigations. They have various skills which they bring to the discussion and the book works well showing how their relationship deepens and matures.
The group’s enthusiasm knows no bounds when a real murder occurs of the development’s builder. They are involved from the beginning as the builder and the developer were always around the complex as controversial plans are made to expand the village. Indeed they had witnessed the two having a stand-up argument following a consultation meeting with the residents.

This is no cosy murder series. The plot develops logically with issues that are up to date and real, from sharp business practice, criminal gangs and buried secrets. I liked the pace and the interaction between a large cast of characters. How the old folk manage to place themselves in the midst of the police investigation is quite brilliant and they never lose their initiative.

The enquiry unravels a tangle of hidden crimes where one action follows another to open up a mystery full of thrills and unexpected twists.

This is an accomplished novel which has great potential. Listening to an interview with the author it seems this work will indeed lead to a book deal and a TV series.

Established crime writers struggling for recognition and a TV option must wonder how Richard Osman has done so incredibly well. If they read this novel they will be left without doubt, here is a real talent, born to write crime fiction and in the Murder Club has unearthed a rich vein to mine for years to come.
I wish him well; I look forward to more episodes from these unlikely elderly detectives who solve crimes and stole my heart.

I downloaded this book as I like Richard Osman and was pleasantly surprised that it was a very pleasant cosy mystery. I like stories that have old people sticking their noses in where they shouldn't, I enjoyed these characters and would certainly like reading about their antics again.

**THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND THE PUBLISHER FOR AN ARC COPY OF THIS TITLE IN EXCHANGE FOR A FAIR AND HONEST REVIEW**

I'm a big fan of Richard Osman and have enjoyed his humour on Pointless for many years. When I saw his name on this book, I requested it immediately. I must admit I was also intrigued by the concept of a group of crime-solving OAPs.

The story was a slow-burn for me,. Despite enjoying Osman's sense of humour on TV, I found the regular references to various supermarkets and quips about screw-top wine quite irritating.

The story picked up pace in the 2nd half and I enjoyed it more as I read on. There were some clever twists and I liked the caring relationships between the various residents. I also found Elizabeth an intriguing character, will we learn more about her past in book 2?

All in all, a decent whodunnit with likeable characters and an interesting setting. I'll definitely look out for the 2nd book.

This is what you would expect from Richard Osman, funny, witty and with a decent murder plot or two. A group of people living out the twilight of their lives at a retirement village, meet once a week for The Thursday Murder Club. Their aim is to go over old cases of murders and try and discover if something was missed first time round. Friends, whose paths would probably never have met in their younger days, find they have something in common. Their goal is probably not to solve old murders but to prove their minds are still as active as they once were when they held important roles. Their gentle lives are suddenly thrown into turmoil when a murder happens right on their doorstep and, even more shocking, it is someone they know. The Thursday Murder Club at once takes on new meaning and their investigations become real. After manipulating the local police, they become fully involved with solving the crime. As the story develops in a fairly gentile way but with suspicious characters aplenty there are many reasons to mistrust all kinds of people. The story eventually comes to its rather unexpected conclusion and is wrapped up in a sad, funny and heartwarming way. Excellent debut from Richard Osman that is a lovely, easy read. Although, it involves murder, deviousness and some rather wicked characters, it is by no means dark or disturbing.

A really wonderful book. Brimmed full of life and vitality, with characters who jumped off the page and into your living room. Osman makes living in a retirement village sound like something everyone should look forward to.
The Thursday Murder Club, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, meet, not coincidentally on Thursdays in the jigsaw room to discuss cold cases forgotten by the police. It passes an hour for them, and gives them an excuse (not that they need it) to enjoy a glass or two of wine!
Everything is going as it usually does, slowly but contentedly, until a real life murder on their patch thrusts them into the middle of a live investigation.
What follows is a glorious romp across the Kent countryside, with a detour to Cyprus thrown in for good measure. With a little help from the real police, and a Polish builder, the intrepid septuagenerian foursome follow the clues in their own, unique way.
Gangsters, drug dealers, and former professional boxers complete the cast of miscreants who come under the miscroscope of the former spy(?), nurse, union leader and physiatrist.
Definitely not a Pointless read!

I've seen SO MANY great reviews for The Thursday Murder Club that I thought I'd probably do my usual thing of thinking it just alright. Not this time. This book completely lived up to the hype. Never before has a book made me excited about a possible future life in a retirement village!

I loved this. It was intelligent and funny. The characters were real and very lovable (give or take a few villainous bit parts). This might just be the first novel I've read that apologetically references Sainsburys Taste the Difference range. Loved it!

This was a charming read, the 4 main pensioners in a luxury residential village became the Thursday murder club. This is well written, witty and clever, I hope there will be a follow up.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for a review.

Simply brilliant! Clever, drily funny and very quirky.
This is what I would class as a thinker's murder mystery for the introvert. What do I mean? For me it wasn't a brash laugh out loud funny book but a hilarious laughing inside yourself book! Which, in case anyone is wondering, is a massive compliment!
I thoroughly enjoyed how this book is free from conventional genre boundaries and how fascinatingly original it is.
It helps that I live in Haywards Heath and was born and raised in Kent, so the place names Osman uses are oh so familiar to me.
The characters are simply amazing. They are amazing because of the dialogue, the adventures, the mishaps and the setting.
Visit Coopers Chase Retirement Village with its contemporary upscale restaurant, pool, events and wonderful landscaping, to meet The Thursday Murder Club comprising Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron and Ibrahim.
I loved the way these 70 + and 80+ old residents were portrayed as astute, manipulate, conniving, talented people with past professions that make them the elderly people they are today. Old but not decrepit! Such a refreshing way to showcase an older generation.
The band of four are way ahead in the detective game than bumbling, lonely, overweight DCI Chris Hudson who is ably assisted by sparky, much more switched on PC Donna De Freitas. The way in which Elizabeth uses her connections and her agile mind to skilfully wrangle confidential information from the DCI, engineer Donna's immediate transfer from giving community talks about window locks to a place on CID and the courage she displays in confronting people with the truth is outrageous, funny and deserving of encore after encore!
The police and the murder club members work in parallel, intersecting at points in this very well written, very engaging tale of murder. The plot is well crafted to keep the reader agog at all the developments, unable to see what is coming next and genuinely intrigued about who has done what. Towards the end it feels as if the answers are just in the next paragraph when suddenly the story swerves and leads the reader in a different direction.
You definitely need your wits about you but sadly my wits are a little inferior to those of Mr Osman.
This is a book I cannot recommend enough and I am already excited and eager to see what book 2 will be about.
Bravo Mr Osman and the Thursday Murder Club!

A real romp of a murder mystery with an eclectic, eccentric cast of characters. Humour abounds, with lots of laugh out loud moments, but a great deal of pathos too. This is a great reminder that just because someone is getting on in years they are no less of a person with character and personality than they ever were. A wonderful illustration of an elderly community - I want to live in Cooper's Chase. I loved the relationships between the residents and also with the mesmerised police officers, but some very sad and stark reminders of the frailty of life. A pleasure to read.

Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim and Joyce are the 'Thursday Murder Club', meeting every Thursday to go over old, unsolved cases to see if there's anything the police might've missed, until the day a real murder lands in their laps instead. Who said retirement had to be boring?
Crime isn't usually one of my go-to genres, but this was really enjoyable - well written with well-dfined characters; funny without turning into parody and cozy without becoming twee, with a very distinct narrative voice (if they don't get Osman to, at least, be A narrator for the audiobook version, that really would be criminal!)
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for review.

Welcome to the Thursday Murder Club. They meet on a Thursday, between Crochet and Chat and the Jigsaw club, to go over cold cases of murders from years before. They have a combined age of 200 and they're about to solve a fresh murder.
Richard Osman's first book is a joyful little gem about a group of pensioners who find themselves mixed up in a murder investigation after two men linked to their retirement community wind up dead. The group - all members of the titular Thursday Murder Club - take it on themselves to solve the mystery.
I really enjoyed this book - Osman changes POV to great effect and his characters are fun and realistic. I pictured Anne Reid as Joyce, myself.
My only problem with the book is that it seemed to go on a bit too long - and there were more red herrings than in a fishmongers. But overall, a fun, well-written murder mystery with great characters.

Thank you, Penguin, for a copy of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I have heard good things about this book. Even Richard Osman himself on TV so I thought I would request this on NetGalley before being archived.
The story is set in a luxury retirement village called Coopers Chase. Four residents and friends meet up on a Thursday for The Murder club, they solve unsolved Police murder cases. To see if they can find out anything that has missed. At first this is just a hobby to them. For their brains to tick over but when they get involved in a real murder case, they can’t wait to solve the mystery.
I really enjoyed this story of The Thursday Murder club with it’s quirky characters who are trying to solve a murder case. Richard Osman really understand the mannerisms and actions of the elderly generation and like how he proclaims that just because you are old, you are not done yet. This is a heart-warming story with some humour in it too and was a joy to read. This book is a great start for Richard Osman and I can’t wait to see what he does in book two.

I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a book so much in a long time. It has humour, mystery and is a very good read. When I saw it was written by a celebrity I did wonder if it would be any good but within the first few pages I was hooked. The Thursday Murder club is based in a retirement home and one I would be happy to retire to. The elderly residents get together to solve murders. Elizabeth is an ex spy and her friend Joyce a retired nurse, along with a retired psychiatrist and an ex trade union official and a few more of their contacts become involved in solving two recent murders. It was such a change to read about older characters who were still enjoying life and playing an important part in society. I am so pleased to see the film rights have already been sold and it’s going to be a series, well done Richard Osman.

From experience, celebrities, with a few exceptions, don’t usually make good writers, despite the hype accompanying their offerings, so I expected to be disappointed. However, I was pleasantly surprised and entertained by The Thursday Murder Club.

Four elderly residents living in an affluent retirement complex in leafy Kent meet weekly to investigate old, unsolved murders, courtesy of the fifth member of the group, ex-policewoman Penny, who now lies in a coma in the retirement home medical facility. Elizabeth, with her unspoken but often hinted at background in international espionage, Joyce, an ex-nurse, Ibrahim, once a psychiatrist, and Ron, a salt-of-the-earth militant old union leader, are the club members, as well as friends supporting and looking out for each other. Feisty, determined, busy and still very much alive thank you very much, despite the hands they have inevitably been dealt by old age and lives lived.

When an actual real life murder takes place on the complex, the Thursday murder club switch their talents to assisting the police team - often one step ahead of the cosy detectives Chris and Donna assigned to the case.

As crime dramas go its Sunday night cosy tv serial rather than gory, on the edge of your seat psychological thriller stuff, but none the worse for that. Red herrings, coincidences aplenty, and highly unlikely police corroboration, but lots of wit, humour and gentleness. Sensitive handling of a lot of things the residents, and us all, sometimes face - dementia, bereavement, family relationships, suicide - which make the story quite sad and wistful at times, but overall Richard Osman’s personality and quick wit shine through.

It’s the sort of place I’d quite like to live (in a number of years time!) and I hope there will be a resident like Richard Osman there too because it sounds like he quite likes it too.

If I had one criticism it would be the plot got a bit confusing with some dead-ends and a myriad of similarly named suspects, but overall the book was enjoyable and entertaining and I would read more.

One of not most anticipated reads this year and it didn’t disappoint! Four eighty-somethings gather once a week ... on a Thursday ... in the retirement villages rec room to discuss unsolved murders for an hour... to use Joyce’s words “a few glasses of wine and a mystery. Very social, but also gory. It is good fun”.
I thoroughly enjoyed every moment I spent in this books pages, the humour and the slow unraveling of a many layered mystery. But it’s the characters that are the life of this story and I loved them all, they made me laugh, they made me sad, they made me ponder life.... I didn’t think I’d ever say that a murder mystery novel would give me the warm fuzzies but here we are 🤷🏼‍♀️😂 I’m extremely happy to see that this is the beginning of a series and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next instalment. I need a history on the well connected Elizabeth. For fans of feisty pensioners and underdogs.

Thank you to Penguin Books U.K. /Viking for an advance reading copy via NetGalley of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman.

This is listed as the first of two cosy murder mysteries set in the Coopers Chase Retirement Village, featuring an ensemble cast of its residents.

Every Thursday four friends meet up and discuss unsolved murders. They are Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron. We learn that the club’s founder, Penny, had been an inspector in the Kent Police for many years. She brought files on unsolved murders to the group. She wasn’t suppose to have these cold case files but no one knew. Currently Penny is in a nursing home following a stroke. The group continues to meet.

When a local property developer is found murdered, the Thursday Murder Club decide to investigate their first live case. To do so effectively they have to insert themselves into the local police investigation. They do this by befriending DC Donna De Freitas and her boss, DCI Chris Hudson.

This was a delight from start to finish. I expect that it will appeal to a wide readership. It was lovely having its main characters post sixty-five years in age. Osman clearly understands that although peoples’ bodies age their essential selves don’t. He doesn’t shy away from having his characters facing the realities of ageing, illness, death, and bereavement.

This is a very accomplished novel in terms of characterisation and intricate plotting of its mysteries. There are a number of mysteries aside from the initial murder with attendant twists, that felt organic rather than twists for twists sake.

There was also a good deal of gentle comedy and very relatable observations about daily life. It brought many smiles to my face.

As I started reading on its publication day, I bought the unabridged audiobook to compliment my eARC. It is narrated by Lesley Manville, who was an excellent choice. The audiobook also has a bonus 48 minute interview with the author, conducted by Marion Keyes, that provided interesting background information on the novel and Osman’s writing process.

I know that I will be recommending it widely to friends who love crime fiction as well as anticipating Book 2 next year.

Overall, a wonderful all round mystery, well deserving the prepublication buzz and bound to be an out-of-the-gate bestseller.

I absolutely adored this book - as you’d expect from Richard Osman it’s clever and humorous, but it is also warm-hearted, full of fabulous characters and quite touching at times. I do love a cosy crime and what’s better than a bunch of elderly excentric murderer hunters in a classy retirement village? I do hope there will be more instalments, this is an excellent start to a series!

The Thursday Murder Club follows a group of friends who like investigating unsolved murders, their skills are put into practice when a real-life murder occurs, and other bodies start to turn up.

I really liked the characters in the book, I liked how they were written and how each of their perspectives was written in a different way to make their personalities stand out. The book does jump between characters to tell the story and I quite liked that as some characters knew more about what was going on than others. I enjoyed the plot of the book and the setting, I liked how everything seemed to revolve around the retirement village – both in the present and the past. I also liked the reveals in the book and stories that accompanied these reveals.

I just found the book really hard to read, I loved the characters and their personalities but the book had so much information/detail that I found boring and slow paced and made it hard for me to concentrate. Also, even though I liked the reveals, I did not like the mystery aspect of the book – or lack of mystery because the characters find/solve things way too easily and so there is no build up/suspense to the reveals and what was happening in the book.

2/5

1st in the series, I really enjoyed this book! It has an interesting premise and a good plot. I love the characters, they are so adorable. Inspite of having different personalities they have important qualities to help them as a group.

It is a good cosy mystery and made me laugh and smile at times while reading.

It is a story about retired friends coming together for their Thursday Murder club and solving murders.

It was clever and detailed. I loved the twists and was well written.

Overall a well paced, fabulous novel!

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin books UK and Viking for giving me an e ARC in exchange for my honest review.