I really like Richard Osman. This book is written in the style of P.G. Wodehouse or Alexander McCall Smith , a little whimisical with seeminging insignificant details. It took me a little while to get into the story and the writing style and I found myself quickly being distracted in the first part of the book. However it was worth perservering and I did enjoy it on th whole.
Set in the Kent countryside in a senior cpomplex converted from an old convent. The descriptions of the settings and the characters is excellent. I also liked the different writing styles as the story is told from different perspectives. Like above mentioned authors, the plot is based on a series of coincidences, but is nevertheless quite entertaining . The "Murder Club" are quite an amazing bunch, though it is probably stretching the realms of credibility that the police officers involve them so much in the case. This gives the impression that the police are not really up to scratch, relying on a group of OAP's, who no doubt have a wealth of life experience, but are certainly not crime solving experts.
A good read certainly and I hope to catch up with this group again . If you are looking for a crime thriller, this is not for you but if you want an entertaining and sometimes comical read , I hope you will enjoy this.
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Elizabeth, Joyce Ron and Ibrahim are friends in an up market retirement village. Once a week they meet to apply their minds to unsolved murders. Pretty soon one takes place almost on their doorstep, a builder who worked with the developer to build their village is bludgeoned to death. They would like to beat the police to solving this one. They are entertaining characters and the plot is complex so it will keep you intrigued. Its a good read and I look forward to further stories - they would make a good TV series.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman a truly hilarious five-star read. I love a story about older people as they always make me smile so much, I spend the majority of my life in a place similar to the setting of this story, so I knew I would enjoy it, what I didn’t expect was to enjoy it so much. The character descriptions in this story bring everyone to life, they are smart and clever individuals and the plot is well done. There are enough twists and turns that it will hook you and keep you hooked, but they are well done and plotted so you can easily follow and fall for, especially the false leads. If you like a good mystery then don’t miss this one, I would recommend this to everyone especially those who don’t normally pick up ‘celebrity authors’ as this is so much better than that.

The first member of The Thursday Murder Club we encounter is Joyce Meadowcroft. She used to be a nurse and is thus the perfect person for Elizabeth to consult about how long it would take a person who has been stabbed to bleed out. Details of where and how are exchanged and Joyce confirms that it would have taken about forty-five minutes and that the victim could have been saved if she'd received prompt medical help. It didn't put Joyce off her shepherd's pie (which tells us that it was a Monday) but it does get her interested in The Thursday Murder Club. They meet each Thursday (as you might have guessed) in the Jigsaw Room at Coopers Chase Retirement Village.

Elizabeth lives in one of the three-bed flats in Larkin Court with Stephen, her third husband. She prefers not to be too specific about what her job used to be, but you get a sniff of derring-do and the Official Secrets Act. She's the leading light in the Club now that Penny (formerly a detective inspector) is in a coma in the Willows nursing home. Ibrahim Arif is the oldest and used to be a psychiatrist: he's certainly got all his marbles at home (he lives in Wordsworth, by the way) and is a considerable fount of knowledge. The fourth member of the club, now that Joyce has joined, is Ron Ritchie, former trade union leader and father of celebrity boxer, Jason Ritchie. His great skill is bluster and being senile to order.

The club used to look at cold cases to see if anything had been missed. Penny had all the files, but please don't say anything about that as she really shouldn't have them after she left the police. Then there's a murder on their doorstep: Tony Curran, who was delighted with his home (a house built on hard work, on making the right choices, cutting the right corners and backing his own talent) and where he is in life has just been sacked by Ian Ventham, the part-owner of Coopers Chase. He's then bludgeoned to death in his kitchen. And that won't be the last death.

Richard Osman catches old age mercilessly, but with humour. A computer expert was going to come and talk to the residents about tablets, but the message had to be recirculated as most of the residents couldn't understand what computers had to do with their tablets. You'll laugh - and then you'll be on the verge of tears as a widower rests alone on a bench where he and his wife used to sit. All the residents are conscious that they either have lost someone dear to them or could do with little warning, but there's still an extraordinary zest for life that was good to see.

OK - it's cosy crime, but it's cosy crime at its wonderful best. The police would never get involved with a group of pensioners as they do in The Thursday Murder Club (well - I hope they wouldn't!) but get over it. You're reading this for pleasure and PC Donna de Freitas and DCI Chris Hudson are great value for money as they puff (in Chris's case, quite literally) along in Elizabeth's wake. It's a fun read but with one of the best cosy-crime plots I've read. I finished the book all too quickly and was nowhere near guessing who was the villain. I normally try to avoid reading books by television presenters (they're often over-hyped and underwritten) but I had an advantage here: I've never seen Pointless so I didn't swerve away and - thank heavens. This is a book I really wouldn't like to have missed. I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.

Hoped I would enjoy this as it was written by Richard Osman, but I found it very tedious and not to my liking.
Thanks to Netgalley for A.R.C.

I ADORED this book. As crime dramas go it’s more ‘Grantchester’ than ‘Line of Duty’ – but that was just perfect.

The central character OAPs are a diverse bunch who each bring skills from their younger lives to the team – Elizabeth has some mysterious espionage background, Joyce was a nurse, Ibrahim a psychiatrist, and Ron a union firebrand. Their relationship with Chris and Donna – the police in charge of the investigation – is hilarious, Elizabeth is the Queen of manipulation – and everyone ends up doing what she wants.

There are red herrings aplenty – and coincidences galore – but that all makes for a twisty turny read that I couldn’t put down.

I started highlighting sentences that I loved – but realised I’d end up having most of the book highlighted – so here are just a couple to give you a flavour:

“After a certain age, you can pretty much do whatever takes your fancy. No one tells you off, except for your doctors and your children.” This was very early on in the book and rang incredibly true, particularly following the recent lockdown – where I, and a number of friends, have had to deal with septuagenarian parents who think we are totally unreasonable for discounting ‘popping to get a paper’ as an essential journey and thus telling them off!

“I haven’t been to Ashford International, but I doubt a station would have ‘International’ in its name and not have an M&S.” This is just so British – and I could hear my late Nan saying something exactly like this! In the 1980s – so when there were far less mini M&Ss around – my Grandfather got my Nan to walk to the top of the Long Mynd in Shropshire by promising her there was an M&S at the top!

Whilst there are murders, there is also a lot of humour and laugh out loud moments. There are also some really tender and emotional moments between the characters – and some big stuff is dealt with too – dementia, suicide, euthanasia, family relationships – but all done in a lovely way.

It’s funny, clever, quick witted – and you can almost hear Richard Osman saying some of the lines. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book where the personality of the writer is so personified in the way it’s written – but as a fan that doesn’t bother me (however if you don’t like Mr Osman, maybe don’t bother reading it!?)

The only slight bug bear is that the formatting is a bit weird – and mid paragraph you could jump scene from, say, the retirement village to the police station. Initially I thought this might have been a clever ploy to keep the reader on their toes and potentially stave off dementia – but suspect that more likely it’s because it was a proof copy and this will be sorted before the book is actually released!

But aside from this – I thoroughly enjoyed this fabulous book – and I’m chuffed that it’s the start of a series. I can not wait to see what the Thursday Murder Club get up to next.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy – I will be singing The Thursday Murder Club’s praises far and wide!

This is a gentle detective story, based in a luxury retirement village and about the friendship between some of the inhabitants, who form the Thursday Murder Club. Their initial aim is to try to solve cold cases, but when a murder occurs in their village, they feel the police need a hand to solve it, especially when a few more unexplained deaths come to light. I really enjoyed the growing relationship between Elizabeth and PC Donna, and how everything tied up at the end. A highly recommended read.

Thanks to Netgalley for an a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Took me a long time to get going with this book but in the end I'm glad I kept on as it was a hugely enjoyable read. An interesting setting in the retirement village with the main characters being the residents - the Thursday Murder Club!

I hope this becomes a series as I'd really like to read more of their adventures.

This book was a breath of warm spring air! I loved it from the first page until the last! The four main characters were indeed characters, each in their own right! Elizabeth a mixture of Hyacinth Bouquet and Vera., Red Ron a slightly watered down Arthur Scargill, Ibriham well one on his own, wise but charismatic and then good old Joyce who everyone loves! As a team they were deeply motivated, hilarious, empathetic and up for anything! However, this Club becomes involved in a real life murder which brings out the best in them all!. Compassion and kindness is encompassed in the conclusion which envoked tears from this reader. The storyline did become a little complicated towards the end but certainly didn’t spoil the outcome and I have already recommended this book to several friends! More please!

The Thursday Murder Club is a bit of a mixed bag. The positives are the characters and the setting. It was quite different to anything I’d read before and I adored the 4 main characters of Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron. If this turns out to be a series, and I suspect it will, I’d read more because I would be keen to carry on with them. The retirement village setting was very different and led to lovely bits of humour. At times there sections of real emotion too and I did shed a tear at points.

Strangely for a murder mystery that I enjoyed, though, the mystery let the book down. I just didn’t really care. It seemed to kind of bumble on, but almost got in the way of the main characters and the aspects of the book I was enjoying.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were all so different and most of them really likeable. I loved Joyce and Elizabeth, I would really like to read more about them. And I hope this is just the beginning and that theres more to come.

What a lovely book. A complete joy to read - all of the sparkling wit and clever insights that we know from Osman, and some truly laugh out loud moments that make every chapter so much fun.
A set of elderly amateur detectives set out to solve a very real crime that is committed right in their doorstop - a poignant exploration of grief, ageing, and friendship in a cast of truly loveable characters.
Hugely recommended. Five stars.

What a lovely murder mystery. I'm not sure if this would come under the cosy genre, but it is a tale of a bunch of elderly sleuths in a retirement village in the south of England. Joyce is invited to join the Thursday Murder Club by Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a vibrant, can do, enigmatic layd who has a cloudy past and she "knows" people. Joyce and Elizabeth are joined by Ron and Ibrahim and together they look at cold cases held by a previous member of the group, Penny, who has sadly succumbed to the scourge of old age. That is until they have a real life murder on their doorstep and the amateur team sink their teeth into it like a dog with a bone.
I loved the characterisation and this is a genuinely laugh out loud funny book. I hope there will be more tales from the Village.

A wonderfully charming book.
It's as if Midsomer Murders had a crossover with Waiting for God.

Richard Osman has a great way with words and his characters are an absolute joy.
This might be a murder mystery but it's also a lot more than that. It's a story about people, about relationships and about ageing.

It's in stark contrast to most mysteries and despite having more twists and tuns than a corkscrew it is a cosy alternative to the thrillers you might normally stumble across.
Highly enjoyable.

A complete joy to read, I loved it!

An unlikely group of octogenarians have formed a murder club in their retirement village. Old files from one of their fellow residents whom had served as a police officer form the starting point of their investigations. As new skills are developed and bonds tighten a real murder or two are committed and the crew get to business.

Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim and Ron, all in their later years but all with rich stories of their early lives and some very particulate skill sets between them. There are stories within stories here and they flowed off the page with intellect and humour.

I rarely give 5 stars but this book deserves it! Highly recommend and looking forward to book 2 already!

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman's, (yes that Richard Osman), his first crime novel, was a good old fashioned English village whodunnit, and as Osman's debut novel the plot was far from 'Pointless'. Not so much murder at the vicarage, more murder at the former convent, that had now been converted to a luxury retirement home.
The Thursday Murder Club were founded by a retired police inspector to solve cold cases, but then murder occurs on their doorstep, and these self-styled third age detectives are not about to step aside and let the police have all of the glory of solving this one.
Far removed from plausible police procedurals that we have become accustomed to in these enlightened times, it's a step back to traditional entertainment of a murder mystery, when the sleuths take a bow to a rousing round of applause when the culprit(s) have been banged to rights.
I found it a breath of fresh air from my normally darker reading journeys into the crime drama. I'm interested to see what Mr Osman is going to come up with next.

I was very much looking forward to reading this book...and I was not disappointed. I thought the setting for the novel - a retirement village - was a great choice, and I liked the way Osman wove the challenges and joys of getting older into the story. Although this is a murder mystery, a lot of the book is about how the characters develop and interact with one another, which made it very believable and drew me into the story. (Fans of Elizabeth is Missing and Three Things About Elsie will enjoy this.) I would definitely recommend this book, and really hope Osman will write another.

James here ( @james_reads_books on Instagram)

Well. This was a good ‘un. I absolutely raced through the advance proof of this crime mystery I managed to get my hands on. I was DESPERATE to chat about it. especially when I thought my favourite character might be the culprit- the ideal buddy read....

The story follows four residents of a luxury retirement village who investigate cold police cases every Thursday in the Jigsaw Room - Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim and most recently Joyce.

In their former lives they were a psychologist, social justice campaigner, nurse and well no one knows quite what Elizabeth did - but if you found out she’d probably have to kill you.

They really get a chance to test their skills when a murder occurs, practically on their doorstep.

This is packed with humour and wry observations on modern life, but equally looks at the human condition and there are moments of real emotional heft in the story.

The cast of characters crackle with life and you will fall for them all in different ways, including the police officers they railroad - excuse me, befriend - along the way and all the other residents they utilise to help them.

This was a treat from start to finish and will be one I return to time and again just to spend time with such a lovely bunch of characters. The turns of phrase and the sheer Britishness of Osman’s humour is sure to be a balm in these troubled times. If Victoria Wood had written cozy crime, this would surely have been the result.

This simply must be the first in a series or I will probably explode.

Advance copy provided in exchange for an honest review

A retirement complex in a peaceful village location makes an unlikely setting for a murder, and four octogenarians make an even unlikelier team of investigators. This novel had me hooked from its first chapters as I wondered what crime the four members of the Thursday Murder Club, friends Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might possibly solve by poring over old police procedurals. It is not long, however, before a fresh murder is committed on their doorstep that the four friends get to investigate together with the local police.

The narrative switches between a general narrator and Joyce’s diary entries which means there are occasional breaks in the ‘flow’ of the story, and some of the police investigative methods also seemed a tad unlikely, but these are very minor points in what is an engaging plot with a cast of believable, likeable characters. I particularly liked the fact that Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron shatter ‘old age’ stereotypes with their combination of energy, wit and powers of deduction. PC Donna de Freitas, who is just starting out in her police career, is another warmly drawn character. Full of comical moments, the novels nevertheless addresses some big issues of our times such as assisted suicide and mental health issues.

Having delivered so much, I was delighted to find that The Thursday Murder Club is the first of a planned series of books. I thoroughly look forward to my next encounter with Osman’s literary protagonists and wish to thank the publishers’, Viking, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for this honest, unbiased review.

I was really looking forward to this book and I was not disappointed. I found it charming that the idea for this book came from the authors visit to a retirement home. Once I had come to terms with the method used by the author to tell the story I began to enjoy it immensely.
The main characters were brought to life with understanding for the older generation and humour The humour through the book was fairly understated and I could accept a little more as I enjoyed this different aspect to a murder/mystery.
I thought the plot was believable and the twists acceptable and I do hope this is not a one off!
I cannot wait to read this authors next book
Definitely an enjoyable read