I wasn't sure about reading this book. TV presenter turned writer, for me, doesn't usually work. I love a good cozy style mystery though- and that was what this sounded like, so I thought I'd give it a chance. I'm so glad I did. It's clever, witty and drew me in from the first page.

Loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Sometimes, it's nice to pick up a book that does exactly what it says on the tin. And The Thursday Murder Club does just that, delivering a nice, gentle murder mystery. It's the Death in Paradise approach to crime fiction.

I enjoyed the fun cast of characters, and the world of Coopers Chase is drawn with just the right amount of sarcasm. Osman has a wonderfully light-hearted tone, although I found the humour was too often used as mask for convenient revelations, a cover-up for the action happening off-screen. It is also perhaps a little too over-ambitious in its scope, and things get quite convoluted towards the end.

The Thursday Murder Club a quaint and cosy read, and despite its flaws, it has enough charm to hold wide appeal.

Wow, what a read. Distractions, double distractions, red herrings and older people, a brilliant combination., not forgetting the police, drugs and other crimes involved.
A great plot, laugh out loud moments, sniggering and sadness too.
The author has retirement living so well defined, did he live in one himself to experience the characters and their surroundings!
On a personal note, having a 95 year old mother in an independent living community, and being a volunteer gardener at an older person's home, I recognised all of these characters.
Cannot wait to read the next instalment, bring it on.

Richard Osman is a very likeable English TV personality and I always enjoy his gentle humour. That’s why this book appealed to me. It took a little while to get going. I’m not sure what I expected from him. Essentially, it’s a good whodunnit with lots of interesting characters, although I felt that some of them became caricatures, e.g. Bogdan, the Polish handyman (who kept morphing into Borat in my head!). There was probably one too many strands to the storyline so it didn’t always flow smoothly but it kept my interest throughout and even had me welling up at one point. It’s quite twee in a way that only an English writer could achieve and not quite as funny as I had hoped. I did enjoy it though and I would definitely read his next book, if he writes one.

I've long admired Richard Osman on 'Pointless' and have read some of the non-fiction quiz/humour books that he has written with Alexander Armstrong. I was, therefore, very keen to see this wit and verve applied to fiction and am very grateful to NetGalley for my ARC.

The story follows four older people living in a retirement village who have, for various reasons, come together to discuss cold crimes in their Thursday Murder Club. When a murder happens connected to the developers working on the retirement home , they are keen to launch their own investigations. Due to their connections and wiliness, they start to run rings around the nice but two-steps-behind police officers assigned to the case.

I really liked that these characters were not diminished by their age and infirmity. Some of them had ailments and frailty, but they were also mentally tough and funny and clever and - to be honest - trying to live their best life in retirement. They drew on their years of experience and the professional skills from their former careers and achieved a lot. The mystery surrounding Elizabeth's past career was an interesting conceit and allowed the amateur detectives access to important information, while the willingness of them all to play on the stereotypes of infirm old people was humorous - they absolutely knew when to use their age to their advantage! The setting was also inventive and drew on the conventions of classic crime novels by providing a closed community for the sleuths to work within.

I wasn't really prepared for some of the poignancy of the novel. It has some very funny lines and situations, but it is also sad in parts about ageing and grief. This really adds depth to the novel and -I will admit - really surprised me.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and fairly light read. I was going to say it was a cosy crime novel, but I think the depth of the emotional hit removes it from this - these are a bunch of real people with real problems, but who are finding comfort in community and crime-solving!

Richard Osman’s first novel is as delightful as it is unexpected.

Writing a crime novel didn’t seem like the obvious next thing for Richard Osman to do, and I always get a little nervous when celebrities turn their hands to something outside their previous career. Are they just being published because they’re famous?

Well that’s absolutely not the case hear because this is a thoroughly entertaining crime novel set in the confines of a rural upmarket retirement home. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron meet each Thursday in the jigsaw room of their retirement village, where they “reopen” unsolved cases and attempt to solve. Using their mix of special skills – particularly Elizabeth’s, who’s backstory is especially intriguing – they turn their minds to things that may have been overlooked at the time.

So when there’s a local murder that seems to implicate people in and around the retirement home, our plucky quartet, reluctantly aided and abetted by a couple of local police detectives, set about to discover what’s happening.

We’re introduced to a tale of dubious delevopers, Kentish drug dealers, mysterious priests and much more.
But while this is all told with great humour, there’s also a very real side to a group of people who live in a home where residents suffer from all kinds of ailments, not least dementia. And this book doesn’t shy away from those things. It’s all very deftly handled by the author.

Given a writer who’s background is so versed in television from production to presenting, there are numerous little jokes relating to television, and daytime television in particular, along with the more expected humour that comes from the elderly tackling various elements of contemporary society.

This book could easily set up a series of crimes tackled by our fearless foursome, or it may be a standalone. I really liked meeting them, and hope that this is the former.

Recommended.

Thanks to the NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Despite this book's subject being murder (well, several murders as it happens) it is incredibly warm, witty and clever - as you might expect from Richard Osman.

The plot revolves around a group of people living in a luxury retirement complex (swimming pool, pilates classes and a "contemporary upscale restaurant"). Elizabeth (former spy), Ibrahim (psychiatrist), Ron (former trade union leader) and new recruit Joyce (former nurse) are in a weekly club to investigate 'cold cases', which had been provided by fellow resident and former DI Penny, now sadly too far along the dementia path to play any part herself. This theoretical case work is interrupted by a very real murder and naturally the team investigate, using all their skills, experience and knowledge to outwit both the suspects and the police.

This might sound twee but it isn't! The story is complex and sophisticated, there are red herrings galore, side stories and so many surprising reveals. It's also quite emotional towards the end. But it's the characters who make this book come to life. Not just the Thursday Club members; the two main police characters Chris and Donna are absolutely brilliant - you can feel their friendship and their frustration. The politics of the retirement complex are, er, complex and we are treated to the viciousness of the Parking Liaison Committee, the rivalry between Knit & Natter and Chat & Crochet, and the Bowls Club's disciplinary hearings. The old folk may not be up on modern technology - an unused iPad seems to lie in a drawer in almost every apartment - but they are certainly treated with well-deserved respect and courtesy.

When reading an e-book I often highlight bits I particularly like, but had to stop when I realised I was highlighting something on every page. Here are a few examples:
"The Black Bridge is now a gastropub called Le Pont Noir"
"It would have been the most uncomfortable chair that Chris had ever sat in, had he not just made the flight to Cyprus on Ryanair"
"I'm afraid I don't know WTF. I only discovered LOL from Joyce last week"

I look forward to reading the next installment of the Thursday Murder Club, and perhaps seeing it on air at some point in the future!

An upmarket retirement village. What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty. Secrets abound. Nasty piece of work manager/owner Ian has a not-so-secret disagreement with equally pleasant Tony. When Tony is found dead shortly afterwards, who do the police come looking for?

PC Donna encounters the unbelievably resourceful gang of Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim - the Thursday Murder Club. Try stopping that lot from getting involved....

Laugh out loud funny, absolutely delightful characters and an ending you don't see coming.

This is an utter joy. You won't want to put it down. Ever.

I’m often wary of celebrity debut novels but I thought I’d give this a go. It takes place largely in a retirement village where several non-clichéd elderly people set out to solve a murder in their midst. The village is set on the site of an old convent with its peaceful Garden of Eternal Rest which is earmarked for development. There are secrets, sins and even crime hidden there amongst the sisterly gravestones, and someone has killed to prevent the truth from coming out.
The characters are well-drawn, affectionately so in some cases. From the team of two police investigators to the gang of friends in the village, we have some memorable and different people to contend with. There was plenty of mystery and, to be honest, in the case of the second murder, anyone could have done it. He wasn’t a popular man!
This is a lovely example of British Cosy Crime and I enjoyed it very much. I particularly enjoyed the sections written in the form of a diary by one of the residents, chatty, a little scatty but with the ability to notice what was going on. It’s an utterly entertaining read.

Richard Osman's first novel, as one would expect, is a bit of a puzzle. It's a gentle, old-fashioned whodunnit, with not one but two murders to solve and many intricate twists and turns before revelations are made, right at the end.

Set in a fictional southern seaside town (Worthing or Frinton come to mind), the biggest twist is that the team setting out to solve the mysteries is a group of 70 and 80-somethings living in an upmarket retirement village. This is where most of the comedy comes from. There's the requisite slow detective, his much smarter (younger, female) sidekick, and a lovely cast of motley characters from the criminal class.

Chapters alternate between one of the team's diary and a general narrator. It's well done, with a huge amount of love and nostalgia for years gone by and forensic detail on the differences between UK supermarket brands.

I really enjoyed reading it. Great summertime reading.

I wished for this book and I got it so thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.
The blurb people can read for themselves so I won't state the obvious. Calling this book a "cosy" I can see why but it's not a term I appreciate. This book (and other so called cosies too) are often a mixture of lightweight and darkness. Whilst there are no graphic and gory descriptions of corpses and brutal violence is kept to the fact that a murder has happened and the mechanism of same, darkness arises from the human emotions from injustice and heart break that cause catastrophic events. Calling books "cosies" often underestimates strength of character writing and plot devices
If you know Richard Osman you will hear his voice as you read the book. The language, the writing structure are very much "him" This does actually enhance rather than detract from the book. It's not what you call "fast paced" but then it would be wrong if it were. The characters are formed with skill and a gentleness that belies their inner steel. They should never be underestimated!. The writing style I enjoyed very much, pathos and humour combined and at times I could hear a touch of Alan Bennett. . Elizabeth is a real power house and I hope we learn more about her background in subsequent books, There are some quite dark areas that could be explored here I feel I loved the interactions between the 4 main characters and the DCI and PC. There was banter but also a respect.
My one gripe? This is an ARC so I am sure will be sorted out prior to publication date- there needed to be breaks in the narrative at appropriate points. In some instances we were with the 4 residents and then the next sentence we were in the police station with the DCI and PC- this made for slightly confusing reading as you did a double take and realised that you were in a different location- so less stream of consciousness please.
The part that takes place in Cyprus didn't seem to fit at first but on finishing the book I can see why it actually does work.
A very entertaining read that I really enjoyed and hope it becomes the first in a series 4.5 stars

This book was brilliant. Funny, smart, intriguing (insert superlatives here). I thought it was just excellent basically.
The plotting was clever, the characters very enjoyable, all the little side narratives added and not subtracted from the main plot, building a more complete world.
I really hope this is the start of a series with the Thursday Murder Club solving as many crimes as possible.

This was such a sweet read, I loved that it cantered around an old people’s’ care home and the ladies especially were very funny and devious in their methods for getting information out of people and even the police.
It was an easy book to read, although at times I got confused with all the different characters. Mr Osman’s way of writing took a bit of getting used to but, I got into the rhythm of this book quite quickly. I do hope that he writes more books as I would definitely read them!!!
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I was snobbishly expecting to hate this book, but I loved it. It's a light-hearted murder mystery, but the entertaining characters, and rollicking story make this a real page-turner. just the sort of story to while away a quiet afternoon, and it would make a great television series.

4 friends in a residential home have a ‘Thursday Murder Club’ to discuss cold cases. Now a murder in their sleepy village brings their clubs skills closer to home.
A light hearted, gentle paced read.

It was hilarious. I particularly laughed at the Japanese opera joke, and the bit about Chris, crammed in on the sofa, unable to think straight after a while. So he lets something slip that he is not supposed to, professionally. Very sad in parts, as well, but more than made up for by the comedy. A sparkling tale, full of fun.

As a huge fan of RIchard Osman, I was so excited to be able to read this novel via NetGalley. It started off quite slowly, and I began to worry that I was not going to enjoy it. However, I quickly got caught up in the stories of the four friends living in the Coopers Chase retirement village who have formed the Thursday Murder Club. Enjoying trying to solve cold cases, their lives are enlivened somewhat by a real life murder in their vicinity. Whilst a very British and gentle crime story, there are also moments of true pathos in the novel which, alongside an engrossing tale of murders, is also a sensitive and empathetic look at getting old. Can’t wait to read the group’s next adventure.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy of this book. As a fan of crime fiction I was curious about this novel. Given the author’s background, I wondered whether his writing would meet my expectations as a few crime novels I have read written by television celebrities have been disappointing. However, within the first few pages I realised my fears were groundless. As no point throughout this novel would you ever realise it is a first novel. Unlike a previous crime novel I had recently read, nothing in this book was over plotted, there was no massive explosion heaped on top of us, no “here’s everything you ever need to know about the characters, including their favourite colour” wasting the narrative. Instead, there is a confidence and joviality in the writing style. We are told what we need to know when we need to know it -discovering who the characters are and what makes them unique as we read. I didn’t have a clue how it would all end and that was refreshing. Overall, an excellent novel from a witty, clever and skilful writer. Can’t wait to read book 2.

With thanks to Netgalley, Penguin General U.K.- Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Penguin Life, Penguin Business for a digital copy of this book.
‘It is hard work writing a novel’, writes Richard Osman in his acknowledgments. It is probably even harder if your fame lies elsewhere and you carry a huge weight of readers’ expectation based on that other fame. Undoubtedly I chose this book in part because of its author, although I’m a huge fan of ‘gentler’ crime/detective fiction. So did my expectations colour my reading -inevitably! The Thursday Murder Club is a group of older residents of a residential complex who meet up on a Thursday -because that’s when the room is available - to try and solve old murder cases. They are an unlikely group who base their friendship on a mutual talent for forensic detection. Then a real murder happens nearby and, being bored in God’s waiting room, they pool their talents to ‘assist’ the police with frequently comic results. The book started a little slowly but as the writing gained confidence the comedy was tighter - laugh out loud moments as the club gain the upper hand over the police, - and the plotting sharper. In his acknowledgments Osman refers to two ‘great rules’ of crime writing but does not divulge what these are. For me one rule is that unraveling the crime should be as satisfying as setting it up and not lead to a damp squib at the end. One murder follows another but then there are other bodies - this is a multifaceted, multilayered crime which requires considerable and satisfying unraveling and real storytelling at its heart. Osman writes that he hopes that ‘amongst other things, there is a sense of kindness and justice running through The Thursday Murder Club’ and I think it is these qualities that set the writing apart from other novels. Frequently the humour is directed at the oldies but the laughter feels with them rather than at their expense -at the airport Chris remarks on Ron carrying a stick for the first time, Ron replies, ‘If you’ve got a stick they let you on the plane first’. I greatly look forward to a further outing for the Murder Club

The Thursday murder club in the past has discussed old cases from perloined files (we won’t ask how) but now has a real murder to deal with. The members Ibrahim, Joyce, Elizabeth and Ron all live in a retirement community and secretly meet under the guise of “Japanese opera- a discussion” to ward off any unwanted attention. Each has their own life story and interesting background- “Everyone has a story to tell” and tellit they do. Cooper's chase has been built by a partnership where one partner is using the business as a front for other things and one knows he is in danger from the other. Ian Ventham is the main man and is very much disliked by the residents as he only has his pockets to watch caring very little about anything or anyone else. Tony Curren is the one Ian is worried about as he is about to sack him and there may be consequences. This is a cozy mystery with a difference. Richard's sense of humour is wonderful “ Not a single person was ever late for the bus journey home, only Malcolm as he had died in the light bulb aisle of Robert Dyas”. Setting this in a retirement home is genius as there is the devil-may-care attitude of octogenarians who really don;t care what others think of them or even what they do - in some cases only just this side of the law. It also means that there are life experiences and wonderful well rounded characters with a zest for life and caring for others. A wonderful uplifting tonic of a book- loved it!
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