I didn't finish this book as I didn't really get into the story. Thanks for letting me review this book.

I enjoyed every page of this. How refreshing to read a story with an older cast of characters where they are treated as individuals and with no hint of condescension. I can't wait for the next one.

This was a great, fun read. I loved getting to know the different characters and their quirks. The Thursday Murder Club was set up by a group of elderly people living in a retirement village with the aim of looking at unsolved cases. However, when a murder takes place close by, they decide to try to solve the case. A very clever murder mystery with lots of laugh out loud moments. Thank you to Richard Osman, Net Galley and Penguin Group Viking For an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a surprise and a half.

I like Richard Osman very much as a television host: he is funny, charming, knowledgeable, good-hearted.

When I heard he was writing a crime story I shook my head. Famous people writing detective fiction is always a terrible idea. Either they get a ghost writer – in which case it isn’t their book, see Gypsy Rose Lee and the rather splendid G-string murders (and great photos in the post of GRL herself) – Craig Rice is assumed to have written hers. But if they insist on writing their own, famous people write dire books.

No names, but I have read and tut-tutted at crime books by many people who think they must be able to do it – including some writers of literary fiction. Well: one name. Someone who may be able to write a Booker Prize winner, but doesn’t do good crime.

I recently read John Banville’s Snow, and complained afterwards that the detective was incompetent and did no detecting. The person I said this to replied that there were next to no murders in Ireland in the 1950s, so the poor fictional policeman would have had no experience. Fair comment I suppose. I had had a mixed reaction to his previous book – on the blog here, it’s the one with the important link to the Chalet School – but Snow was horrible, predictable, lazy and shoddy and appeared not to have been edited at all. (Where did that girl go to school? How old was she?) For me, it failed on every level. Nice cover though.

Back to Richard Osman. Next I heard was that this book was a ‘funny’ crime story, about old people solving crimes, set in a retirement village, and was the first of a series. Oh dear oh dear, I thought. This is awful news. Comedy crime is the most dreadful thing in 99% of cases.



But obviously I had to read the book, and – you can see this coming can’t you? – it was absolutely marvellous, I loved it. It is funny, clever, a real crime story and a real book. Maybe the plot is a bit too elaborate, and my goodness there are a lot of people and events to keep track of, but it is a wonderful story, with a lot to say about modern life. It has great observations, thoughtful comments, wonderful characters, tremendous jokes, and a strain of gentle melancholy.

‘Mine was the risk of a young man and hers was the risk of a young woman, and that was a greater risk in those days wasn’t it?’

Honestly it is a joy: clever and good-hearted but realistic. (There are elements that are not realistic – a tremendous character with a secretive background who can do anything and drops hints about her past – but only in a really good way, I can forgive that character anything.) And it’s impressively full of good faith on the subject of love that can last a long long time...

‘Love, John,’ says Joyce. ‘Aways love.’

Daft and deft as one of the reviews said. It is not cozy, whatever you hear, but it does have goodness at heart:

'God save us from window locks, WPC De Freitas.’

‘It’s just PC now,’ says Donna.

‘I see,’ says Elizabeth, lips pursing. ‘And what happens if I still choose to say WPC? Will there be a warrant for my arrest?’

‘No, but I’ll think a bit less of you,’ says Donna, ‘Because it’s a really simple thing to do, and it’s more respectful to me.’

‘Damn! Checkmate. OK,’ says Elizabeth, and unpurses her lips.

And there is a nice unexpected twist in the relationship between the two coppers. And throwaways like this:

There was a proper exodus. Though not a quick exodus, because you know that getting out of a garden chair at our age is a military operation. Once you are in one, you can be in it for the day.



It’s going to be a series – of course – and you can see there would be endless possibilities for the setup, and I will happily read a book a year about the Thursday Murder Club for as long as Richard Osman wants to write them. (I’ll be buying that before I buy the next John Banville crime novel, that’s for sure.)

An amazing number of adverts for retirement villages turn up at my house, so it was easy to find a leaflet to photograph.

***ADDED LATER I found an excuse to add this boast-y story! Richard Osman presents a quiz programme called Richard's House of Games on UK TV. In a recent episode, players were being offered possibly false answers. One of them concerned the murder weapon used to kill Maybelle in the slightly obscure Agatha Christie short story The Bird with the Broken Wing. After a few seconds thought I said to my partner 'that's not right - she was strangled with a ukelele string'. He was strangely unimpressed, but I think that was pretty good going...

Delicious, reminded me of winters long ago watching black and white films. Arsenic and Old Lace, The Lavender Hill Mob. But No, that makes Richard Osman's book sound old fashioned. It's not it's very 21st Century. It's hard to define Englishness, but that is a word that springs to mind. Gentle humour, a well worked, essentially believable plot, set in the Garden of England, Kent. Ordinary and extraordinary happenings, and and around a retirement village. A brilliantly detailed set of characters, and enough secrets to keep every reader guessing.
I'm already looking out for the next outing of the "Thursday Murder Club".

In a wee but fabulous retirement village a quartet of friends meet everything Thursday for "The Thursday Murder Club". They look at old unsolved crimes, go through them, debate, speculate and investigate. When a murder happens right on their doorstep - its practically fate for the club, isn't it? A new copper PC Donna De Freitas goes to give a chat to the elderly folks and ends up getting more than she bargained for. Involving themselves in the investigation and making pals with the cops the unlikely gang set to pulling their resources and manipulating the police to get the answers they need to try and discover "who done it?"

We get introduced to the characters, their personalities, their quirks/stereotypes/opinions and who they are and how they gel together despite their differences. The retirement village sounds a lovely wee place to end up in, especially with amateur sleuths and how sharp they are with their insights.

A murder, secrets, lies, friendship - this is an absolute wee cozy crime reads. It also has some humour laced throughout and if you like a wee crime story but not too heavy and with bigger focus on relationships and group/personality dynamics you will love this. Book one in a series, I liked this, few wee surprises and wee flashes of emotives in it, I look forward to the next one, 3.5/5 for me!

A crime fiction set in a retirement village and with the main investigators who are pushing 80 years of age? You read that right! Crime fiction has for long been about adrenaline rush and action, but what Richard Osman has done with his debut book is turn that around and how! Four elderly residents meet every Thursday to work on cold cases but along comes a murder that sets of a trail of bodies and how things get revealed in terms of the characters and bits and pieces of their back stories and who they are on one hand and how the investigations goes on is the crux of this book.

There is a leisurely pace to how the characters work their way around the narrative with their professional experiences aided by their wisdom of how people can all be different but at the end of the day open up to an attentive ear and an open heart. Each of the four main protagonists reveal shades that keeps the readers intrigued by them as much as the murder investigations proceeds further.

It is a total entertainer: you will be left chuckling away at the subtle and at times deadpan humour that the characters bring to you when they narrate the story by turns. The way in which they worm their way around by inserting themselves into being kept updated with how the police investigations go on is something that sets the tone of how the narrative unfolds. Their feisty nature in the way they live with tumults in their lives bring just the right balance to emotionally connect with readers.The manner they remain unflappable as they discuss how likely they could have murdered someone and why was a total scream for me. Can't wait for the Spielberg film adaptation and the next book in the series.

I absolutely loved this book and I noticed book 2 is coming next year!
I loved the characters and their sense of humour. Who knew that a murder club could be so much fun.

‘The Thursday Murder Club’ is almost exactly what I imagined it would be like. Written for by Richard Osman, who is best known for being inoffensively witty and clever on the BBC game show ‘Pointless’, it is inoffensive, witty, clever and pointless. A lot of it is very good, it’s sweet without being saccharine and often very funny. I chuckled enough reading it that my wife kept asking me what I was reading. Unfortunately, as a crime novel it’s far less successful.
The setting is good and well used. The book takes place in an up-market retirement village, Coopers Chase, in rural Kent, and focuses on four of the residents. Joyce (formerly a nurse), Ron (notorious trade unionist), Ibrahim (psychiatrist) and Elizabeth (spy), collectively form the Thursday Murder Club of the title. Meeting weekly, they pore over cold cases from the files of ex-police officer Penny, a former member of the club. When someone they know is killed, they naturally start investigating. Aided in time by two local cops, Donna (a young constable) and Chris (a middle aged detective), they gradually work through a series of interwoven mysteries.
What’s great about the book is how funny it is. The writing sparkles with wit, a mix of clever word play, amusing observations, and brilliantly handled character studies. All of the people in it believable and well written, and the way Osman plays them off against each other is often a delight, It’s no surprise that the film rights were sold quickly (to Steven Spielberg, no less and I had fun casting the movie in my head as I read the book.
As noted at the start though, as a mystery novel it’s a bit of a damp squib. Despite the body count (which grows over time), it’s far too cosy and nice to ever be gripping. That possibly wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t feel so by the numbers. The majority of the characters have secrets which cause them to do shifty things which just happen to coincide in some way with the crimes and make them suspects. There are so many red herrings that it all starts to whiff a bit after a while. It’s like Osman is following a “how to write a whodunnit” guide he found on Buzzfeed.
Fortunately, the stuff that’s good about the book is enough to keep it entertaining and readable. The characters are lovely, it’s consistently amusing and its meditations on ageing, whilst not that original, at least ring true. Readers who aren’t as much of a crime buff as I am will probably be more forgiving than me.

I’m not generally a fan of books written by celebrities but I am a fan of Richard Osman and was convinced to read this when I read an interview with him where he discussed the writing of the book.

Osman has written a clever, entertaining and twisty murder mystery with plenty of red herrings and developments to keep us guessing. The setting, in a residential and care home, is a change of pace and the characters are all well written. As you would expect from Osman, the story has plenty of humour.

All in all, this is a fun and enjoyable read and I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out.

This book was an enjoyable read after all.
I didn't watch Richard Osman on TV, or don't know much about him, but he certainly can write :)

This is a cozy whodunit mystery that takes place in a retirement complex. The story is told from multiple perspectives. There's this Thursday Murder Club a few of the members of this complex created, and they get together every Thursday to solve cold cases that are closed a long time ago.
However, this time they have a live murder case in their hands.
I really liked the characters Osman created. They were interesting to listen to. There was some wit and contemporary commentary thrown in the book. The beginning especially was very strong.

Overall, I enjoyed the ride. It was a bit longer than necessary, and the murder case wasn't necessarily thrilling. But, it was a good read and I'd want to read the second one.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

I'm a little late to review this, but many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy.

I have a friend who is a book editor and she described a genre of fiction as "cosy crime". Like a literary version of Murder She Wrote. The Thursday Murder Club firmly fits into this category and it is delightful.

This book is set in a retirement village that actually sounds appealing. Elizabeth and Joyce, aided by Ibrahim and Ron set out to solve more murders than a quiet town deserves. They are great at deductive reasoning, not great at technology. Their skills complement the efforts of competent local police to *spoilers* solve an intriguing crime.

Richard Osman has written a really loving account of people meeting the challenges of their older years and thriving. His characters a fully realised and show caring and thoughtful relationships between people of varied ages. In some media, older people's lives and views feel trivialised, dismissed and portrayed as not relevant to current times. This book counters this in a very satisfying way.

I can't wait for the next book!

Who doesn’t love a who done it? This is one with some what of a twist, but delightfully done. The setting is a luxury retirement complex set somewhere near the Kent / Sussex border. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron meet every Thursday to go over old cold cases. The body of one of the developers of the retirement complex is then found and the retired foursome decide the local police could do with some assistance in solving the murder.

Another death isn’t far behind and more mystery for the OAP sleuths to get stuck into. The foursome are a diverse, spritely set of pensioners, who aren’t wanting to settle for their tea and slippers just yet. A lot of the story is told in the voice of Joyce, via her journal, who is the new recruit, a retired nurse, which I quite like, because of this, you get to know her character the best, although, I do think there is more come out about Joyce. The other characters you hear from are the detectives; PC Donna de Freitas and DCI Chris Hudson, I think their patience shown to and reliance on the OAPs is astounding and worrying at the same time. The resources and energy of the four pensioners seems a little far fetched and considerably greater than that of the police, but Elizabeth’s old contacts from her working life which hints towards MI5, seem to come through for her every time.These curiosities are found in a lot of who done its.

The author did lack a little subtlety in trying to lead the reader up the garden path. The story is clever and I did enjoy it. I’m not sure it has any legs to become a serious series, but more a tongue in cheek fashion like Midsommer Murders as there are definite elements of the authors humour in the book. An enjoyable read and would be interested to see where it is taken in book 2. Thanks to NetGalley for the free advance copy. I give this 4/5

I enjoyed this book, the characters come alive and I felt by the end of the book that I knew each one personally. I adored the way that when I was reading Joyce’ diary it was as if she was reading it to me and I could imagine a lovely old lady, talking about hoping there was a Marks and Spencers to pop into on the way to ‘interviewing’ a suspect. Very cleverly written and so humourous.
The key characters are all retired and form part of the Thursday Murder Club. There is Ron (ex-trade-union boss), Joyce (Nurse), Ibrahim (psychiatrist) and Elizabeth (Spy) and they all live in a retirement complex called Coopers Chase.
This is owned by Ian Ventham, who wants to dig up the cemetery near the current homes and build on it, however Ian is murdered, but who by? This is where the Thursday Murder Club team come into their own and, assisted by the Police, help to solve the whodunnit.
DCI Chris Hudson and PC Donna De Freitas are the officers investigating the murder and I thought it was very clever how their relationship developed and the little twist regarding this which I won’t reveal otherwise it will spoil things.
Not only is the book funny but it also have moments of poignancy referring to love and loss. This book is such an affectionate nod to the older generation and a gentle reminder that older people have lived their lives, have history to share and even if the body is not as willing the mind can be.
Of course it is unrealistic and couldn’t possibly happen and as long as you are happy to overlook the realism of the actual investigation of the murder then that’s fine.
I’m looking forward to the second book in the series that’s for sure.
It is a long read, but a worthwhile one, so get comfy and enjoy!
Thank you to Penguin Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review, which is completely my own.

A sophisticated cozy mystery that should satisfy most genre followers, "The Thursday Murder Club" follows a disparate quartet of long-in-the-tooth retirees in a bucolic English retirement village who assemble weekly to tackle, of all things, cold and not-so-cold murder cases. When murder takes place in the here and now, the four of them stumble, bumble, and sweep towards solving the case and the predictable growing mayhem. Throw in two quirky police, throw in a huge cast of quaint village residents, and The Thursday Mystery Club is a swirling, affectionate read. Osman keeps up a fast pace and is a deft stylist, adopting an intelligent, deft style redolent with dialogue and humor. Mysteries in this sub-genre can be best served short, so by the end I was ready for the end, but if you sigh with pleasure at rereading Christie, this could well be something you bask in.

I feel so lucky to be part of this MEGA blog tour and part of this amazing book that has already received a multitude of plaudits. So I’ll add my two cents, but ultimately I think you know it’s a good’un.

Hilarious, warm and life-affirming (even though it’s about murder and death!), this joy of a crime novel and honestly I haven’t come across anyone who disagrees with me.

What really struck me about this novel was the way it celebrated age, experience and how everyone is slightly odd, in their own way. So much of our culture focuses on, if not worships, youth and lasciviousness – it’s a breath of fresh air to read a novel with a different perspective. The four main characters, who are living in a retirement home, form a quirky foursome who meet on Thursdays to analyse and go over unsolved murders. They bond over this unusual behavior where they may not have even spoken to each other in a “normal” setting.

The most hilarious moments for me always involved hair-splitting honesty and realism that you only really perfect with age. Osman definitely has a flair for comedy.

The story is deceptively fast-paced as well. I felt it was finished as soon as I started it, which I guess can only be a good thing. Just sad it was over.

I can’t wait for book number two!

This was a gem of a book. Richard Osman has always struck me as a very nice guy, and he has written a very nice book. A traditional, cosy murder mystery, this was just what I needed. A lovely read.

It's always an absolute pleasure to come across a new author, celebrity or not. Osman takes the usual premise of the murder mystery and lends it a unique twist in the setting of an elderly community home with truly adorable characters. A joy to read and I'm eagerly anticipating book two.

This is a book that in my opinion is of an updated version of a Agatha Christie type of mystery, and it works in that way. What sets this apart from some of the current mystery books is that there is little, if any, swearing in it, and whilst I’m not condoning constant swearing in novels, this was actually a pleasant change and worked all the better for it.
The main synopsis is that there are a group of residents in an elderly person village that gather each week to try and solve old police cases. What starts off as a old case, ends up taking a turn for the worst when a recent murder connects to the home, and the gang try to solve this as well.
The book was a great read, and I enjoyed reading it, and would recommend for anyone who wants a “slower paced” mystery that doesn’t move from one act of violence to the next chapter by chapter. It also has characters introduced that allow the imagination to visualise and also to connect with, without the need for a stereotypical past history for everyone.
Very good, I await to see if a follow up novel is in the near future.

The premise of this first outing of our four heroes really grabbed me, but it was just too cosy for me. This was a very slow burner abs unfortunately for me, I just didn’t engage with the characters or the story.

The characters of The Thursday Murder Club are well rounded, with their own quirks and pasts that are steeped in mystery. But I really wanted to learn more about Elizabeth - she warrants her own prequel. But sadly this wasn’t enough to keep me engaged.