The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Blog tour: 1 September to 12 October 2020

Synopsis

In a peaceful retirement village off the A21 in Kent, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings.

But when a local property developer shows up dead, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?

My review

At the Coopers Chase Retirement Village in Kent, four of the residents meet up every Thursday night in the Jigsaw Room, booked under the guise of a Japanese opera discussion group, to talk about unsolved police crimes (cold cases).

Calling themselves The Thursday Murder Club, the group consists of Elizabeth, whose former occupation is mysteriously only alluded to, Joyce Meadowcroft (79), who was a nurse, Ibrahim Arif (80), a former psychiatrist, and Ron ‘Red Ron’ Ritchie (75), a famous ex-trade union leader who ‘never believes a single word anyone ever tells him’.

Joyce is the newest member, invited to join after Penny Gray, a former detective inspector in the Kent Police, has to move into the on-site nursing home, Willows. Penny used to supply the group with the unsolved murder case files that they study carefully – reading all the evidence and every witness statement and poring over photos, trying to find anything that might have been missed.

The retirement village sounds wonderful! It’s for over 65 year olds and currently has around 300 residents. It was built 10 years ago on the now-extended site, which used to be a convent and voluntary hospital (later a care home and now Willows). The village has numerous facilities: swimming pool, gym, exercise studio, bowling green, library, lounge and ‘contemporary upscale restaurant’. The development has a chapel, which is the original and unchanged, and it is set in 12 acres of woodland and hillside with two small lakes and there are sheep and llamas on the hills.

There are plans to carry out a new development at Coopers Chase, and this has caused a furore with the occupants. There’s talk of trees being felled, the graveyard being moved and wind turbines installed, so a consultation meeting between the owner, Ian Ventham, and the residents is held.

The following day, after a rather heated discussion between Ventham and his builder, Tony Curran, who has a shady past, one of the men is found dead in the kitchen by his wife – he’d been bludgeoned with a heavy object.

With a real-life crime to get their teeth into, The Thursday Murder Club investigates the murder with the help of PC Donna De Freitas, 26, who they first met when she visited Coopers Chase to do a talk about home security tips, which the group rather hijacked! Donna transferred from the Metropolitan Police in London to Fairhaven and is rather bored by the lack of action in the seaside town. The group cunningly persuade Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Chris Hudson (51) to allow Donna to join the squad investigating the murder and from then on manage to exchange information with the officers without them really realising what’s going on! The pensioners always seem to be a couple of steps ahead of the police by using their clever minds and some handy contacts!

This was an excellent cosy murder mystery with numerous twists and turns, secrets and startling revelations, as well as lots of wry humour and some amusing and witty observations, which really made me chuckle at times. The main protagonists of the murder club are brilliantly drawn: feisty and eccentric but enthusiastic characters who make funny little asides and carry out some impressive detecting work. Despite the subject matter, this is a heart-warming tale with some poignant and touching moments and I found it really delightful and intriguing.

The short chapters work well and definitely made me fly through the book, thinking ‘Just one more chapter …’! It’s written in an engaging conversational style and Joyce’s diary entries add another angle to the story and are a nice little interlude.

Overall, I really enjoyed this cleverly written book; it was entertaining, action packed and gripping. I had to suspend disbelief at times but that was all part of the fun! I’m excited to hear that there’s going to be a book two out in September 2021 – I can’t wait!

Buy the book

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle and in hardback, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks. Or from these retailers.

About the author

Richard Osman is an author, producer and television presenter. The Thursday Murder Club is his first novel. He is well known for TV shows including Pointless and Richard Osman’s House of Games. As the creative director of Endemol UK, Richard has worked as an executive producer on numerous shows including Deal Or No Deal and 8 Out of 10 Cats. He is also a regular on panel and game shows such as Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie To You and Taskmaster.

Twitter: @richardosman
Facebook: @MrRichardOsman
Instagram: @misterosman

Blog tour

Thanks to Ellie Hudson at Penguin Books UK for my proof copy of The Thursday Murder Club and for my place on the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.