Book Review: The Thursday Murder Club

Most people enjoy a good murder mystery. It’s a genre of storytelling which has embedded itself across numerous forms of media and has taken many different forms over the decades.  While the conventional murder mysteries featuring the likes of Poirot or Marple may be less prominent these days, it gives more room for different interpretations and ideas to take centre stage. The very idea of being presented with a peculiar case and absorbing key information to form your own conclusions is the very identity behind this genre, but as time goes by it’s fun to see how modern-day writers find new and interesting ways to explore these concepts even further.  That new territory is exactly what famous British television presenter Richard Osman has encroached on with his debut murder mystery series; The Thursday Murder Club.

The Thursday Murder Club follows a delightful cast of pensioners who reside in a retirement village known as Cooper’s Chase in Fairhaven, Kent.  Every Thursday, the gang gather to discuss and solve murders both fictional and real.  After the sudden death of a property developer who works for the owner of Cooper’s Chase, the club set forth to solve the immediate murder with their unique set of skills.  At the same time, Fairhaven’s own police division set their own investigating officers to the task and they end up crossing paths with the Thursday Murder Club on numerous occasions and form an unlikely alliance as they seek to figure out the secrets that revolve around this murder before any more bodies start dropping. 

I find the setup and structure of this book’s narrative quite compelling.  I love the idea that rather than taking place through the perspective of the police or a senior detective, it’s spread across several perspective but primarily the kind and quirky pensioners who reside at the home.  Osman writes each of these characters with unique personalities and traits which establishes their identity and skill sets easily.  The way he meshes their unique presence in the story alongside a deeply layered murder mystery is not something you would imagine works as well as it’s presented here. While I found the setup thoroughly intriguing, I will admit by the end point the story does struggle to cap off some of the minor plot beats it was juggling all throughout.  I think it nails the primary ones, but some of the other minor plots aren’t given the definition they required to earn the payoff Osman tries to establish in the end. I think the primary strength of this book is in its character writing; I love how much definition Osman puts into fleshing these people out to make them distinct and memorable.

There’s also a noteworthy balance when it comes to tone.  Osman as a television presenter is known for his dry humour, often injecting the shows he’s a part of with a unique style of comedy. In the books case, that trademark comedy feels embedded into the course of the story and its dialogue. It’s an inherently charming book as a result of its tone and it’s worth recognizing Osman is able to inject a great amount of drama into the sequences when they are called for. You’d be forgiven for assuming this clash of tones would derail the book but it’s done in a very nuanced way which balanced it all cohesively.

I would happily recommend The Thursday Murder Club to any avid reader, but especially to any fan of the murder mystery genre. For a debut novel, it’s incredible how strong a showing this book is for Richard Osman.  He’s captured the genre inside a format which feels genuinely unique and compelling to read through. While I do think it suffers from an overabundance of plot threads, it’s not enough to discredit this story’s primary plot in any sense.  I’m happy to hear this is only the first entry in a series of novels from Osman, I look forward to reading many more.