Synopsis:
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, 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 reading experience:
I’m a bit late to this party, but having been gifted a copy I embarked on The Thursday Murder Club with little expectation.
The vibrant Elizabeth and her quietly clever side-kick Joyce were a huge surprise to me. The author was able to jump right into their story by using an affable style of writing that was unbiased and without assumption about the reader. I was immediately able to picture the members of the club, and Coopers Chase, the retirement village.
I really enjoyed that this story was part epistolary and part narrative. I heard the voices of Elizabeth, Joyce, Donna, Ibrahim, Ron and the contrastingly awful Ian with ease. I was surprised at several turn of events that I didn’t see coming, lulled into a false sense of comfort by the nature of the protagonists. More surprises came when our friends ventured a hell of a lot further than the local town, and had adventures of varying degrees on most days. Did they solve a murder or two on Thursdays? I’ll leave that for you to decide.
Funny, surprising, sentimental in places, a perspective on ageing well that may be inspirational. I highly recommend The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.
Appletree Books 