The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

I wish that I could remember who gave me a copy of Richard Osman’s book The Thursday Murder Club. That person deserves a medal – or, at least something home-baked from my kitchen. I picked that tome off of my extensive to-read pile one steamy July day and became entranced by page two. You know, the “you had me at hello” kinda thing. The Thursday Murder Club is a quick read, the perfect vacation book. It’s chockfull of great characters, rich plot lines, and smart dialogue. The protagonists are a wily bunch of senior citizens living in Cooper’s Chase, a community for retirees in merry old England. Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Ron, and Joyce led vibrant lives before becoming neighbors – one a psychiatrist, one a nurse, another a spy, and one a media personality – (I’ll let it to you to figure out who is whom) – but their combined chemistry provides Osman’s readers with intelligent prose and a chuckle or two. My husband knows Osman from watching Youtube broadcasts of British game shows where he is a moderator of great wit. Anyway, the quartet of sleuths decide that on Thursdays they will meet to solve cold cases that come to their attention. However, the untimely death of a local builder occupies them in this first of a series – oh yes, dear readers, the sequel is already out and is even becoming a threequel come September 2022 – and what exactly is buried in the graveyard of the former convent which is now the medical facility of the retirement community. The local constabulary is woven into the story with such skill, and the duo of Chris and Donna form bonds of detection and friendship with the club. Osman’s stuff is not banal and trite. You won’t know where you’re going until you’re smack dab in the middle of a twist or plot complication. He propels you through each page with interest and a keen understanding of humankind.

With joy, I located the second novel in The Thursday Murder Club collection on the shelf at the Palmyra Library. Yippee! The Man Who Died Twice did not disappoint. If anything, it was even better than its predecessor. The gang at Cooper’s Chase sets out to help Elizabeth solve an unsavory problem, and to seek retribution on the perpetrators of Ibrahim’s mugging. Osman’s rollercoaster storytelling is geared up to take readers on a tummy-tingling ride of intrigue, romance, and friendship. There’s gangsters, MI5, and bodies in closets afoot. By the last page your heart will be warmed as the bad guys have lost and the group’s harvest is bountifully shared with others. And, do not despair dear reader, Joyce, and Ron, and Ibrahim, and Elizabeth will be off and running in September – well, maybe not running, that’s more of a metaphor – with Osman’s newest installment – The Bullet that Missed. What bullet? Whose gun? Which person was missed? I’m putting my name on the Holds List right now to snatch up that copy when it arrives at the library. Maybe you should do that, too; but first, read the two available books in The Thursday Murder Club series. I’ve given them my seal of approval.

Check out The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman from the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…) or the eLibrary at https://lclibs.overdrive.com/media/5273798.