With The Thursday Murder Club, British TV
personality Richard Osman (The World Cup of Everything) has crafted a
very funny cozy mystery set in an upscale assisted living community in bucolic
Kent, England.
In the luxury facility, four elderly residents--each
retired, sharp and energetic--meet once a week in the Jigsaw Room, where they
covertly gather to crack actual cold case murders. The group was founded by
resident Elizabeth, a shrewd and devious former spy, and Penny, a retired
police detective inspector who provided the cases to solve. With Penny now in a
coma, however, Elizabeth keeps the club in session, continuing to work cold
cases with other fellow residents and mystery aficionados. They include dapper
Ibrahim, a psychiatrist; brassy, tattooed Ron, a former trade union official;
and unassuming Joyce, a nurse whose interspersed diary commentaries enlighten
readers to the often zany inner workings of the club.
When a real-life murder happens at the facility--the
bludgeoning of the builder who constructed the retirement community--the club
and its members employ their offbeat skills and talents to root out the killer.
They skillfully manipulate the help of a 26-year-old female police
constable--an ambitious transplant from London--and her Detective Chief
Inspector boss, who follow a host of leads and red herrings.
Osman's suspenseful, complex and deeply entertaining
storytelling--along with rich characterizations depicting the quirky
absurdities and power of pensioners--transforms darker themes of murder and
crime-solving into smart, clever fun.
The Thursday Murder Club
by Richard Osman
Pamela Dorman Books, $26.00 Hardcover, 9781984880963, 368 pages
Publication Date: September 22, 2020
To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE
NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted
with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (October 2, 2020), link HERE