Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

In Coopers Chase, a quiet retirement home, everyone can find something for themselves. Some knit, some go for walks and some… solve murders. Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim and Ron meet up every Thursday and go through files of old murder cases in attempt to solve. That’s until they have a real murder to solve. And then another one!

It’s a perfect cosy crime book for those that want to ease into crime genre or for anyone who’s looking for something light and easy-going to read. Don’t think you’ll just glide through it, though! You’ll be invested and won’t see the plot twists coming!

I really enjoyed the variety of perspectives between the chapters - between cheeky Joyce, quiet Elizabeth, slowly-getting-over-a-man Donna and every-so-lonely DCI Hudson. All their voices were captured extremely well, each and every one was different. I especially loved Joyce with her wit and quick thinking.

The plot itself was easy-going and not very hard to follow. However, it did contain quite a few side plots which made it a little bit confusing. I myself had to go back and reread some parts of the book to remind myself of the characters’ names. It wasn’t too much of a dealbreaker though, the overall plot was well structured and the minor confusions didn’t put me off.

Character building in this book was fantastic. Every single one had a backstory that added depth to the plot and explained why they were the way they were. As the plot moved forward, some of the characters grew and became more round. I found Donna’s story the most interesting, I enjoyed finding out about her moving from London, getting over the breakup and slowly coming out of the shell. Her relationship with DCI Chris Hudson was also well presented, the change of chemistry between them and warming up to each other as the story progressed. My favourite character was Elizabeth though, a woman of many faces, a loving wife as well as an after-hours detective. Even though she could be considered the main character in the story, she’s also very mysterious, I wanted to find out more about her as I read more and more. This character was especially well created.

The idea of placing the story in a retirement home was genius, I have never read anything like that before (but if someone beat Richard Osman to it, please let me know)! I love the contrast of the place where people go to effectively end their lives and have some peace with solving murder cases that are the complete opposite of peace - they give you adrenaline and keep you on your toes. This was the main reason I even decided to reach for this book.

Did I absolutely love the book? Not necessarily. The ending kind of sprung up on me and I didn’t have the ‘WOW’ moment when I read it. Will I reach for the rest of the series? Definitely, because I love all the members of the Thursday Murder Club and I want to know what’s ahead of them!

Rating: 4/5