I saw The Thursday Murder Club as an upcoming title on Netflix and I thought “that sounds interesting”. Then I found out that it was based on a book and I thought “even better!” so I decided to read the book before the movie came out. And let me tell you, this hilarious, fast-paced murder mystery is great! Netflix better do a good job on it because Richard Osman has created a masterpiece that everyone should read, regardless if they watch the movie.
[Warning: My review of The Thursday Murder Club contains some spoilers!]
Art History, Conversational French, and The Thursday Murder Club
In a quiet little retirement community the residents need activities to keep themselves busy. Cooper’s Chase understands this so in addition to having various rotating classes and speakers, they have a great many clubs to keep the residents active and social. The Jigsaw Room is often booked for weekly groups and on Thursdays it’s Art History, Conversational French, and Japanese Opera.
Well that’s the official schedule, but for quite some time now “Japanese Opera” has been taken over by four residents that like to pour over old police files for unsolved crimes and try to solve them. It began with just Elizabeth and Penny, but before long Ibrahim and Ron joined them. Now Penny has left and Joyce has joined. It would be sad but that’s the way things are in Cooper’s Chase, things are always changing, people move in and out. The group knows they’re not going to actually catch anyone but it’s fun and it passes the time and they enjoy it.
But then Tony Curran, a local builder, turns up dead and the group has a real life, active murder investigation to occupy them. Now the police wouldn’t ordinarily allow a goup of retirees to jump in on a murder investigation, but the Thursday murder club isn’t asking. The four of them are smart and resourceful. And they aren’t above using their age to their advantage. Before they can solve Tony’s murder, Ian Ventham, their main suspect, dies right in front of them! It’s murder but no one is sure how or who despite nearly 100 witnesses. Can the Thursday murder club figure out what is going on before any more bodies pile up?
A laugh riot with a really good mystery at the core
So British media isn’t really my thing. It tends to be kinda stuffy and uptight for this hippy raised American girl. But The Thursday Murder Club was hilarious! I giggled, I snorted, I flat out belly laughed at times. Watching the septuagenarian members of the murder club steamroll everyone around them into getting what they wanted and solving not one, not two, but three different murders was just great. Each member had their own strengths and skills that helped them figure things out, but the sum of the four of them together was greater than its parts. The way they used their age and people’s expectations of them to manipulate situations was masterful, and honestly a little scary! I pray that when I get that old I can be an Elizabeth, but honestly being a Joyce would be lovely too. Just having the gumption of anyone in the Thursday murder club would be great.
It’s great when a book has a strong dose of humor in it, but The Thursday Murder Club is a murder mystery at heart. So how does the mystery stack up? Really well actually. What looks like a straight-forward story becomes more complicated and nuanced the more you read. By the time the end of the story comes and the true perpetrator is revealed, at least a half dozen suspects have been considered and discarded and the truth is both shocking and “obvious”. Of course it’s not actually obvious, but it makes perfect sense. There are no leaps of faith or left-field deus ex machina to make the mystery impossible to solve, but I will be extremely surprised if you get there before the murder club. I didn’t, and while that sounds like bragging, I’ve read so many books that it’s rare for one to truly surprise me. But Osman and his murder club did, and I loved it.
Highly recommended before, after, or instead of
As I mentioned in the opening, Netflix is turning The Thursday Murder Club into a movie. It premieres on August 28th and has some pretty big names that I think will embody the characters perfectly (Helen Mirren especially, she is exactly who I pictured Elizabeth as before I knew she was playing her). This movie was the catalyst for my reading of The Thursday Murder Club. I like to compare movies to their source material. Usually I find the movies lacking but I do have hope for this one. If they manage to capture half of the magic of Osman’s work it will be worth watching. If you enjoy a good mystery, I highly recommend checking out The Thursday Murder Club before watching the movie. Or after watching the movie. Or instead of the movie is that’s more your speed. I just plain think that you should read this book, you won’t regret it! Spoiler alert: There are four more murder club adventures to enjoy when you finish The Thursday Murder Club. I’m getting mine today!
Rating: 10/10
The Thursday Murder Club is now available to purchase at your retailer of choice.
Learn more about the book at the publisher’s official website.
