The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel (A Thursday Murder Club Mystery)

A fun read. A murder mystery full of character and characters that are so developed in action, dialogue, and problem solving common sense that they all come to life. Before you know it there is more than one murder in a plot line containing endless stunning twists occurring usually the moment the reader is certain they have figured out the murderer. It all comes together in a logical and surprising ending. The Thursday Murder Club series is so much fun to read that it is a good idea to so order the next book before you finish this first book.

I was a little hesitant to buy this book because it seemed like a niche read. But I was desperate for a light read. I am so glad I bought it . It is humorous and a good easy read. Not to hard to figure out who did it. I enjoyed it so much that half way through I bought the rest of the available series. It is also coming out on Netflix and I am really looking forward to that.

I ordered the audible version of this book when it first came out and I admit I didn’t get very far into it before I just abandoned it. Some books are just harder to listen to than they are to read. This book jumps around a lot and I found it impossible to listen to, however I bought the Kindle version and found it very entertaining to read. My only criticism of the Kindle version is that the entries that our Joyce’s diary should not have the font reduced. It made it harder to read. The characters are very well developed, and I took to them immediately. I will say that I am roughly in the same age category as these characters and I found that the author did make them a little more clueless than was really needed. Just because we’re older doesn’t mean we can’t figure out technology. But at least he did this in a humorous way, and I could certainly relate to the way he portrayed portray these people. There were enough twists and turns in the plot line that I really did not have it figured out up until the very end. I really am happy that this is going to be a series and I look forward to reading the next two books and also look forward to the Netflix movie. Very excited about seeing that cast perform this book..

Oh no! I thought..not another “old folks” story. But it was well written for the most part. I chucked a couple times. The characters were generally well developed. Not great literature but worth reading. I did not like the way so much info was crammed into the final two chapters (an annoying author weakness), could have been handled in a more nuanced way.

Among the pensioners living at Coopers Chase—a high end retirement community in southern England—are four good friends who have gotten involved in trying to solve cold cases for their own amusement and to help the police, if possible. One of the four—Elizabeth—has apparently had a prior career in some covert branch of government and has many “friends of friends” who are willing and able to supply all sorts of documents that would otherwise have restricted access, documents that can provide very useful information for their amateur detective work. Other members of the group contribute their own skill sets to create a surprisingly effective collaborative effort, much to the initial annoyance of the DCI and DS who are assigned to investigate the very recent murder of the builder of the Coopers Chase retirement community, who was looking to expand the development further and intended to go so far as ripping out the cemetery that was the final resting place the nuns who had lived in the convent that was adjacent to Coopers Chase. The victims keep accumulating while the suspect pool also continues to enlarge. At times the many suspects and secondary characters make the story somewhat hard to follow—a dramatis personae would have been very helpful. Next time I read it (it was enjoyable enough to read again), I’ll have to make up my own list. Recommended but with reservations for being hard to follow at times.

Four pensioners, all living in the same retirement home, have formed a tight friendship group. With varying backgrounds they each bring different knowledge from their previous lives, yet the one thing Elizabeth, Joyce, John and Ibrahim can all relate to are the challenges of being old. Although there are many group activities available at the Coopers Chase Retirement Village, these 4 have formed their own group which they have dubbed “The Thursday Murder Club”. The reason for the unusual title is their joint delight in reviewing old, unsolved murder cases (one of the members had access to these files prior to retiring) and discussing how to solve them.

Things take a dramatically different turn when a local property developer, one who was involved in the creation of their own retirement village, is murdered in his home. Now the Thursday Murder Club has a real case to solve. Their biggest challenge is inserting themselves into the official police investigation, both in order to obtain information that the Club needs and so that the Club can help the police by sharing what they have uncovered.

A very quick read, the chapters are short ( there are over 100 of them!) yet, at times, the story falls all over itself with it’s abundance of details - many of which could have been omitted. A good editor would have tightened the story and enhanced it even further. Still, it is a fun read with a plenty of twists and turns as every good crime mystery should have. ⭐️⭐️⭐️