A friend bought and read The Thursday Murder Club for her group but didn't want to keep it, so gave it to me. I should have known...
The Blurb
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. When a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, The Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Could our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?
The Review
When this book first came out I loved the title and liked Richard Osman's television work so I was keen to read it. However, subsequently I heard such a variety of opinions that I decided I didn't want to pay for it. By chance a friend was giving her copy away and gave it to me.
The Thursday Murder Club tells the story worked around four main characters who live in a retirement village. They set up their club out of boredom and a need for some excitement so when the owners of their developement are murdered, the group swings into action.
Unfortunately, I found the descriptions of the protagonists condescending and their relationship with the local police completely unbelievable. This spoiled to book for me. There are some funny oneliners and some excellent descriptions of the countryside, however, these did not make up for the turgid prose and longwinded story line.
Richard Osman is good at many things; writing crime novels is not one of them. There are many good novels; The Thursday Murder Club is not one of them.
I do not recommend The Thursday Murder Club if you enjoy crime fiction, but I did find it helped me get to sleep. Now I have a dilemma, my friend also gave me the second book in the series...
The Author
Richard Osman is an author, producer and television presenter. The Thursday Murder Club is his first novel. He is well known for TV shows including Pointless and Richard Osman’s House of Games. As the creative director of Endemol UK, Richard has worked as an executive producer on numerous shows including Deal Or No Deal and 8 Out of 10 Cats. He is also a regular on panel and game shows such as Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie To You and Taskmaster.