19th October 2025

An enjoyable return to the Thursday Murder Club, as they investigate the disappearance of Joyce's daughter's groom's best man.

Somehow Osman combines increasingly complex plots with a narrative that makes suspension of disbelief effortless, and so it's utterly convincing that these characters could find themselves in these situations.

There are some aspects that felt quite dark, but in other ways also very revealling about the characters, their relationships, and in particular the way they want to help and protect their respective younger generations.

My only issue was that the cast has expanded so much over the course of the novels (often the way) that I find it hard to remember who everyone is and how they ended up involved.

A great outing that I enjoyed racing through.

read more

5th October 2024

Richard Osman proves that he can write a fun and compelling novel without his usual cast of characters, as we meet Amy, Steve, and Rosie, a somewhat unlikely team, and yet one that’s been great fun to read about.

The tone retains the same relaxed approach of his previous novels despite much more exotic settings. There’s a lot of humour throughout although balanced with a decent amount of introspective grief that combine to make very real feeling characters.

I did find some parts felt a bit confusing, as if I’d missed something and so wasn’t following the plot correctly, but I think this is how I’m meant to have felt, and was part of the classic obscuring of details that goes into making a mystery story.

I had a really nice team reading this and look forward to seeing how these characters evolve in the coming years.

read more

1st October 2023

The expanded Thursday Murder Club are back in action in this fourth novel, when one of their friends is found dead and they are forced to come together and investigate.

There’s a lot going on in this one, and I feel that Osman is stretching his literary muscles a bit more and expanding into almost soap opera territory with the range of character and moments of their lives we get to see.

This is a particularly sad novel in several respects. We’re seeing a range of people at different stages of their life, but in particular this novel does deal with a lot of grief, and so some readers might want to tread carefully.

I really liked this visit to Cooper’s Chase. I thought it held together better than the previous novel. But I’m intrigued to learn that Osman is trying something different next, and look forward to that.

read more

28th October 2022

Richard Osman’s gang of retirees return for their third adventure - which because the characters are well established can come as two distinct plot threads.

I find these books incredibly readable. I got through this one in about three days, which is a pace I’ve not enjoyed for a while. It helps that the text is really big so the pages turn quickly, and the chapters are short - but not intense, so it never feels an effort to continue.

Osman introduces new characters with ease, and as the series continues its great to see that they aren’t just here as one-off guests - they are enriching the cast and returning to make for a bigger more interesting world.

Great fun.

read more

31st October 2021

Richard Osman, surprise star author of the pandemic era, returns with his second novel about The Thursday Murder Club - a group of retirees who meet to study unsolved crimes.

I was a little worried that Osman wouldn’t be able to follow up the brilliance of his first novel, but I don’t think it was necessary.

The plot is perhaps a little outlandish, but follows gracefully from the characters created in the first novel, and indeed it is those characters who really make this book a delight. The narrative rotates around alignment, allowing us to see aspects of the story from everyone’s points of view.

But the best parts of the book are the many many places that Osman’s narrative makes me chuckle. There are excellent choices of phrase and moments of delight scattered all the way through, and I can only think that the person I overheard deriding the first book in the bookshop must have absolutely no sense of humour at all.

It’s great. Roll on book three.

read more

11th October 2020

Richard Osman’s debut novel is a fantastic mystery set in and around a retirement village - hobbyists at investigating cold cases who are drawn into investigating the death of one of the park’s owners.

There’s a rich collection of characters drawn from multiple background, who paint an entertaining picture of life here. They are hilarious in the way they deal with others involved, and the gradual feeding of information about their backgrounds is perfect.

The plot is a great mystery and moves at an excellent pace, following a comfortable pattern of the classics of the mystery genre while still feeling fresh.

A great story with a fantastic cast - I can imagine someone’s already started adapting it for TV - and I’m already desperate to get my hands on the sequel.

read more