“So smart and funny. Deplorably good” says Ian Rankin.

“Compassionate, warm, moving and so VERY funny” says Marian Keyes.

Do I agree? Read on to find out what I made of The Thursday Murder Club…

Before I say anything, I will point out that this was given to me as a gift (for Father’s Day, if you must know) and it is not a book that I would have necessarily chosen for myself.

Richard Osman is well known as a TV presenter and comedian, namely for the show Pointless. The Thursday Murder Club is his first novel and became a bestseller, with a million copies sold in the UK alone.

The follow-up, The Man Who Died Twice will be released next month (September 2021) as the second in the series, and is expected to be just as popular as the first.

Here’s Osman talking about The Thursday Murder Club.

So, what did I think of it?

Well, I’ll start by saying that I’m always a bit wary of celebrities who suddenly churn out a novel; surely there are other new authors out there, desperate for the kind of publishing deal, publicity and promotion that Osman’s debut has received? It can seem grossly unfair for all the unpublished authors when people who are famous for something else decide to become writers as well, and seemingly get literary success handed to them on a plate.

It is highly unlikely that The Thursday Murder Club would have become a bestseller so quickly without Richard Osman’s name attached to it, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t any good.

It is indeed smart, funny, compassionate and warm, as described by Marian Keyes and Ian Rankin on the cover. It’s a good story, with believable characters and an engaging plot.

But murder mysteries just aren’t really my cup of tea, so as good as this book is, I don’t feel compelled to read the sequel.

However, a lot of people have enjoyed this book and the rights have already been snapped up to turn it into a movie, so if you like this sort of thing I’m sure you’ll love it.

Here’s the blurb on the back:

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?