The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman, is the first in a series about a group of residents in a retirement village who meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when an actual murder takes place on their doorstep, they find themselves in the middle of a real live case. And so, we find Elizabeth (an ex-spook), Joyce (retired nurse and keen diarist), Ibrahim (dapper psychiatrist) and Ron (a retired and notorious trade union leader) working hard to get to the bottom of things, utilising all and any resources available to them ... including smooth-talking the police into sharing information. This is a fun, yet serious whodunnit. We see the life of the residents of Cooper's Chase, with their days out and range of activities, intermingled, and sometimes integral to solving the crime. Then a second murder takes place, followed by the discovery of a hidden body in the nun's cemetery situated on the grounds (Cooper's Chase was converted from a former convent). Are they all linked, or just red herrings? We go back and forth from present day to the past, sometimes to the 1970s when the convent was a going concern, and sometimes to the time when the events surrounding a photograph which features two of the victims, and which has been left at the scene. The four main characters are clearly drawn and are very pleasing to spend time with. The driving force of the group may be Elizabeth, who is exceptionally good at getting people to do what she wants without being heavy handed. There are sweet, silly and heartbreaking moments, as the lives of old friends and neighbours in the community come into focus, but it's never cloying. If you like your crime a little cosy, then this is definitely a good choice. But just remember ... we all have a past, and more often than not, it WILL catch up with us!
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Length: 381 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from my husband.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.
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