Book Review - Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Published by: Penguin
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2020
Format: Kindle, 382 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Coopers Chase might seem like your regular upscale retirement community, but there's a group that meets every Thursday in the Jigsaw Room to discuss murder. Cold cases to be specific. One of the founding members, Penny, was a cop. Any case where they never caught the culprit or she wasn't sure whodunit, she bent the rules and made copies of the files and brought them with her into retirement. Her dear friend Elizabeth though is the de facto leader. Not just because Penny's dementia has taken over and she was transported to the hospital on site, but because Elizabeth has "connections" and was involved in the security services. The other two members are Ron, AKA Red Ron the union organizer, and Ibrahim, a therapist, who may or may not still be seeing patients. Now that Penny has left the group they are down a member and a certain kind of expertise, which leads Elizabeth one day to approach Joyce. Joyce used to be a nurse so can answer questions about wounds inflicted on a body and therefore becomes indispensable to The Thursday Murder Club. Whereas Joyce is just excited to be included. It's all so thrilling getting to be a part of the cool gang. She doesn't dwell on how alone she is and how her daughter never comes to visit. But the club never thought in a million years that they'd get to be on the scene and investigate a real live case! Tony Curran is the property developer behind Coopers Chase. He and his business partner Ian Ventham are planning on expanding the retirement community. Coopers Chase used to be a convent and the expansion would require the razing of the cemetery where the nuns are buried. Needless to say this plan isn't met by the community with open arms. In fact Tony Curran is murdered. Which means it's time for The Thursday Murder Club to swing into action and inveigle themselves with the police. A job that is perfect for Joyce. She's so nice and unobtrusive and always there with a tasty treat and something to drink. Elizabeth sees that Joyce really was the perfect addition to the club at this exact moment. Especially when more bodies start turning up. Will the group be able to solve the crimes being committed at Coopers Chase or will the police beat them to the finish line?
When The Thursday Murder Club was released and jumped immediately onto ever bookstore's "best of" lists I was instantly gun-shy. Me and popular books don't go hand in hand. At all. But then I was watching an episode of The Graham Norton Show and Richard Osman was on. I never connected the British comedian whose appearances on Graham Norton's show whom I've always enjoyed with the author of The Thursday Murder Club. I seriously don't know how that piece of information, which is clearly printed on the front of the book, didn't sink in. I claim distraction by fox as the only logical explanation. Therefore I got myself on the wait list at my library for a digital copy and it eventually came in and I slogged my way through to the bleak and bitter end. Here's the thing, I should have stuck with my gut and not been lured in by Graham Norton. Yes, this book has witty dialogue, so "shocking" because it's written by a comedian. But what people love about it is that it evokes Agatha Christie and Midsomer Murders. I wonder why that is? Could it be because the title (and concept) is literally two days off from an Agatha Christie book!?! The Tuesday Club Murders is a set of thirteen short stories, six of which are told at the Tuesday Night Club. This club is a group of people meeting at Miss Marple's house to discuss mysteries. Does that sound familiar Mr. Osman? Secondly the Midsomer Murders angle. Am I the ONLY person to remember the episode "Blue Herrings?" DCI Tom Barnaby's aunt goes into a nursing home where death and missing property soon follow. Now this wouldn't be the first time an author builds on greater authors to acclaim. As I've lamented several times The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo just filched the ending from two different Val McDemid books and smashed them together and everyone loved it. No, what really got me was that for a book that started out so jovial it ended up so bleak. I mean, how many suicides and assisted suicides can one book have? A lot would be Richard Osman's answer. It's not just a sloppy way to end a book but a damn depressing one given everything that came before. Though the pièce de résistance for me is just how unrealistic this retirement facility is. After how much money went into the care of my mother in a nursing facility I know what things cost, and it's dear. The whole of Coopers Chase pissed me off with it's wealth and luxury. This isn't what health care is! Who are these people? How can they afford this life? This isn't cozy, this is infuriating! I want to speak to the manager! Oh he's dead? A likely excuse.
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