The Thursday Murder Club

Thursday Murder Club, Book 1

By: Richard Osman

Narrated by: Lesley Manville, Richard Osman, Marian Keyes

Brought to you by Penguin.

The first book in the number one best-selling, multi-million copy selling series by TV presenter Richard Osman.

Read by Lesley Manville, soon-to-be star of The Crown, and featuring an exclusive Q&A between Richard Osman and Marian Keyes.

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings.

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 80, but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

CrimeFest Audible Sounds of Crime winner: Best Audiobook 2021.

©2019 Richard Osman (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"The best escapist listen of the year.... [Lesley Manville] skilfully immerses herself in Richard Osman's characters, making the most of his comic flair." (The Times, Audiobook of the Week)

"Smart, compassionate, warm, moving and so very funny." (Marian Keyes)

"A great read, I really enjoyed it." (Graham Norton)

Fabulous

This book absolutely nailed it. Amazingly well drawn characters, plot twists that make total sense in retrospect and a great resolution and the promise of more to come. I’m a fan.

Bravo!

I may be 37, but at times feel like a boomer...The characters are absolutely delightful, even the “bad guys” are admirable, well at least one of them. I cannot wait for the next book to come out, well done Richard.

Reminiscent of Agatha Christie

A lovely easy read with fun characters. It does tend towards dwelling on the fragility of life and relationships at times, so keep a hanky handy. I would be happy to read more in this series if they are as good as this one.

Fantastic book with amazing characters and observations

The tenderness of the characterisation of all the characters in his book is next level. The story is a rattlingly great whodunit and nothing disappoints. For me I particularly enjoyed the way in which the elderly were represented, their observations, things like their lack of technical ability and their use of teamwork to solve little things like accessing a laptop (that moves!). One of the best and most enjoyable reads in have had in a very long time.

Delightful

Loved all the characters. I will definitely read the whole series. A kind and happy book with multiple murders. Good fun.

Really loved this

After a few months of quite heavy thrillers, this made a refreshing change. The storyline was great but the characters are exceptional, especially the narrator; made me think of my Mum all the time. Such a great book, looking forward to the next one.

Wonderful characters and plot

It took me quite a few chapters to feel comfortable with the writing style and the seemingly superficial and unconnected elements of the story. But I like Richard Osman and wanted to see what he had to offer in terms of fiction. I’m so glad I did because this is one of the best books I’ve read. The writing is crisp and the characters are engaging. The story has so many elements that I thought it would be difficult to follow all the twists and turns but I needn’t have worried. Through some wonderful writing techniques (which are very interestingly discussed in the author interview at the end of the story) everything flows smoothly, there’s no forced conclusions to any situation and everything is brought together at the end.
Leslie Manville’s narration is amazing and adds extra dimensions to this whole experience.
Can’t recommend this enough!

Lovely

I love this book! I'm a crime fan who loves the likes of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. Richard Osman writes with more optimism and warmth than the two, which is lovely and refreshing. The book also feels more colored in than other crime novels, because of the authenticity and nuance of the characters. I feel like I have read in black and white until now, now I have finally read in colors! I cried many times, and belly laughed more times than I cried. It is really a beautiful book. And the narrator is perfection.

Wonderful listening

Compelling story with loveable, hilarious characters - narration added so much depth and life to the novel

Astonishing debut and superb voice performance

Osman’s debut is astonishing insofar as voice, characterization and the sheer tenderness involved in the dynamic is concerned. Think famous five in a deluxe elderly home. The plot is also deeply satisfying- the only flaw is that there is that one line of investigation 2/3 of the way through where you think ‘why aren’t these clever sleuths following that?’ - but it is forgivable and not enough to detract from a five star review. As for Leslie Manville’s performance : Wow. At one point I was honestly confused as to whether there was a three person voice cast.