Published: 3 September 2020

Author: Richard Osman

Published by: Penguin

Genre: Mystery

Length: 336 pages

Reading dates: 26-31 August 2020

Good morning! I’m thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour today for Richard Osman’s debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club!

Set in Coopers Chase Retirement Village in Kent, a group of friends meet regularly to try and solve unsolved murders. Elizabeth (who is alluded to have worked for the Secret Service back in the day) is the leader and driving force behind the group. Joining her are Ron (whose main skill seems to be never believing anything anyone tells him) and Ibrahim who is a former psychiatrist. Joyce is the newest member, invited to join them because as former nurse she can advise on medical matters.

When property developer Ian Ventham falls dead before their very eyes, only a few days after his business partner was found bludgeoned to death, The Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live murder cases.

You never entirely know what you are going to get when a celebrity writes a novel but The Thursday Murder Club is an absolute triumph! Osman has created a whole cast of brilliant characters, mostly pushing eighty, but full of spirit and adventure and such good fun!

There is tremendous warmth in Osman’s writing and such a lot of humour and it was a delight to read. I was mightily impressed with the methods The Thursday Murder Club used to solve the murders, always being one step ahead of the police. DCI Chris Hudson, a middle aged, lonely and slightly overweight detective and young, enthusiastic PC Donna De Freitas are assigned to the murders and to begin with are disbelieving that the Club can actually help them but after a while become resigned to the fact they are always one step ahead.

As well as fantastic characters, Osman has written a cracking story, with lots of twists and turns. I adored this book – a cosy murder mystery which is humorous, clever and touching, this is a must read. And I’m thrilled to see this is the first of a series which I am so happy about!

Many thanks to Ellie at Penguin for the proof copy and for inviting me on the blog tour. You can check out the other bloggers who are shouting about this book below

About the author

Richard Osman is a British television producer and presenter. The Thursday Murder Club is his first and, so far, best novel.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/richardosman