By Richard Osman ★★★★☆
Ah, retirement -- the chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy one’s golden years peacefully....right? Not so for our four main protagonists in The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce and Ibrahim make up the titular club, and they all have past lives and experiences that uniquely help them contribute to the club’s work. While ostensibly working on puzzles in the Jigsaw Room, they also use that time to chat about past cold cases and drop hints to local law enforcement on potential leads they should investigate. When a body turns up on the property of their retirement village, suddenly they have the opportunity to put those sleuthing skills to the test behind-the-scenes of the actual live investigation.
It’s a fun premise, and TTMC is a book that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but also is far more layered than you expect it to be. Elizabeth was my favorite of the four characters -- no one is fully certain of her past, but it seems clear she was some type of MI6 operative, and she’ll occasionally hint at what a badass she was (and still is). If memory serves, I think at one point one of the other club members asks her, “Elizabeth, have you ever killed someone?”, to which she replies, “Of course!”. Osman also intersperses the occasional chapter from Joyce’s point of view / diary within the standard story, a really interesting way to uncover some inside secrets and reveal some layers of a character who prefers to stay in the background, but who is constantly listening and deftly manipulating people who underestimate her.
Against this solid character backdrop lies the central murders and mystery at the heart of the story, one that is complex and tricky enough to keep you guessing. As you’re learning bits and pieces about our main characters and trying to figure out their backgrounds, you’re also along for the ride as they work to solve the mystery. All of that combined to make this worthy of your reading time.
Previous Best of 2021: #9 - A Distant Grave
Next Best of 2021: #7 - The Push