Book Review by Wendy Tippin
As I said in my blog post of August, 2024, I am a young senior and a voracious cozy mystery reader, and I still am. I talked about the trend of senior citizen sleuths in cozy mysteries, and I’m happy to report the trend continues.
One of the books I mentioned was The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman which is a shining example of seniors solving mysteries. Osman has created a team of four highly-skilled investigators who bring their specialties to investigating cold case files rather than piecing together jigsaw puzzles. The team doesn’t let their age interfere with their quest to protect their retirement village from expansion by a greedy developer with plans to destroy an adjacent cemetery to make room for more buildings. When the developer is murdered and the new contractor uncovers an extra corpse in the graveyard, the Murder Club swings into high gear to crack these cases. Along with the assistance of an under-appreciated police constable, Club members pool their varied talents to return serenity to their home.
Mystery readers will enjoy the delightful characters who defy any stereotype applied to senior citizens. Osman combines humour and witty dialogue to give us a story that will leave the reader wanting more and, thankfully, Osman has added four books to The Thursday Murder Club series.
I must admit that my review was sparked by the recent arrival of The Thursday Murder Club movie to the Netflix streaming platform. The movie is very enjoyable but please read the book first which has always been my habit. Let the book create the characters in your mind before Hollywood does.
PS For fans of cozy mysteries and Jessica Fletcher, stay tuned for the movie adaptation of Murder, She Wrote! starring Jamie Lee Curtis.
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Wendy is an active Member of the Elgin Writers Guild Fiction Critique Group and serves on the Steering Committee as EWG Treasurer.