The Thursday Murder Club

I really loved the idea of this book, but have to admit that I didn't much enjoy the actual book. It took me two months to read it - if some books are “unputdownable,” this ranks as “easily putdownable.”

I think it's a combination of things: I'm not a fan of mysteries where the sleuth's personal concerns occupy much of the narrative, the characters all represent likeable tropes but not actual people, it's impossible to care about the murder victims, and probably worst of all, it winds up just being a mishmash of coincidental events more than it is a complex web of mystery.

4.5/5. What an endearing book. This felt like a nice cross between Agatha Christie's Miss Marple but also contemporary police procedural (sort of). Although it obviously deals with murder, it's got a nice cozy English village vibe that Agatha Christie's stories have, but with a dash of international criminals.

The best part about this book is the really the strong ensemble of characters that are really brought to life on the page. We get to know these really endearing elders who are making the most of their lives in a retirement village. It's also not gimmicky in that they aren't just elders for the sake of having a unique premise for a book - these characters really do behave and think like elders quite often. I loved (but also got saddened by) seeing the real struggles that elderly people have to deal with, like when a character takes care of a husband who is increasingly showing signs of dementia, and when she herself tries to stave off dementia in her own way. Or even when they show a gap in social mindsets when speaking with younger people like their own children or to the twenty-something Police Constable.

A lot of the book was really also just interested in soaking in the peacefulness and serenity of a rural English village. Whole chapters are dedicated to this mission and I really loved it. I loved that despite the subject matter of murder and the bigger, depressing topic of confronting death, both for oneself and one's closest friends or family, the book managed to keep things... not exactly light-hearted but at least joyful, endearing, and positive.

The mystery itself isn't crazy complicated but even so, Osman finds a way to pack in twists and turns enough to make one dizzy. I hazarded a guess as to the culprit very early in the beginning, I was led on a wild goose chase all throughout the book, and then developments had me absolutely sold that my initial guess had been correct - only to find out that I was actually completely off the mark. I love it when mysteries lead me in circles though, and as long as everything made sense in the sense.

I also want to give a shout-out to short chapters. This book has a lot of chapters but it didn't feel slow at all because they were all so short and I appreciated that.

Overall, a great read for anyone who enjoys murder mysteries and/or Agatha Christie.