Date: 26 March 2023
Location: Pat & Carol

The Thursday Murder Club
by Richard Osman


We had a nice turnout of 17 Bookers on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to discuss Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. When recommending the book, I had some misgivings and was afraid that folks would think it just a little too whacky for a murder mystery. However, the book was a big hit with the Bookers – 14 of us read all or most of the book, and it appears that we all enjoyed it.

What was really surprising to me were the numerous comments/remarks about the book. Although only a couple of us currently reside in a senior living community, most of us are of the age where we could associate with the characters. We all got a kick out of the fact that the residents really felt the need to get in their afternoon naps – How true that is!

Of course, the book was a fun read with a lot of things going on, and the number of bodies and who did what to whom was difficult to keep track of. In fact, Reynolds declared that he wanted to create a spreadsheet to keep track of all the bodies and the bad guys. We all agreed that it was impossible for the reader to solve the murders.

When our standard question was asked, “How did the author treat women?”, we got several very positive responses, such as “Marvelous” and “I felt he was writing about me”.

The book was such a hit and the discussions so lively, we sort of broke with tradition and decided to read Osman’s next book in the series, The Man Who Died Twice for our next month’s selection.

Following our discussion we had another fine meal thanks to our hosts. It was just a very delightful meeting!

— Bob