The Thursday Murder Club 3⭐️/5

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

3⭐️/5

A solid three stars for this gang of elderly residents living together at the retirement village of Cooper’s Chase. They spend their time discussing unsolved mysteries in the jigsaw room every Thursday, thus, The Thursday Murder Club.

Their theoretical detective work becomes reality when a man is found dead with a strange photograph left next to the body, and the Thursday Murder Club are delighted (well, as delighted as one can be when a murder is involved) to solve a real case. An entertaining, cozy murder mystery featuring lovable characters and a few surprises along the way.

I’d say two of my three stars were for the central characters alone. Our four members of the Thursday Murder Club: Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron are clever, kind, silly, entertaining, and observant.

However, that leaves one star for the plot, making the combination worth the read if only to enjoy our intrepid, albeit quirky, retirees, but it felt like the author forgot about the storyline himself, which left the reader distracted and plot lines muddled.

There were too many motives, too many bodies piled up, and too many side characters with names I’d instantly forget the moment they left the scene. The climactic moments weren’t all that climactic, and in all honesty, a bit confusing.

In general, the plot lost me for either being too convoluted to be invested in the crime (which felt odd for a murder mystery) or the pace was too slow despite our enthusiastic bunch of mystery-solvers.

I didn’t think the multiple POV worked for this story, it jumped around so much that I found it difficult to follow what was going on. Though I did enjoy Joyce’s diary entries because she’s so lovable, the number of character perspectives was distracting and I wasn’t excited to pick up the book when I set it down.

I’ve heard the next one has a bit better plot, so I’d probably pick it up just to spend more time in the Jigsaw Room with my favorite senior citizens.