THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

Everyone is talking about this series, and the wonderful film adaptation that has been released on Netflix with a star cast including Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, Ben Kingsley ... the list goes on! So, we have to put it to you. Should 'The Thursday Murder Club’ by the popular TV ‘Pointless’ star, Richard Osman, be in the Den? Our Instagram jury said yes! (80 per cent in fact). It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but for those who love an English murder mystery, a slice of Morse or Lewis (with sprinkles of humour) this is a comforting fun book club choice and a ‘record breaking number one bestseller’ for good reason!

Set in a peaceful retirement village in Kent, four unlikely friends meet up once a week in The Jigsaw Room to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place close to home they find themselves investigating their first live case.

The reader comes to love the cast of characters, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron - all pushing eighty whose boldness, tenacity and joie de vie (with no filters) make this an entertaining and hilarious whodunnit.

‘The Thursday Murder Club’ is indeed a book club pleaser that we all yearn for from time to time. With its short digestible chapters that make it easy to pick up and its straight talking storyline with a strong driving pace this novel can be read in many forms. For the Den the audible version read by Lesley Manville worked brilliantly.

With three further books in the series, that were equally enjoyed in the Den (see our library for reviews) we can't wait for the fifth instalment, 'The Impossible Fortune', published at the end of September. All loveable whodunnits.

Richard Osman won Author of the Year By British Book Awards (2021).