Blurb:
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron might be pushing eighty, but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?
My Review:
I had heard a lot about The Thursday Murder Club, so I picked it up without much thought. The story starts slow, following a group of retirement village residents who spend their time solving old cases for fun as part of their Thursday Murder Club. Soon, an actual murder takes place, and they begin investigating it alongside the police.
Part One feels slow but has its moments. It’s light, funny, and we start to see the budding dynamics between the members. Part Two is where the pace finally picks up. More deaths occur—some natural, some murders—and secrets begin to unravel. By the end, we get the full picture of what really happened.
That said, while the ending is unpredictable, it also felt a bit unbelievable. There isn’t enough foreshadowing to support the final reveal, so certain developments come across as things that just happened. A few plot threads also seem to be conveniently dropped without any satisfying resolution.
The story does keep you hooked in parts, but by the time we reach the climax, the sheer number of characters becomes overwhelming. There are so many people introduced that it gets difficult to track who’s who and what exactly is going on—especially if you’re speed-reading and not mentally mapping characters. The four core members of the club are interesting, and Elizabeth in particular stands out as a compelling character. I can’t say the same for most of the others, who lack distinct personalities.
It’s also mildly amusing (and slightly unbelievable) how little the police seem to do, and how readily they rely on the opinions of four septuagenarians and octogenarians to solve an active murder case.
The narrative structure shifts between multiple perspectives—third-person viewpoints and Joyce’s diary entries. Personally, I found Joyce’s sections unhelpful. They tend to repeat information we already know, without adding much new insight.
That said, the book does have genuinely touching and hilarious moments scattered throughout.
Overall, I prefer mysteries that keep me on the edge of my seat throughout. This one only really achieved that in the last 100 pages, mainly because that’s when it finally starts narrowing down suspects and eliminating them. But, of course, the plot was made way more complicated, and the final revelation felt more like “What? How?” instead of “Ohh damnnn!” There was one oh damn moment in the book, but that was a fake revelation. And the repeated “we’ve got the culprit—this is it” moments didn’t help either.
I can see why many readers enjoy the humor in this book, but for me, both the humor and the mystery were just… so-so.
Suitable For Age: 13+