Read History
2026 | Score: 5
Still reading this with my wife. The characters are fun to read and the plot is generally interesting. This one really seemed to embrace the absurd nature of having your protagonists be in their late 70’s.
Format: Book
Days: 11
Date: 2/25/2026 -> 3/8/2026
Summary
The Bullet That Missed Summary
Richard Osman
The Thursday Murder Club #1
The Thursday Murder Club is looking into the decade old murder of Bethany Waites, a local journalist and reporter. They invite another local TV guy, Mike Waghorn, up to do an interview with Ron so they can ask him about Bethany. Ron gets to talking with the makeup artist Pauline. Mike cared a lot about Bethany and agrees to help them.
Elizabeth has been getting strange text messages, then when on a walk with Stephen, they are knocked unconscious and abducted to a strange house. They meet a huge swedish man who says Elizabeth will kill Victor Illyich, an ex KGB criminal money launderer, or he will kill Joyce. Elizabeth keeps this secret from Joyce and tries to figure it out.
Bogdan and Donna have started dating but are keeping it a secret. Bogdan is spending more time with Stephen and keeps helping them out. He picks them up in staffordshire after the swedish man lets them go. They refer to him as The Viking.
Joyce adopted a dog named Alan. Bethany was investigating a 10 million pound VAT fraud case when she died, and the people they know where involved are Jack Mason, who is still free, and Heather Garbutt, who got 10 years in prison. The same prison Connie Johnson is in. Ibrahim goes to meet Connie, to ask for help with Heather and convince her not to kill Ron when she gets out and to be her therapist. Connie agrees to help. Due to her money she can mostly do what she wants in the prison. But when she talks to Heather, Heather is clearly worried about what will happen if she talks.
Ron goes to play snooker with Jack Mason, and learns that he knows who killed Bethany but won’t say any more except that it was not him. Ron has a good time. Mike asks the Kent chief of police, Andrew Everton, for any help on the case. Andrew goes to Coopers Chase supposedly to read from his detective novels he publishes, but in reality wants to meet Ibrahim. Shortly after he want to prison to see Connie Johnson, Heather Garbutt was found dead. Ibrahim says he can’t talk about it since Connie is his patient now. Her death looks kind of like a suicide by knitting needles but they found a note saying “Only Connie Johnson can help now” on her body.
Elizabeth takes Joyce and goes to kill Victor Illyich, since she has no other plan. They meet him at his pent house apartment since he likes Elizabeth a lot. Then Elizabeth takes him into the bathroom and shoots him while Joyce destroys her phone. Except she just shot the ceiling and they are going to fake his death. Elizabeth figured out the viking was listening through her phone. They take Victor back to Coopers Chase and he is staying with Joyce.
Elizabeth and Joyce go to interview Fiona Clemence, someone who used to work with Bethany but now is quite famous.
Chris Hudson is trying out for a small TV role after Mike told him he could be good at it, but when about to film a short news sequence Mike takes Donna instead and she kills it. Victor is helping trying to track the money back through the VAT fraud to see if they can figure out who it went to or where it is. They find a couple names but they don’t seem to mean anything.
The viking goes to Victor’s apartment and finds a bullet hole in the ceiling, meaning he knows Elizabeth did not shoot him. The bullet that missed. So now he has to kill Joyce. He goes to Coopers Chase and is waiting in her room when she arrives. She talks him down and says he shoot wait for Victor, and offers him tea and talks about Cryptocurrency when he passes out. Joyce drugged him with sleeping pills and dog medicine. The whole gang ties him up and talk sense into him. They know who he is since Stephen recognized some unique books in his library when they were kidnapped. He talks it out with Victor, who he was against since he uses cryptocurrency and Victor preaches against it because it is risky. The viking agrees to help them and be their friend. Pauline, who is now Ron’s girlfriend, has also been helping them with stuff.
Ron and Victor hang out with Jack Mason who tells them that whoever killed Bethany buried her body somewhere, but covered it with Jack’s and Heather’s DNA so they could never turn him in. They go dig at Heather’s old house and find guns and stuff but no body.
They realize the note wrote before she died is different than her actual handwriting. The viking and Victor work together and they find a few more names of interest in the VAT fraud trail. They hatch a plan. Chris and Donna go to talk to Jack Mason and find him dead in his house.
Chris and Donna are getting awards for arresting Connie Johnson. Donna is upset since Bogdan said he could not come. Andrew Everton gives them the awards.
Andrew Everton drives up to a house in Staffordshire to meet with the viking. He has 10 million dollars in various accounts he needs help getting. The gang has set up a video livestream of this on Fiona’s instagram with many followers so a ton of people see Andrew confess to the stealing of money and eventually killing bethany, Heather, and Jack. Bogdan ties up Andrew, when Donna sees this she forgives him. Mike comes in and gives an impassioned speech to the viewers and kind of an eulogy for Bethany.
In prison Andrew knows he will get off lightly since the only murder he actually did was Jack, but that one is unprovable. Except Chris realizes the award he was given may have DNA on it and they analyze it and find Jack Mason’s blood.
Connie Johnson is actually a psychopath, despite what she pretends to Ibrahim. She ripped up Heather’s suicide note, wrote the new one, and had the gaurd destroy the camera footage.
Bethany is actually alive. She stole the 10 million from the original thieves and now lives in Dubai.
Elizabeth and Victor feel something is off and say they should visit Dubai.