Read History
2026 | Score: 6.5
I read this with my Wife. Enjoyable murder mystery, not the most suspense but a light, fun read.
Format: Book
Days: 9
Date: 1/8/2026 -> 1/17/2026
Summary
The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman
Thursday Murder Club #1
We are reading between Joyce’s diary entries and a limited third person POV with different characters. Joyce is a 70 something living at the coopers chase retirement facility. She is introduced to Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron who run the Thursday Murder CLub, where they go over cold cases and try to solve them. THe owner of Coopers Chase, Ian Ventham, is a bad guy who only really cares about money. He is planning to fire his long time business partner Tony Curran and replace him with Bogdan, a polish guy who is very handy. But Ian is worried Tony will try something since he has a history with drug dealing and guns. Ian is also planning to renovate an old nunnery and graveyard to make more money. He fires Tony and moves on. Tony is back at home, planning to kill Ian, when someone bludgeons him and he dies.
The thursday murder club now have a case close to home, and rope in Detective Chris Hudson and DCI Donna De Freitas to helping share information. Elizabeth seems to be ex-british secret service or something. There was a photo by Tony’s body showing him with Jason Ritchie, the son of Ron and one other old gang member who has been missing for decades.
Ian Ventham brings a digging crew to dig up the old nun convent graveyard to turn it into more old people housing. The old people try to stop him, and an old Priest, father Matthew Mackie comes to help them. Bogdan goes up and starts digging anyway. He passes Bernard Cottle, who always sits on a bench by the graveyard. Ian Ventham pushes father Matthew Mackie and people close in from all sides, trying to split them up. The police are here now and tell Ian to leave. He starts walking to his car but something is clearly wrong, then he falls over dead. Meanwhile Bogdan just dug up bones that should not be there, so he reburies them and leaves.
Elizabeth also has an old friend Penny who is in Willows, the long-term hospital. Penny is an ex cop and the reason they have access to these old cases. He husband John is an ex Veterinarian who is always sitting with her in the hospital. Elizabeth will freqwuently go talk to penny even though she is in a coma like state. Bogdan tells Elizabeth about the bones he found and she sends them to a friend to get analyzed. Joyce also has her daughter Joanna look into Ian Venthams finances to see what they can find out.
Meanwhile, the polic ethink Jason Ritchie killed Tony, but he tells them he didn’t. Said it was probably Turkish Johnny. Chris and Donna investigate Father Mackie and find he is not ap riest but a doctor from Ireland, but he won’t tell them anything. Bernard then kills himself but his secret was just that he buried his wifes ashes under the bench and is sad. Chris goes to Cyprus to try to track down Turkish Johnny but no one knows where he is. Elizabeth interogates mackie and learns he used to be a priest at this monastery but the nimpregnanted one of the nuns he still loves so he didn’t want her body drug up (she hung herself). The police believe that Turkish Johnny killed Tony, but don;t know about Ian. Elizabeth cracks it after talking with KAren Playfair up on the hill and Karen recognizes an old picture in a magazine from Coopers Chase. John, Penny’s husband, used to be a vet in the 70’s and killed a sad man and buried him in the graveyard. Except that is not ruee. Penny did some street justice and buried a man there, and John was rying to cover for her, so he killed Ian to stop he digging of the graveyard. Elizabeth tells him she wil tell the police tomorrow, so John kills Penny and himself with overdoses. Steoehn, elizabeths dementia having husband, plays chess with Bogdan and asks him if he killed Tony. Bogdan admits it since Tony killed his old friend. Bogdan also killed Turkihs Jognny in the 70’s. ANd Joanna, HJoyces daughter, bought coopers chase and everything goes on.