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January 2023

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The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Five Stars

Best for:
Fans of cleverly constructed who done its.

In a nutshell:
A group of retirees investigate the murders of contractors planning to expand their retirement community.

Worth quoting:
N/A (Audio book)

Why I chose it:
I think the second or third book in this series was recently released, and I keep seeing this everywhere. I decided to see if I could enjoy a fiction audio book. Turns out I can.

What it left me feeling:
Impressed

Review:
What fun. Which, I know, weird thing to say about a murder mystery, but that’s literally what I uttered – out loud – as I listened to the credits.

Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Ron, and Joyce are retirees living in a community. On Thursdays, they meet to discuss old unsolved murders. Ian and Tony are contractors who are looking to expand the retirement community, which includes moving a cemetery. Donna and Chris are local police officers.

I can’t say much more about the plot without spoiling it, so instead I’ll speak to something I very much enjoyed about this book: the development of characters who are older / elderly.

I’ve already mentioned in at least one other review this year that my parents are getting older, and I think as I age myself I’m getting more conscious of the media out there that depicts older adults. I loved Grace and Frankie because it treated people in their 70s as fully functional, complex, interesting people, not just grandparents whose minds are slipping. I think so much of our media (in the US and UK at least) focuses on the young (obviously) and the middle aged, but sort of forgets about people who have retired.

Not author Osman. He’s written characters who are widowed, divorced, married. People who had rich working lives and who are trying to sort out how to enjoy this stage of their lives. People with children nearby, people without children, people with children living elsewhere. That isn’t the primary focus of the book of course – there is murder to solve! – but I got a real sense of who these people were when they were younger, as well as who they are now. And who they are as individuals, not in relation to / in a role of parent or spouse. Smart people, who use the fact that they are often overlooked to their advantage. That’s not something I recall having seen done successfully, and I look forward to reading the next books in the series.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend to a Friend

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