Although this heading probably looks a bit obscure to many of you, I’m hoping some readers will make the link between the new series of detective novels featuring the Thursday Murder Club and their multi-talented author and personality, Richard Osman, who has jointly presented the BC TV quiz show, Pointless, with Alexander Armstrong, since 2009. For those of you who don’t know him and, I suppose, for those who may not know him too well other than through Pointless, he is a Cambridge-educated television presenter and comedian as well as, most recently, a novelist and, more to the point, a detective fiction novelist.
I’m sure that he is not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea but I am a big fan! I think he is intelligent, sharp, witty and an absolute master of the ad lib. If you watch him on TV on Pointless, you’ll see him sitting with a lap top but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work! On a recent episode of Desert Island Discs, he revealed that he was born with an eye condition known as nystagmus which significantly reduces his vision. As a consequence, he was unable to read the blackboard at school and, now, he is unable to read an autocue – he learns his scripts by heart and makes substantial use of his amazing ability to adlib. Prior to beginning his career as a crime writer, he developed a number of quiz shows for the BBC and, in particular, for some time now, he hosts a show called ‘Richard Osman’s House of Games’ at 6.00p.m., Monday to Friday, with a range of personalities. The story is that he insisted it be scheduled at that time to provide a watchable alternative to the news!
I know I am now coming across as a real sycophant and I make only a slight apology for that. However, bearing that in mind and what the blog is about, let’s move on to look at the Thursday Murder Club, its characters and the three books we’ve seen published to date. The first book, titled ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ came out two years ago and there have been another two since then, ‘The Man Who Died Twice’ and, most recently, ‘The Bullet that Missed’. As I outline the setting and characters, can I say right away that I understand if they don’t immediately appeal to you but my advice is that, if you like crime fiction and interesting plots and characters coupled with a fair degree of humour, you should at least give the first one a try. As ever, not essential to read them in order as you’re brought up to speed but I think it’s worthwhile doing so in this instance.
So, the setting is a pretty up market retirement village which, incidentally, is based on the home where Richard Osman’s mother lives and the four principal characters and members of the Murder Club are a group of pensioner residents. They are Ron, a retired trade union official, Elizabeth, who we assume worked for MI6 and was a spy of some kind, Ibrahim, a retired psychotherapist and Joyce, also retired and possibly the most interesting of the four of them. They are a motley crew but each is appealing and interesting in their own way. To go into more detail here would require too many spoiler alerts! The author describes them really well and you get to know them really quickly as you do a number of other interesting characters who begin to appear and become regular characters in the subsequent titles. While the plots focus on the usual topics of detective fiction, I feel they are structured in an imaginative and inventive way as well as being sprinkled with humour and the many idiosyncrasies of the four main characters. I think its fair to say that the books are also full of little surprises within the various plots.
All in all, I really can’t recommend them highly enough and they have been a real breath of fresh to my detective fiction reading. I can’t wait for the next one to appear around a year from now! They have been received very enthusiastically by the public, although I’m sure Richard Osman’s reputation had a significant hand in this, and rightly so. I understand that Stephen Spielberg has bought the global film rights to the first book.
Whether you know Richard Osman or not, give the books a go and let me know what you think. I realise they might just be a little more appealing to readers of my generation but I can’t imagine you won’t be hooked!