“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”
Now that The Thursday Murder Club is streaming on Netflix, new fans of the film may want to read the book it is based off of: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. However, there’s not just one book in the series, but five. (The fifth, The Impossible Fortune, actually comes out later this month.)
Like in the film, the books follow the core foursome—Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce, and Ibrahim—solving murder mysteries from their home in a retirement community called Coopers Chase.
“I wanted to write about real people who happens to be in their eighties and can use the advantages of that in being invisible and having time on their hands. But I can’t write it without showing the darker side of it and the grief and the death and the infirmities and all that. People, when they hear the idea might go, ‘oh yeah, okay, I get what that’s going to be. It’s going to be cutesy old people, aren’t they clever? Hopefully it’s not, hopefully it’s smart, mischievous, older people who go through an awful lot of pain in between solving crimes,” Osman told T&C around the publication of the fourth book in the series, The Last Devil to Die. “I try never to veer from the truth of what it is to be a human being.”
He added, “I do have strong views about the way the world is going and the way we speak to each other as it was. I’m trying to write something that has a counter narrative to it. By all means, read it as a lovely, cute, cozy crime book. But I think I’m trying to do something else as well, which is to say I think we’re probably kinder, nicer as human beings than we’re currently being given credit for.”
Here, how to read all The Thursday Murder Club books in order:
The Thursday Murder Club
The first book in Osman’s series introduces four septuagenarians—Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce, and Ibrahim—who meet Thursdays in their retirement home’s “Jigsaw Room” to discuss cold cases. When a local developer is found dead, the group finds themself in the middle of a live murder mystery.
The Man Who Died Twice
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim are looking for peace and quiet after solving a real murder—but when an old friend of Elizabeth’s turns up, desperate for her help after being accused of stealing diamonds, they are pulled into a new case. Can they catch the killer (and find the diamonds) before it’s too late?
The Bullet That Missed
In the third Thursday Murder Club, a cold case turns hot. Elizabeth is confronted by a new foe, who threatens her to kill someone or he will kill her friends.
The Last Devil to Die
After an antique dealer from Brighton—an old friend of Stephen’s—is killed, the gang investigates his mysterious death. As they solve the mystery, they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online scammers.
The Impossible Fortune
The newest Thursday Murder Club book, set to be published on September 30 in the U.S., is a small time jump from the end of book four. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim are attending Joyce’s daughter’s wedding, and there, a guest asks Elizabeth for her help. When he disappears the next day, the Thursday Murder Club is on the case.
You Might Also Like