Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - The Thursday Murder Club

Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

22 reviews

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I picked up The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman because I liked the idea of reading a mystery set in a retirement village!

Blurb:

Four members of a retirement community form a club to discuss and try to solve cold cases. When one of the people who helped build their community is murdered, they decide to take the opportunity to solve a real-life murder case.

Review:

It is easy to see why The Thursday Murder Club gained such buzz when it was released. The writing is clever, the elderly members of the Thursday Murder Club are endearing and well-written, and the book (especially the first half) is chock full of humor. I laughed out loud several times while reading. At the same time, the retirement community setting—a place that is both lively and sober, given the age of its members—offers an opportunity for touching and poignant moments as the characters face the realities of aging and losing loved ones.

Toward the end of the novel, as Osman works to tie up the loose ends to the main mysteries, the red herring mysteries, and almost every other random plot point he has introduced, I started to feel lost in the weeds. The book contains an unusually large supporting cast of characters, and nearly every single one of them had their own ending or mystery that Osman felt the need to address. The focus shifted away from the main Thursday Murder Club members, draining the story of much of its initial humor and heart. Although I enjoyed watching the police and the senior citizens work through the clues and the mystery step by step, I was disappointed that the author still opted for the surprise “info-dump” resolution to the mysteries instead of letting the reader figure out the solution at the same time as the characters.

The story also suffers from occasional tonal dissonance as Osman tries to make the narrative funny, cerebral, lighthearted, serious, and exciting. One throwaway line that stuck out to me in this regard was a remark about one of the main police characters: “She had arrested a shoplifter in Fairhaven last week, and when he had struggled, she had brought him down with a baton between the knees. She was aware she had hit him much harder than she should. Sometimes you just had to hit things” (124-25). That line greatly disturbs me, as it paints police brutality as something that is normal and relatable. The book completely glosses over the problematic nature of referring to a person as a “thing” that can be beaten by police to let out their excess anger. There were other similar, if less alarming, instances where Osman occasionally drops the ball when trying to juggle multiple tones.

Overall, I enjoyed many aspects of The Thursday Murder Club, but my enjoyment waned significantly as the story went on. I do not feel compelled to pick up any of the story’s sequels.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like The Thursday Murder Club if:

· You are a fan of cozy, small-town murder mysteries

· Following a quirky cast of elderly crime solvers sounds like fun

· You enjoy stories that alternate between humorous remarks, serious reflections on life and death, and crime investigation

You might not like The Thursday Murder Club if:

· You prefer simpler mysteries

· You don’t like having to keep track of multiple characters and plotlines

· You are upset by people making light of murder

Content Warnings

cedardleland's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Like a lot of detective novels, this is very pro-police. And also commonly for a book with elderly main characters there's a lot of focus on death and grief of loved ones. It was a well-enough-written detective novel but I ended up finding most of the main characters unsympathetic and the implied ethics of the text disturbing.

Content Warnings