A review by maxgardner
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Not quite what I was hoping for in terms of a cozy mystery—it has a lot of the right elements, but as a whole, it falls flat. For one, there is a lack of tension to the core mystery(ies) they're trying to solve; the book meanders so much between all the characters that you kind of lose track of what's happened and who the potential suspects are so that you don't feel that thread of tension pulling you along to find out what happens and then, when you do get moments that progress it, they pack less of a punch. I also found the resolutions to the mystery lackluster because the characters and world felt slightly underdeveloped. The only characters in the Thursday Murder Club I feel really get enough time to shine are Elizabeth and Joyce, and Joyce's diary entries get old quickly and don't really benefit the story, which made me dislike her a bit. I liked Elizabeth, and I wish we'd gotten more of Ibrahim, as he seems to be meant to be the analytical thinker/brains of the group, but we barely get any moments that allow him to showcase that. That's maybe one of the bigger failings of the book—each member isn't really given enough to do with their signature trait/characteristic, and in turn, I don't buy the moments when Osman tries to act as though those characteristics played a natural and inevitable part in something happening. I just wish overall this had been more. I wouldn't be opposed to reading the second one and seeing if maybe he's made some improvements now that he's gotten the initial introductory work out of the way.