To their surprise, they become involved in solving a recent murder when property developer, Ian Ventham, is killed right on Coopers Chase's grounds. This murder leads the four to meet Detective Chief Inspector Chris Hudson, Police Constable Donna de Freitas and Bogdan. Alongside these three people, the Thursday Murder Club help to track down Ventham's murderer and, fortunately or unfortunately, his won't be the last.
The Thursday Murder Club is a series of mystery novels by Richard Osman. The books are episodic, as they each follow their own separate mysteries, but there are subplots that develop with each progressive novel.
The series includes the following novels:
- The Thursday Murder Club (2020)
- The Man Who Died Twice (2021)
- The Bullet That Missed (2022)
- The Last Devil to Die (2023)
A feature film adaptation of the first book is in pre-production from Amblin Entertainment, with Steven Spielberg producing and Chris Columbus directing and writing. The cast will include Helen Mirren as Elizabeth, Pierce Brosnan as Ron and Ben Kingsley as Ibrahim. Joyce has yet to be cast.
The novels provide examples of:
- Amateur Sleuth: No member of the Thursday Murder Club is a trained criminal investigator, but this doesn't stop them from digging into cases.
- The Chessmaster: As the mysteries develop and the lists of suspects start forming, Elizabeth is the one who begins pulling the strings to bring everyone together and expose the culprit without anyone else realising what she's doing until it's too late.
- Connie Johnson, Fairhaven's drug kingpin, is a maestro at remaining behind the scenes as well. Even after her arrest and incarceration, she remains a major player in the underworld, and in The Last Devil to Die she orchestrates two of the book's murders, which not even the Club discovers.
- The Dead Guy Did It: In The Thursday Murder Club. Feigned by Penny's husband, Alex, who commits suicide after (falsely) confessing to the crime. Penny isn't actually dead at the beginning of the novel, but she's in a coma following a stroke. It's revealed that she murdered an abusive boyfriend and murderer whose death The Thursday Murder Club are trying to solve.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the first book, Ian Ventham illegally parks his Range Rovernote in the last handicap spot because it's convenient, refuses to pay 15p extra for Fairtrade coffee, tries to reduce a £4,000 debt by complaining about Bogdan's "discolored" swimming pool grouting jobnote , fails, doesn't feel the slightest bit of guilt or embarrassment about it, says he'll pay £3,000, and actually pays £2,800. Then he goes back to his car, sees someone who actually needs the handicapped spot is miffed at him, and can't understand why. After all, he was there first. note Ian: (thinking) What is wrong with some people?
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Like the name implies, the Thursday Murder Club is a club that gets together to discuss murders on Thursdays.
- Expansion Pack Past: Elizabeth was The Spymaster during the Cold War and has worked all over the world, knows people everywhere, and is owed favours by them all.
- Friend on the Force: Chris and Donna provide the occasional bit of information and do the actual arresting once the club solves the mystery. Donna loves cooperating while Chris is more reluctant, preferring that the club turn over evidence so that he can do his job.
- Hidden Depths: Bogdan is introduced as a labourer who'd prefer to keep his nose out of other people's business. He's gradually revealed to be an expert chess player, knows much more about what's happening than he lets on, and has connections within Kent's underworld.
- Little Old Lady Investigates: Two, in this case, in the form of Elizabeth and Joyce.
- The Narrator: Joyce's journal entries provide a first-person perspective on the plot at key points in the novels.
- Non-Indicative Name: The Murder Club is listed on the village recreation schedule as “Japanese Opera Discussion” to keep the curious away. But Ron showed up initially because he didn’t believe it and wanted to know what was really going on.
- Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The various committees which actually run Cooper's Chase day-to-day. Even hardened crooks know better than to cross the Parking Committee!
- Retired Badass:
- Elizabeth was a spy during the Cold War and occasionally thinks back on times when she had to engage in gun battles with Soviets and barely survived shelling while operating deep behind the Iron Curtain.
- Ron used to be a union organizer on the front lines during the years labour disputes in Great Britain were long and violent.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Played for drama. Stephen, Elizabeth's husband, suffers from dementia and is slowly losing lucidity. A sign that his decline is truly taking hold is when he struggles to call up his formidable chess skills while playing against Bogdan.
- Token Minority: Ibrahim is the only non-white member of the Thursday Murder Club.
- Who Murdered the Asshole: The Plot-Triggering Death in the first novel is that of a jerkass property develop while the second novel is kicked off by the death of a womanizing cad.
