The Thursday Murder Club

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The Thursday Murder Club
The Thursday Murder Club.jpg
First edition
Author Richard Osman
LanguageEnglish
Series Thursday Murder Club
Genre Crime
Publisher Viking Press
Publication date
3 September 2020
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages400
ISBN 978-0241425442
Followed by The Man Who Died Twice  

The Thursday Murder Club is a 2020 murder mystery novel, the debut novel by British television presenter Richard Osman. It is the first installment in his Thursday Murder Club series. It was published on 3 September 2020 by Viking Press, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, and also released in 2020 as an audiobook, read by Lesley Manville. [1]

Contents

Plot

A group of pensioners (Elizabeth Best, Ron Ritchie, Joyce Meadowcroft and Ibrahim Arif) [2] set about solving the mystery of the murder of a property developer [3] in the luxurious Cooper's Chase retirement village near the fictitious seaside village of Fairhaven in Kent. [2]

Background and publication

Osman's inspiration for the book came from a visit he made to an upmarket retirement village. [2] He wrote the book over 18 months in secret. [3] At 400 pages, the text is structured as 115 short chapters.

After a 10-way publishing auction, [2] Penguin Random House acquired the rights to The Thursday Murder Club and its sequel The Man Who Died Twice for a seven-figure sum [4] in 2019. [5] The book was published on 3 September 2020. It sold 45,000 copies in its first three days on sale [5] and became a Sunday Times number one bestseller. [6] As of 8 September, it had been sold in 16 countries. [5] In the week leading up to 19 December, it sold 134,514 copies, making it the first debut novel ever to be Christmas number one in the UK. [7]

Reception and sequels

In The Times , Christina Hardyment said the book has an "ingenious plot". [8] The Guardian described it as the "fastest selling adult crime debut" in recorded history. [2] The audiobook, one of 10 nominees, received the Sounds of Crime Award at Crimefest in 2021. [9]

The sequels, The Man Who Died Twice , The Bullet That Missed, and The Last Devil to Die, were published in the Septembers of 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. [5] A fifth book in the series is planned for release in 2025. [10]

Adaptations

An abridged version of the book was read by Haydn Gwynne and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in early 2021. The reading took two hours and twenty minutes. [11] [12]

A film adaptation of the same name was released in 2025. It was directed by Chris Columbus from a screenplay by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote and stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie.

References

  1. "Audiobook Review: THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman Read by Leslie Manville". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Hickling, Alfred (3 October 2020). "The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman review – cosy crime caper". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Meet the Author: Richard Osman on debut novel The Thursday Murder Club". The Sunday Post. 19 September 2020. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  4. Adams, Tim (22 September 2020). "The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman; The Diver and the Lover by Jeremy Vine – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Chandler, Mark (8 September 2020). "Richard Osman to write two more Thursday Murder Club books for Viking". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  6. Lovejoy, Hannah (20 November 2020). "Pointless host Richard Osman opens up about Steven Spielberg making a movie of his debut novel". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  7. Flood, Alison (22 December 2020). "Richard Osman becomes first debut author to land Christmas No 1". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020. UK Top 10 bestsellers, week ending 19 December 2020 / 1. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 134,514
  8. Hardyment, Christina (2 October 2020). "The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman audiobook review — a feelgood crime caper that reflects society as it is". The Times. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  9. "Awards: Past Winners". Crimefest. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  10. Knight, Lucy (20 February 2024). "Richard Osman to publish first novel in new crime series". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  11. Abridged: Sara Davies; Reader: Haydn Gwynne; Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery; Music: Tom Constantine (25 January 2021). "The Thursday Murder Club: Episode 1". The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. BBC. BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  12. "The Thursday Murder Club By Richard Osman". mediacentre/proginfo. bbc.com. Retrieved 23 March 2023.