I LOVE THIS BOOK AND BOOK SERIES AND YOU SHOULD READ IT. Yup. All caps. Yelling right out of the gate. I mean serious business. This joy is not a drill!
This book is the fourth in the series, so if you haven’t read The Thursday Murder Club you should begin at the beginning and prepare to nearly swoon with delight in each installment. Osman has created a quartet of characters that I cannot wait to visit when I finally travel to England, because duh obviously these are real people (and I won’t hear otherwise).
Though originally Osman said he was going to stop this series after this installment (queue yelling and major anguish) but he has since said he will come back to these characters (huzzah!) but is taking a break for a while (boo). Because of the underdetermind delay for new material in this series, I waited as long as I possibly could to read it, whiiiiich only amounted to 6 months since it was first published in September 2023. But it was the best I could do! I was too eager to spend more time with these characters at their retirement village, solving murders.
In this installment, it’s a waiting game as there are missing valuables and a number of viable suspects. As the suspects begin to get killed off, we have a bit of an Agatha Christie-esque And Then Where Were None face-off among the criminal element who all had motive and opportunity. Osman pulls from his usual bag of tricks with the gang, once again we are charmed by the narrative device of Joyce’s diary entries. Also, we get deepening character development across the board and some very sober moments. Was there sobbing? Maybe. A little. Okay definitely. Yes. At least twice. Osman was at his best and I’ll be eagerly awaiting what comes next.
This is the coziest of cozy mysteries and I will recommend it and the series to bascially anyone who is looking to read a good book.