The Thursday Murder Club – Listed online under ‘Cosy Crime’, amongst other things, even though the only thing that could possibly be described as ‘cosy’ is the mountain of cake Joyce serves in this book. That aside, every other main character has something rather absurdly positive about them. Ron, who’s actually irritable throughout and loves to fly off the handle. Ibrahim, who’s religiously health-conscious and drives like a mad analyst. Elizabeth, who’s been on missions in virtually every country on the planet and probably has more contacts than other people have hairs on their heads.

But hang on, I’ve forgotten something important. No, we’re not officially in a madhouse, but in a care home. A group of pensioners who, as amateur detectives, look into old cases, are lured out of their cosy home by a real murder case. And it’s not as superficial, idyllic and ‘cosy’ as it sounds. Despite the humour that runs through it – which is brilliant, by the way – the book touches on a surprising number of serious themes that emerge throughout.

LOVED:

• The characters. It was just a change of pace to follow protagonists in their 70s, who would handle many situations completely differently to someone in their 30s.

• The humour – dry, sarcastic, often completely random, actually brilliant.

• The twists – above all, several?!

• The setting – I think it’s brilliant and a real change of pace to have the whole story set in a care home.

• The pace – lots of short chapters, but well organised and without losing track of the bigger picture.

THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU, IF:

• If you’re looking for something entertaining that still has some depth and doesn’t ‘try’ too hard to entertain you.

• You want to binge something really hard.

• You like unique but believable characters and tend to question absolutely everything and everyone.

• You love England. After all, the humour and the settings are quite British.

Please do let me know what you thought of the book – or even the whole series, if you’ve read any more of it! Also; what were your thoughts on the movie? Personally, I loved it!

She (Elizabeth) soon spotted Ron’s key strength, namely, he never believes a single word anyone ever tells him.

“And you’ve chosen, deliberately chosen, a woman architect, so I won’t be allowed to shout.” “You are shouting though, Ron”, says Elizabeth, who is two seats away, reading a newspaper. “Don’t you tell me when I’m shouting, Elizabeth”, shouts Ron.

Sometimes people didn’t like Ian. He never quite worked out why, but over the years learned to live with it. Certainly, it was their problem.

She looks back at Bogdan, shovelling earth into the grave, covered in dirt and sweat. Sliding a broken coffin lid back over one body while carefully avoiding disturbing another body. She thinks this is absolutely the sort of son she would like to have had.

‘Quaint?’ repeats Gordon Playfair, laughing. ‘This place? You and I know it’s an old house, falling apart, for an old man falling apart.’ ‘We’re all falling apart, Gordon.’

Chris is in a concrete seat, bolted to the floor. The back is ramrod straight. It would be the most uncomfortable chair that Chris had ever sat in, had he not just made the flight to Cyprus on Ryanair.