Author:Richard Osman
After a break last year, Richard Osman reunites us once again with the Thursday Murder Club for a fifth instalment of their adventures. It’s been a quiet year for the elderly gang, with Elizabeth still mourning the loss of her husband. Joyce, however, has a wedding to plan for her daughter, but the case begins when the Best Man mysteriously disappears after the celebrations, taking with him half of the code needed to access a fortune in Bitcoin. Suspects abound, including his business partner, a poverty stricken aristocrat and a career criminal. Meanwhile, in a second thread, Ron’s family is threatened by a vicious estranged son in law. Osman cleverly weaves the two plot lines together in this cosy but nonetheless exciting thriller, with a clever and unexpected denouement at the climax. Along the way, he returns to themes that will be familiar to those who have read the previous books, and actually to anyone really – loneliness is bad, family and friends are good, your body and mind beginning to fail you as the years pass isn’t much fun, but by sticking together and helping each other the passage through the later years in life can be made easier and even enjoyable. This is another entertaining read that devotees will lap up, and it will no doubt be in lots of Christmas stockings later this year.
Length of Read:Long
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Although in theory this is a standalone novel, you really need to read the preceding four books before diving in, or at the very least have seen the Netflix film, in order to follow the ongoing storylines of the individual characters.
One thing you’ve learned
Another bestseller without a doubt – it’s a warm and comforting feeling to meet once more these old friends in Cooper’s Chase, and Osman does have a knack of making some rather poignant observations on life that really resonate, and I’m sure will capture the feelings and emotions of many readers.
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