The Thursday Murder Club
by Richard Osman
★ Top 25 book of 2020 · #20 on Best Books of 2020
Four friends in a quiet retirement village gather weekly to examine unsolved crimes. When a local developer turns up dead, they are thrust into a real investigation as the body count rises.
Best for: Mystery fans who enjoy clever amateur sleuths and a cozy retirement-village setting
The Thursday Murder Club is #20 on BookWard's Best Books of 2020, out of 65 2020 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Thursday Murder Club is about
Cooper's Chase is a comfortable retirement village near the made-up seaside village of Fairhaven in Kent, and it is home to four friends with sharp minds and time to spare: Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce and Ibrahim. Every week they gather in the Jigsaw Room to talk over unsolved crimes, purely for the fun of it. Then a local developer is found dead, with a puzzling photograph left beside the body, and the club has its first live case. As the situation grows darker, the four set about getting to the truth in their own way. Richard Osman's debut mixes mystery with warmth and humor, and has much to say about friendship, growing older and community. It suits readers who like a cozy puzzle with plenty of heart.
The Thursday Murder Club on the Best Books of 2020
The Thursday Murder Club came out in 2020. Of the 65 books first published in 2020 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #20 on our Best Books of 2020 list.
Why it made the list: 407 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.7 out of 5 (20 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2020 list
- Crave Tracy Wolff, #18
- My Dark Vanessa Kate Elizabeth Russell, #19
See all Best Books of 2020 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2019 Best Books of 2021.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 351 want to read it, 13 are reading it now and 43 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.7 out of 5 from 20 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 72 | 55% |
| Reader love | 11 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 71 | 20% |
Questions about The Thursday Murder Club
When was The Thursday Murder Club published?
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman was first published in 2020.
Was The Thursday Murder Club one of the best books of 2020?
The Thursday Murder Club is #20 on BookWard's Best Books of 2020, out of 65 2020 books that cleared our data bar. 407 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.7 out of 5 (20 ratings).
Why is The Thursday Murder Club on the Best Books of 2020 list?
407 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.7 out of 5 (20 ratings).
More of the best books of 2020
- Good Girl, Bad Blood Holly Jackson, #1
- The Inheritance Games Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #2
- The Psychology of Money Morgan Housel, #3
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Suzanne Collins, #4
- Heartstopper, Volume 3 Alice Oseman, #5
- The Midnight Library Matt Haig, #6
See the full Best Books of 2020, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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