Englischsprachige Literatur

Osman Richard

The Thursday Murder Club

 

Galbraith3

This is Osman´s first novel of his Thursday Murder Club series with now three novels. And contrary to what usually is the case, Osman´s third novel is a lot better, funnier and more absurd. So this author had to develop his style before he became really good at what he is writing.

In his lengthy “acknowledgements” Osman recounts how he got to know people in a retirement village and learnt that they lived quite happy lives there. So he took that as his model for Coopers Chase.

We meet Joyce, who tells part of the story in first person, allegedly so as she writes a diary, Elizabeth, a former secret agent, Ron, a union activist in his best times, and Ibrahim, a former psychotherapist. They founded the Thursday Murder Club to investigate cold cases. But now there are two actual murder cases, and a corpse, that has been exhumed in the course of further development on a former graveyard.

The plot takes its twists and turns, not all of them logical and in the end the murderers either go free or take their own life, which is not a satisfying end for a murder mystery.