“…pure drug-like joy to read…”

I’ll start by saying that I am not a detective fiction fan. Murder mysteries do nothing for me. I don’t read them, I don’t watch them on TV other than very occasionally or if they are classics like Sherlock Holmes or other such frivolous fun.

I say I don’t watch them; sometimes family forces you to do so. I’ve just done Broadchurch (all three seasons – they should have stopped at two). I did The Serpent before that and just did Des. From time to time I’ve watched an Agatha Christie, and I do want to see The Mousetrap sooner or later just so I can say I’ve done it.

Fundamentally though, the problem I have with all these things is that they’re ugly. I am too well aware of how ugly we are as human beings, as society, I don’t need fictionalised versions of the same. It is the same reason I don’t watch soap operas: everyone just hates everyone else, or sleeps with them, or both. I would much rather watch Clarkson’s Farm or anything by David Attenborough or actually just sit in my garden watching the famers in the field opposite and listen to the birds. The older I get, the more I simply don’t like my own species. Murder mysteries, then, hold no interest.

But then you hear of a book, and keep hearing about it, and it is written by a comedian, someone you quite like when you see them on TV, and you think, “well, let’s give it a go and see if it’s tripe.” And so, I got the Audible copy of Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. And my initial thoughts? Well, it is quite funny, yes. It is definitely a murder mystery – a proper whodunnit. And it has much of the vibes of a Miss Marple (I have love/hate relationship with Agatha Christie, which I won’t go into here). All fine, all blah, blah.

What I didn’t expect was to absolutely fall in love with all the characters (the ones that don’t get murdered anyway) and adore this little world Osman takes us into. I was hooked from the beginning and remained hooked to the very last word. This was pure drug-like joy to read (or, in my case, have read to me).

There is an element of me getting old, I suspect, and so beginning to identify with these would-be sleuths from a retirement village. Osman reminds us that just because you’re old it doesn’t mean you’re useless or redundant. Old people still have plenty of spunk about them. Certainly this qu=artet – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron – have a range of skills that are all utilised to the full and succeed in solving multiple mysteries.

There’s also the aspect that this book is very English in the best possible sense of the word. There is an aspect of everyman about these characters; at least every English man (and woman). We’ve all known some of these characters in our lives. Heck, we all probably recognise parts of ourselves in some of them too. They are our neighbours and our grandparents and the guy down the pub and the lady who works at the corner shop. It is a quintessential English novel, and lovely for it.

But I think I identify more with the sheer sense of community. People are nice to each other here – even the police in this story, classic on-the-back-foot officers beloved of Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple, are nice and not actually incompetent fools who just get in the way. You get to know each of the characters properly, warts and all, rather than see them from afar in a rather two-dimensional way. While Elizabeth is the genius manipulator, leading the gang and always getting her way, she’s also deeply loving and caring, even though she doesn’t admit it. Similarly, Joyce seems rather simple and smiley, but her pleasant demeanour results in those around her letting their guard down. And so on. Each character is fleshed out. You know these people. You’d like to spend time with them all.

And indeed, I do. I want more of these characters in my life. It isn’t even a question about getting the next book. That’s a given, a done deal. My hope is that Osman will give us not just one sequel but many more. There’s a lot more these characters can give us before their time is up. I can’t wait.

My Verdict:

Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.

Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.

D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.

Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.