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The Thursday Murder Club

The Thursday Murder Club

2020 crime novel by Richard Osman

2 min read

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Interest in “The Thursday Murder Club” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-02-28.

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2026-01-30Peak: 1,1892026-02-27
30-day total: 23,824

Key Takeaways

  • The Thursday Murder Club is a 2020 murder mystery novel, the debut novel by British television presenter Richard Osman.
  • It was published on 3 September 2020 by Viking Press, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, and also released in 2020 as an audiobook, read by Lesley Manville.
  • Background and publication Osman's inspiration for the book came from a visit he made to an upmarket retirement village.
  • Osman wrote the book over 18 months in secret.
  • After a 10-way publishing auction, Penguin Random House acquired the rights to The Thursday Murder Club and its sequel The Man Who Died Twice for a seven-figure sum in 2019.

The Thursday Murder Club is a 2020 murder mystery novel, the debut novel by British television presenter Richard Osman. It is the first installment in his Thursday Murder Club series. It was published on 3 September 2020 by Viking Press, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, and also released in 2020 as an audiobook, read by Lesley Manville.

Plot

A group of pensioners (Elizabeth Best, Ron Ritchie, Joyce Meadowcroft and Ibrahim Arif) set about solving the mystery of the murder of a property developer in the luxurious Cooper's Chase retirement village near the fictitious seaside village of Fairhaven in Kent.

Background and publication

Osman's inspiration for the book came from a visit he made to an upmarket retirement village. The premise and title bear clear similarities to Agatha Christie’s The Tuesday Club Murders, which also features a protagonist called Joyce.

Osman wrote the book over 18 months in secret. At 400 pages, the text is structured as 115 short chapters.

After a 10-way publishing auction, Penguin Random House acquired the rights to The Thursday Murder Club and its sequel The Man Who Died Twice for a seven-figure sum in 2019. The book was published on 3 September 2020. It sold 45,000 copies in its first three days on sale and became a Sunday Times number one bestseller. As of 8 September, it had been sold in 16 countries. In the week leading up to 19 December, it sold 134,514 copies, making it the first debut novel ever to be Christmas number one in the UK.

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Content sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0

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