The Thursday Murder Club

The Thursday Murder Club is a 2020 crime novel, the debut novel by Pointless and House of Games 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 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. He 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 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.

Reception and sequels
In The Times, Christina Hardyment said the book has an "ingenious plot". The Guardian described it as the "fastest selling adult crime debut" in recorded history. The audiobook, one of 10 nominees, received the Sounds of Crime Award at Crimefest in 2021.

The sequels, The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, and The Last Devil to Die, were published in the Septembers of 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. A fifth book in the series is planned for release in 2025.

Adaptations
The book was adapted for BBC Radio 4 and broadcast in early 2021, read by Haydn Gwynne.

On March 5, 2020, Steven Spielberg's production company Amblin Entertainment bought the book's global film rights, with the script to be written and the film directed by Ol Parker. Filming was reportedly set to start in March 2024, with Viola Davis and Meryl Streep rumored to be attached. On April 18, 2024, Chris Columbus was announced as director, replacing Parker. On April 23, Osman confirmed via an episode of The Rest Is Entertainment that Helen Mirren would play Elizabeth, Pierce Brosnan would play Ron, and Ben Kingsley would play Ibrahim with Joyce yet to be cast. On April 25, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film. On May 21, Osman confirmed that Celia Imrie would play Joyce.