(no subject)

[skygiants]

I picked up The Thursday Murder Club after seeing lizbee's post about it -- it's a very charming mystery novel about a wacky band of quirky pensioners who've made a hobby of puzzleboxing out cold cases and are thoroughly delighted when a real live local murder turns up adjacent to their retirement community.

The Thursday Murder Club includes a sum total of four quirky pensioners, but Joyce and Elizabeth are by far the most protagonist-y and their buddy comedy takes up the most page space of the book: Elizabeth is a Force of Nature whose Dark Past is technically shrouded by the Official Secrets Act but certainly involves A Lot Of Useful Skills and Contacts, while sweet and practical retired nurse Joyce is really just truly delighted to be here* and doing something so interesting!

*'here' being 'lying to the police', 'helping to organize a protest,' 'tracking down a gang member in hiding,' or indeed wherever Elizabeth has decided they are going today

Belligerent former union agitator 'Red' Ron and sophisticated elderly psychologist Ibrahim Arif round out the gang and are also a very cute buddy comedy themselves, though they get much less pagetime than Elizabeth and Joyce. The group -- but especially Elizabeth -- are also to a degree haunted (not literally) by the living ghost of Penny, Elizabeth's best friend and Thursday Murder Club founder, who at the beginning of this book has already entered into the catatonia of late-stage dementia.

In fact the book as a whole is also to a large degree haunted by the specter of aging ungracefully, and the threat of losing one's friends and oneself to time, increasingly imminent for all the protagonists, and impossible to fend off forever. Like, I do want to be clear, the book is like a solid 75% Hijinks and Quirky Pensioners Having A Wonderful Time Fighting (And/Or Committing) Crime, but the retirement community also encompasses a large range of dead spouses, another spouse with early Alzheimer's, and at least two suicides over the course of the book. All of which gives the story plenty of depth to sound, and sort of highlights the highs for the Murder Club by giving us a glimpse of the shadows of the lows, but it is something to be aware of going in.

Aside from the Murder Club, the other protagonists are a pair of new-partner cops that the Murder Club befriends; the Murder Club of course constantly getting one over on them but it's All In Good Fun, because this is the sort of detective book where cops are generally Our Friends Who Sometimes Get In Our Way And Must Be Kept Out Of Things For Their Own Good rather than anything more nuanced or critical. Which is part for the course for the genre and I would not have expected anything different, but I do wish so much of that friendship between the Cool Young Cop and her Tired Older Cop Mentor had not been expressed through the young cop firmly encouraging the older cop to Exercise And Get In Shape -- the mild fatphobia is my biggest actual complaint about the book, but it's a small one in the scheme of things.

Comments

[genarti]

This is so up my alley it's in my backyard, as you know! It's certainly possible that the actual reading experience will fall short, but still, I truly cannot wait to find out.

[skygiants]

I am so excited for you to experience it! We'll see whether the first one comes in again for you before the second one comes in for me ....

[nny]

That sounds kind of delightful!

I've found fatphobia is a problem in quite a few outwardly progressive types of media - it's still allowed to be a moral failing, I guess. :/

[skygiants]

It is overall a very charming book! But yeah, fatphobia unfortunately still remains relatively rampant -- I think it took me back especially here because it was such a, like, Bridget Jones nineties way of equating Getting In Shape with Getting Your Life In Order, you know?

[themis1]

This is a book that appeals to almost everyone - all three members of the household have read it, and my boyfriend also loved it. I'm astonished to find a book that appeals to all of us!

[skygiants]

I was simultaneously somewhat surprised and not surprised at all to find out that it had become an instant bestseller, it's a really delightful mix of gentle comedy and competence porn (and murder).

[raven]

Aww I love that book! The sequel is just out, if you haven’t seen it?

[kore]

Oh it IS? //jets off

[rmc28]

I just looked up both books in the Cambridgeshire library system. The Thursday Murder Club has 73 copies and 27 people waiting, The Man Who Died Twice has 15 copies and 87 people waiting.

I think I'm going to make myself person number 28 in the queue for the first one ...

[raven]

Heee, the Islington library service is much smaller so I'm merely 22nd in the queue!

[superborb]

I am 108 in line with 15 copies so... ^^;

[skygiants]

oooh thank you for the alert, I've just put in a library hold for it!

[qian]

This was such a soothing, charming read! Your review reminds me I ought to pick up the sequel ...

[skygiants]

I am delighted to learn that the sequel is already out to be picked up!

[kore]

I liked that a lot! It was charming without being smug or smarmy, which is hard to do. Also I loved the old people were actual characters, which doesn't happen often in murder mysteries.

[skygiants]

Yeah, I was really pleasantly surprised by how competent and in charge of the narrative the old people were -- Elizabeth's wiles, especially, were a tremendous amount of fun.

[sara]

I enjoyed this one and was particularly glad that the romantic end game was Older Cop and Younger Cop's Mom, since I was afraid it would go in a more traditional direction.

[skygiants]

Yes, it was nice that the book constantly took pains to make it clear that the two cops were developing a Friendship Not A Romance! I personally would not wish to set any coworker friends up with one of my parents regardless of how compatible I thought they might be, but to each their own and I hope it works out for them.

[lizbee]

the mild fatphobia is my biggest actual complaint about the book, but it's a small one in the scheme of things.

Yes, this bugged me too! Especially the self-loathing of the older cop, even though it was clearly tied up in a lot of other issues. In that sense I thought it was well-handled, but what if there was no fatphobia at all????

[boxofdelights]

What a world that would be!

[skygiants]

Yeah, and like -- I also wouldn't have minded so much the narrative hadn't clearly believed that constantly nagging someone to stay on their diet and take extra exercise was a sign of True Friendship, but actually I do think those should be decisions a person makes on their own if they wish to and not because somebody else is managing them into it!

[chestnut_pod]

Hm, this sounds very light and fun! I should give it a try.

[skygiants]

Yeah, I read it in like two days -- a very fun and easy read, charming with just enough substance to make you feel like you haven't just been devouring candyfluff.

[sally_maria]

My mother is currently reading it as well, after being taken by a friend to see Richard Osman at the local Literature Festival. He said he was inspired to write it after visiting his mother in a similar community, and thinking about how we forget that old people are still people, in all their varied types.

[skygiants]

He's definitely done a good job writing his older characters as people! You can see the affection he has for them on the page, which makes it really fun to read.

[sally_maria]

It's really good to hear that a book by a "celebrity" author is enjoyable on its own merits, as opposed to just selling on the name. (Though I don't know whether anyone outside the UK will have heard of him.)

[sperrywink]

Sounds like an utterly delightful read!

[skygiants]

I enjoyed it a lot!

[sandrylene]

Oooh, I'm so psyched you read this! I love this book and its sequel a lot. I find it to be sort of relaxing and uplifting, which y'know, has been really useful lately.

I love how everyone in here has their imperfections and everyone's completely fine with that and people know what people's strengths and weaknesses are and rely on each other. If only growing old were like this, honestly. I dunno, maybe it will be. I can only hope.