Richard Osman: Der Donnerstagsmordclub (EBook, de language, Ullstein)
eBook, 464 pages
de language
Published by Ullstein.
ISBN:
978-3-548-06653-0
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4 stars
(5 reviews)
Man möchte meinen, so eine luxuriöse Seniorenresidenz in der idyllischen Grafschaft Kent sei ein friedlicher Ort. Das dachte auch die fast achtzigjährige Joyce, als sie in Coopers Chase einzog. Bis sie Elizabeth, Ron und Ibrahim kennenlernt oder, anders gesagt, eine ehemalige Geheimagentin, einen ehemaligen Gewerkschaftsführer und einen ehemaligen Psychiater. Sie wird Teil ihres Clubs, der sich immer donnerstags im Puzzlezimmer trifft, um ungelöste Kriminalfälle aufzuklären. Als dann direkt vor ihrer Haustür ein Mord verübt wird, ist der Ermittlungseifer der vier Senioren natürlich geweckt, und selbst der Chefinspektor der lokalen Polizeidienststelle kann nur über ihren Scharfsinn staunen.
A group of retirees get together every Thursday and solve cold cases, but one day a hot one in need of solving shows up.
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. While I understand why people enjoy these books, they just aren’t my kind of thing. I didn’t like the crimes, nor the resolutions, and had issues suspending my disbelief about how much detecting the Murder Club could actually do, and found it all a bit too sappy in the end.
Review of "The Thursday Murder Club" by Richard Osman
5 stars
Light, fun, humorous murder mystery with unique and compelling characters. Its charm is enhanced by its British-ness for this American reader, but it's the poignant handling of aging and end-of-life living that make it something extraordinary.
Residents of an old folks home solve crimes with relish. A charming take on the crime fiction formula. Some memorable characters, nearly all of them lovely.
In a retirement village, Joyce is asked a question by member (well leader, let's be honest) of the Thursday Murder Club Elizabeth about how long it would take to bleed out from a certain wound. They meet in the jigsaw room every Thursday hence the name. There she meets the tough as nails but heart of gold Ron and the ex-psychologist Ibrahim.
Together they solve cold cases. But when a murder occurs related to their retirement village it uncovers secrets that end up closer to home.
Mechanically the story alternates between Joyce's journal entries and a third person view but it does have a fairly decent pace.
The characters a very likeable and have very distinct approaches, Elizabeth has many contacts and is very observant (with a history that's very hush hush), Ron is rough around the edges, Ibrahim is more for the analysis (and I suppose the little grey …
In a retirement village, Joyce is asked a question by member (well leader, let's be honest) of the Thursday Murder Club Elizabeth about how long it would take to bleed out from a certain wound. They meet in the jigsaw room every Thursday hence the name. There she meets the tough as nails but heart of gold Ron and the ex-psychologist Ibrahim.
Together they solve cold cases. But when a murder occurs related to their retirement village it uncovers secrets that end up closer to home.
Mechanically the story alternates between Joyce's journal entries and a third person view but it does have a fairly decent pace.
The characters a very likeable and have very distinct approaches, Elizabeth has many contacts and is very observant (with a history that's very hush hush), Ron is rough around the edges, Ibrahim is more for the analysis (and I suppose the little grey cells style) and Joyce acts as our entry into the club but is one of those people who really wants everyone to like her but not in a painful way.
And with Donna and Chris in the story you also get some police procedural thrown in for good measure.
There's a lot of mysteries in here that get uncovered, though it's not one of those tales that you're expected to be able to solve it before the characters do. The ride however is an intriguing one and looking forward to what the sequel presents.
