The third installment in the Thursday Murder Club series was as charming and delightful as the first two. My goal to squeeze in as many murder mysteries as possible this October—in preparation for Hallowe’en—continues.
At a recent dinner party I attended, the participants were describing ways they were reinventing their lives as they grew older. Reinvention is also at the heart of the delightful Thursday Murder Club mystery series. I was introduced to these septuagenarian sleuths by my friend and Brilliant Reader Barbara during the pandemic, and I’m working to catch up.
The Bullet That Missed (2023) by Richard Osman is the third installment of the five book Thursday Murder Club series. It quickly becomes clear that Osman’s books are best read in order, as the reader is expected to have absorbed events from the most recent books to fully appreciate the fast unfolding action. Once again we return to Coopers Chase, a high-end peaceful British retirement village on the grounds of a former convent. The four residents turned septuagenarian sleuths meet weekly to discuss unsolved crimes from old police files. They are now looking at a ten-year-old cold case which leads them to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers.
Ex-spy Elizabeth Best; Joyce Meadowcroft, who retired after a career in nursing; the tattooed former union organizer Ron Ritchie; and Ibrahim Arif, an Egyptian-born semi-retired psychiatrist make up the Thursday Murder Club. The contractor Bogdan Jankowski—who likes to play chess with Elizabeth’s current husband Stephen—PC Donna De Freitas and DCI Chris Hudson are also important returning characters.
The case turns hot when Elizabeth and Stephen are kidnapped and she is given a mission—kill or be killed. We also have returning foes, including a local drug dealer who likes to play games with the police and is now in a prison cell complete with espresso machine. Because this is the Thursday Murder Club, an upmarket spa and a penthouse with a floating swimming pool set high above the streets of London also figure into the mix.
I turned once again to Osman as part of an October full of murder mysteries to prepare for Hallowe’en. And he did not disappoint. There are the expected twists and turns that are as surprising as the final outcome. As is true with the first two installments in Osman’s series, The Bullet That Missed compels the reader to turn page-after-page. Getting to the conclusion is always fun and pleasurable.
As the New York Times review noted, “The quartet of aging amateur sleuths . . . remain wonderful company.” I can’t wait to dive into the next adventure of the Thursday Murder Club in the coming months!
More to come . . .
DJB
NOTE: A movie version of this series is now streaming on Netflix with a fabulous cast, including Helen Mirren as Elizabeth.
I found The Bullet That Missed at People’s Book in Takoma Park. For my review of the bookshop, see Installment #2 of my 2026 DC-region independent bookstore visits series.
Photo of Englefield, the setting for the movie version of the Thursday Murder Club, via Wikimedia Commons.
