A (psychology) love letter to… The Thursday Murder Club

A retirement village, friendships, love, grief, death and mystery… Welcome to the Thursday Murder Club.

Richard Osman's first fictional literary venture, 'The Thursday Murder Club Series', has been met with worldwide acclaim. Osman is now a New York Times bestselling author and the series has sold over 10 million copies. But what exactly has led to this massive success?

For me, Osman's series is incredibly well-written. Over the past four instalments, he's brilliantly constructed the world and characters of 'Coopers Chase' retirement village. The books follow four elderly characters, Joyce, Ibrahim, Elizabeth and Ron, affectionately dubbed 'The Thursday Murder Club', as they solve mysteries and experience life as older people. 

'It was a well-known fact that there were no calories in homemade cakes' – Joyce Meadowcroft

Each character has a distinct identity which makes them unique and endearing to readers. Joyce, an ex-nurse, is our main character. We gain personal insight into her life through diary entries in which she details every aspect of her life.

I can't help but feel a closeness with Joyce – she is what can only be described as 'wholesome'. Joyce represents our 'typical 'idea' of an older person and perhaps we gravitate towards her because of that. Through Joyce, we gain a window into the everyday goings-on of older people – the love, loss, tediousness and joy – and can't help but feel familiarity and warmth. You see the people you know, love and perhaps lost reflected back through her, whether that be through her nigh-on compulsive need to bake in times of crisis or her inability to understand Instagram. In a word, Joyce is a comfort.

'At Coopers Chase, anytime you wanted to be alone, you would simply close your front door and anything you wanted to be with people, you would open it up again. If there was a better recipe for happiness than that, then Ibrahim was yet to hear it' – Ibrahim Arif

Then there is Ibrahim, a retired psychiatrist, affectionately dubbed as 'Ib'. Ibrahim very much encompasses the 'wise old man' trope. A man with a great penchant for a tangent, Ib provides a calming voice in the occasional chaos of Coopers Chase.

True to his psychiatric training, Ibrahim is emotionally intelligent and provides the biggest insights in the novel, perceiving those around him and providing observations and understanding. Ibrahim acts as the 'glue', binding the club together, often providing support and advice when the hard-headed members of the club need it (*ahem, Ron and Elizabeth*). Ibrahim openly recognises the importance of friendship, support and community, particularly in old age when isolation becomes all the more common.

As a reader, you can't help but feel like part of the Cooper Chase community. Regardless of age, you, like Ibrahim, come to appreciate the club as friends. Feeling we have friends in these characters, in a time when loneliness can be described as an epidemic, seems more important than ever.

'Like any modern woman, I am any number of things, as and when the need arises. We have to be chameleons, don't we?' – Elizabeth Best

Often, once a person gains the label 'OAP', that overshadows the individuality they've gained throughout their lives. Elizabeth is here to remind us that shouldn't be the case.

Elizabeth is the antithesis of Joyce, an ex-spy who is the best reminder that old people had entire lives before they turned 70. Elizabeth is the opposite of the 'old person' stereotype (that is, unless it suits her in the moment). She's driven, and spearheads the majority of the Thursday Murder Clubs' antics – yet she often faces doubt and is underestimated by those younger than her.

For older people, I'd imagine the intricacies of Elizabeth are cathartic to read. Like them, she is often misjudged, yet takes great pleasure in proving those around her wrong. Elizabeth is a great example of individuality in old age; someone can still be just as vivacious, headstrong and individual as they were in their 20s, if just a little slower on their feet.

'Though he's only stubborn when he's right, so that's not about to change, no way, no sir' – Ron Ritchie

On the surface, Ron Richie is perhaps the biggest outlier of the 'Thursday Murder Club', a rash, alpha-male former union leader – and yet he still fits right in.

Similar to Joyce and Elizabeth, Ron and Ibrahim are polar opposites. Ron doesn't pay much attention to his feelings (nor does he want to) and Ibrahim pays as much attention as a psychiatrist can. Ron is a fiery man, fiercely loyal and often 'pig-headed'… perhaps we all know or have known a Ron in our lives.

At the beginning of the series, Ron joins the 'Thursday Murder Club' because of his own motivations. However, throughout the novels, he integrates fully into the group and it becomes clear how highly he values Joyce, Elizabeth and Ibrahim. Ron is a character very much stuck in his ways, something everybody but him is acutely aware of. As a reader, you feel a part of Ron's journey. Through his friends, he begins to grow from being an extremely hard-headed man to a somewhat less hard-headed man (and trust me, that took a lot). As a character, Ron demonstrates that we're never too old to learn and grow – even if it's a struggle.

'It's the people, in the end, isn't it?... It's always the people. You can move halfway around the world to find your perfect life, move to Australia if you like, but it always comes down to the people you meet' – Viktor Illyich

So, each character in this series is so unique that in some way, we can relate to each through our own experiences or from our relationships with others. But there is a whole shelf of crime novels released each year, many with their own detailed mystery and colourful cast of characters. So what exactly led to the immediate success of 'The Thursday Murder Club Series'?

For me, it's not only that you solve a mystery alongside the Thursday Murder Club, it's that you feel part of it. You're sat in the Jigsaw room eating Joyce's Battenberg; at each loss you're waiting on a comforting word from Ibrahim; at crunch time, you're putting the plan together in Elizabeth's flat; and at the end of a long day, you're all sharing cups of tea (or a pint in Ron's case). You laugh along with the club, celebrate triumphs with them, mourn their losses and share in their sense of community and friendship.

'The daffodils will always come up by the lake, but you won't be there to see them. So it goes; enjoy them while you can' – Elizabeth Best

I also think that 'The Thursday Murder Club' gives people hope. Yes, things do get a little slower as you get older, but life by no means is over. There's a trend here, perhaps related to our own ageing population. In 2021, the TV series Only Murders In The Building, starring 75-year-old Steve Martin and 70-year-old Martin Short, met with popular and critical acclaim. The novel Killers of a Certain Age, which follows four ex-assassins now aged 60, garnered positive reviews on its release in 2022.

Yet overall, older people still have little inclusion in mainstream media. Often, when they are depicted, it's in a negative light. Osman stated that over 70s are often no longer seen as relevant to modern culture and that he wanted to address this issue through the series. Through his characterisations, Osman has both leaned into the negativities of getting older whilst retaining a positive stance on ageing.

'We had Goose for Christmas Dinner. Goose! I said I had turkey and I could put it on, but Joanna told me that goose is actually more traditional than turkey and I said, My foot is goose more traditional than turkey and she said, Mum, Christmas wasn't invented by Charles Dickens' – Joyce Meadowcroft

Another pertinent issue that Osman tackles in his books is the generational gap, or more accurately, the generational divide. 'Boomers', 'Millennials' and 'Gen-Z' are terms that are often thrown around and tainted with negativity. In a time of war, political strife and an increasing cost of living amongst many other things, there is plenty of finger-pointing amongst different generations. Osman directly invites discussion surrounding this through the interactions between the younger side characters and our main four, primarily through Joyce and her daughter, Joanna, as they rarely see eye-to-eye.

Throughout, the young and the old struggle to understand each other's point of view. I think this is something many families can relate to. The Thursday Murder Club offers us a deeply personal insight into the lives of older people, a window into the everyday of a different generation. Through the book, we can see that despite our gripes, we're not all that different, we all want the same things; friendship, love, safety and happiness.

'She had hoped that the day might spark something, give her husband Stephen a burst of life, some clarity, memories of Christmas past fuelling him. But no. Christmas was like any other day for Stephen now. A blank page at the end of an old book' – Elizabeth Best

This series is filled with loving, happy and laughable moments. Yet one of the biggest and most heart-wrenching elements of the book is its exploration of dementia.

Elizabeth's husband, Stephen, struggles with dementia throughout the entire series and chapters on his struggles are interspersed through the book. Throughout the series, we follow Stephen as his dementia advances, detailing his own personal struggle and how it affects those around him. Stephen's journey unquestionably hits home for many readers, serving as a reminder of the negatives that come with age.

As the series continues, we garner more of Stephens's perspective through his narrative and it offers us a deep insight into what a person with dementia is experiencing. I have no doubt many readers can relate to the experience of watching those you love change, and there is a deep sadness that comes along with reading about dementia. There is no doubt that dementia is a tragedy and Stephens's story tugs on the heartstrings of readers, but Osman reminds us that at the heart of loss is love, and perhaps that the truest reminder of love is grief.

I am very much looking forward to the next instalment of 'The Thursday Murder Club' series; I can't wait to see what Osman and the residents of Coopers Chase have for us next…

• Anya Greenhalgh is an MSc Psychology student at the University of York