The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman *** (of 4)

 

Richard Osman gets credit for inventing a new detective, in this case, a crew of detectives. In addition to a pair of peripheral police officers in a small town outside London, the primary investigators into a series of murders are four residents of a senior living center.

They suffer from mobility issues. They pay undue attention to who sits with whom in the dining room. They drink wine while pretending to work on jigsaw puzzles and they tell stories in the long-winded, gossipy way of old people. But they haven't lost their mental acuity. At least not yet.

The Thursday Murder Club is comprised of two widowers (Ron, whose son at least still visits from time to time, and Ibrahim), a widow (Joyce, who maintains a keen eye for newly arrived single men) and Elisabeth, whose husband is rapidly disappearing into the ravages of dementia. They gather in the jigsaw room - before Zumba - every Thursday to try to solve old cases left in files by one of their founding members, Penny, a former cop, who alas is now confined to the wing of the facility for those in need of total care.

Having shed the energy and drive that bedevils so many of us still in the workforce, Osman's foursome appear to very much enjoy a life where acknowledgement that the very worst thing that could happen to a person is inevitable so why not finally live for today as if it really is your last. Who cares if you take one more cookie?