The Thursday Murder Club: Richard Osman's Reading Order and Film Adaptation
April 5, 2026
Discussing the differences between books and their adaptations may reveal plot points for both.
Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club (2020) became the fastest-selling debut crime novel in UK history. Four books later, the series has sold millions of copies globally, attracted A-list film casting, and made Osman one of the most talked-about crime writers of his generation.
The Complete Reading Order
- The Thursday Murder Club (2020)
- The Man Who Died Twice (2021)
- The Bullet That Missed (2022)
- The Last Devil to Die (2023)
- We Are All Murderers Now (2025)
The complete Thursday Murder Club reading order is on the series page.
The Premise
Four retired residents of Coopers Chase retirement village meet every Thursday to discuss unsolved crimes — cold cases, mysteries from the past. When a real murder lands on their doorstep, they find themselves investigating alongside (and frequently ahead of) the actual police.
The four: Elizabeth (former intelligence officer), Joyce (former nurse), Ron (former union activist), Ibrahim (former psychiatrist). The combination of their professional backgrounds and general disregard for conventional procedure makes them genuinely effective investigators.
The series is warm, funny, and considerably smarter than cosy crime’s reputation suggests. Osman has a television comedy writer’s instinct for comic timing and ensemble dynamics — the four leads are as funny together as any fictional group in recent crime fiction.
The Netflix Film
The Thursday Murder Club (Netflix, 2025) was adapted with Helen Mirren as Elizabeth, Pierce Brosnan as Richard (a recurring character from the books), Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie. Chris Columbus directed.
The cast is extraordinary. The adaptation covers approximately the first novel’s plot — the retirement village murder — with modifications for screen. Early response suggests the adaptation captures the warmth and comedy of the source if not every nuance of plot.
Must You Read in Order?
Yes — the series has a continuous emotional arc. The relationships between the four principals, and particularly Elizabeth’s ongoing storyline about her husband Stephen’s dementia, develop across all four books in ways that lose significant weight if you start mid-series.
Each novel is also a complete mystery, but the satisfaction of later books depends substantially on knowing the characters from the earlier ones.
Why This Series Works
The central appeal is the characters, not the mysteries. Osman is unusual among crime writers in that the puzzle is secondary to the pleasure of spending time with Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim. The novels are full of observations about ageing, memory, friendship, and the specific indignities and freedoms of old age that feel authentic rather than sentimental.
Joyce’s diary entries — which appear throughout the series as an alternative perspective on events — are particularly well-done: funny, sharp, and gradually revealing of a character with more depth than she initially presents.
Where to Start
Read The Thursday Murder Club first. It’s short, fast, and the setup is so efficiently delivered that you’ll be fond of all four characters within fifty pages. If it’s not for you by then, nothing later will change your mind. If it is — there are four more books waiting.