by Richard Osman

A Mystery/Thriller, 2020 by Penguin, 382 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

The narrative moves around a lot, introducing you to a lot of characters very quickly. I found myself getting lost regarding who was speaking or which person we were following on more than one occasion. In fact, during a rather big reveal a character is named who I really didn’t remember. I had to flip back and find out who the heck this person even WAS.
Call it a content warning, of sorts. If you’re the kind of reader who is bothered by casual breaking of laws or investigations happening outside of legal avenues, you may want to skip this book. It happens all over the book and it’s almost encouraged by the law enforcement officers.
The diary style chapters pop in at odd moments and ruin the flow of the story. You’re about to get a big reveal, for example, and suddenly have a lecture on what Tinder is. While I understand the point of getting these interludes to relate to a character, I didn’t like how they got in the way of the storyline.
The characters are quirky but in a flat, predictable sort of way. I wanted more stand-out characteristics or more time developing relationships. I will say this is the first book in a series, so it’s possible some of that has been saved for subsequent books. As it is now, you have a basic understanding of the characters and you have some of their weird quirks, that’s about it.

The concept is fun. A group of friends in a retirement community decide to meet weekly to discuss cold cases and see if they can find new information. Then, of course, they’re going to stumble upon something new. It’s a cute concept with a lot of potential (hence the series).
The mystery itself has some positive aspects. You get to see the mystery from multiple sides, as you follow the police on their investigation as well as the Murder Club on their investigation. You get a lot of the answers you were seeking, which gives you a sense of satisfaction. Plus, you won’t have all of it figured out, which is nice.
Sort of a soft humor. There are goofy and odd things in this one that may give you a chuckle. I found myself smiling or laughing at things this cast got up to, which made it almost feel like I was along for the antics.

Readers who like quirky characters embedding themselves into mystery situations.

For me the almost formulaic character quirks combined with the sheer number of characters thrown into the storyline made it problematic. I would be open to trying another one in the series simply to see if you get more depth to the characters as the series goes on.