What book is The Thursday Murder Club (2025) based on?
The Thursday Murder Club, book 1 of The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman.
The book behind The Thursday Murder Club
The Thursday Murder Club
2020 · book 1 of The Thursday Murder Club · by Richard Osman
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Should you read it first?
Read the novel for the full investigation. The film keeps only part of it, and Chris Columbus said a faithful version would have run seven hours.
Book vs movie
- The film makes Bobby Tanner far more menacing, and virtually none of this is in the book.
- The book gives Father Mackie a past as a doctor who served nuns; in the film he is just a local priest.
- Karen Playfair, whom Jason dates in the book, is cut from the film.
Show the big differences (spoilers)
In the film, Bogdan accidentally kills Tony Curran, Peter Mercer killed Angela Hughes in 1973, and Penny and John die in hospice care, implied to be a murder-suicide.
What to read next
The Man Who Died Twice (2021). The second book follows the same four pensioners into a new case.
The Thursday Murder Club in order
- 1The Thursday Murder Club 2020
- 2The Man Who Died Twice 2021
- 3The Bullet That Missed 2022
- 4The Last Devil to Die 2023
- 5The Impossible Fortune 2025