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Richard Osman is a British television presenter, producer, and author. He was born on November 28, 1970, in Billericay, Essex, England. He is best known for co-presenting the popular quiz show, Pointless, which he also created and co-produced.
Osman attended Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied politics and sociology. After graduating, he worked as a producer for various television shows, including Deal or No Deal and 8 Out of 10 Cats. In 2009, he came up with the idea for Pointless, a game show that challenges contestants to come up with the most obscure answers to general knowledge questions. The show became an instant hit and has since been adapted for broadcast in numerous countries around the world.
Osman has also appeared as a guest on various TV shows, including Would I Lie to You?, Have I Got News for You, and The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice. In addition to his work in television, he has written several books, including the bestselling crime novel, The Thursday Murder Club, which was released in 2020.
In 2021, Osman announced that he was leaving Endemol Shine Group, the production company behind Pointless, to start his own production company, House of Games. He continues to be a popular figure in British television and is known for his quick wit, intelligence, and affable personality.
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"The Thursday Murder Club" is a crime novel written by Richard Osman, published in 2020. The story is set in a retirement village called Coopers Chase, where a group of elderly residents meets every Thursday to discuss unsolved murder cases. The club consists of four members: Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron. When a real murder occurs in the village, the members of the Thursday Murder Club take it upon themselves to investigate.
The novel follows the club members as they use their skills and experience to unravel the mystery behind the murder. Along the way, they encounter a range of eccentric characters, including a shady property developer, a crooked cop, and a journalist with a dark secret. The book is filled with humor, wit, and clever plot twists that keep readers guessing until the very end.
"The Thursday Murder Club" was released to critical acclaim and quickly became a bestseller in the UK. The book was praised for its fresh take on the classic whodunit genre, as well as its engaging characters and sharp dialogue. The novel's success led to a bidding war among publishers for the rights to Osman's next two books, cementing his status as a rising star in the world of crime fiction. A television adaptation of the book is currently in development, with Steven Spielberg's production company set to produce.
Who's who in The Thursday Murder Club - List of characters
This novel has been a best seller in 2020. It centres on a group of pensioners (Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce and Ibrahim) which sets about solving the mystery of the murder of a property developer in a luxurious retirement village near the fictitious village of Fairhaven in Kent.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth sets the tone in the group. Like she has many contacts, they solve the murder. The character l like the most is Joyce: she is a nurse writing a diary that is interspersed among the chapters and it tells us the facts in more details. She is super snooper. The couple of police officers, Donna and Chris, are not happy in their sentimental life and they are used by Elizabeth to her own purposes.
Living in a society where the elderly are a hundrance, l find a message in this novel: elderly can be useful, intelligent, resolute, experienced and adorable, too.
We are facing an entertainment literature that not only does it combine constant humor, but it also has suspense. I hold the opinion that the book is a good bedtime reading and you can not put it down. In short, a brilliant, gripping and superb novel.
Being brutally sincere, l wish the book wasn' t so long, but l thoroughly recommed to read it.
First of all, about “The Thursday Murder Club” by the author Richard Osman let me clarify that it is not my intention at all to make spoilers of it, instead, I will deal with the content, structure, characters, pros and cons, personal opinion and conclusions.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, some of the points I would like to point out the mystery it has from the beginning and especially the fact that the main characters are the elderly, something not very common, in this kind of novel at least; in other words, if we think about resolve crimes, murders and topics like this one, in our minds appear icons such as Sherlock Holmes or Perry Mason.
On the other hand, I felt that the murder plot was increasingly more and more complex and dense, which could be rather good but in this case it seems to me that as a reader you reach the resolution a bit overwhelmed.
Regarding the structure and narrative style, the novel is divided into two parts, part one: Meet new people and try new things. In this part, we are introduced to meet the main characters and the murder happens. And part two: Everyone here has a story to tell. In which the members of the Thursday Murder Club take action and the murder case is solved.
It is also remarkable that many chapters are written as diary entries from the point of view of the new book club member, Joyce. As I see it, it facilitates the connection of the reader, as you feel yourself as a new member of the book club too.
To sum up, I ́d recommend reading this novel if you like crime and mystery novels, and the Cluedo game, as you can be doing your personal suspects list while reading it for the first time. This would not occur in a second reading when it loses the surprise factor, the impact, nevertheless that time you might focus more on the details. And to finish, emphasize that the content regarding mental illnesses is quite interesting and as I mentioned before, a highlight point is that the protagonists are the elderly, playing the role of unexpected heroes, all an allegation and claim about their important role in society.