Richard Osman (seated) with actors (L-R) Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren and Celia Imrie, the star cast of the Netflix adaptation of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’.
It’s been a good year for Richard Osman’s bestselling series The Thursday Murder Club. The fifth instalment in the murder mystery, The Impossible Fortune (published by Penguin Random House), is just out, and a screen adaptation of the first novel began streaming on Netflix in August. Starring Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan, the film — which revolves around four pensioners who solve crimes from their swanky retirement home in England — might have worked better as a series, allowing more time to explore the sweet subplots and avoid a rushed resolution. But Osman has no complaints. “I just sat back and enjoyed watching those wonderful actors at work,” he says.
Ahead of his new book’s release, with Osman “in the middle of signing 10,000 books”, we catch up with the author and TV presenter to learn what’s in store for The Thursday Murder Club. Edited excerpts:
Q: ‘The Impossible Fortune’ begins with a wedding and a best man in trouble. What drew you to this setting?
A: I wanted something to get Elizabeth out of Cooper’s Chase. She’s had a year of grief. A wedding would be something where she would get back in the saddle. I wanted the book to start with somebody sitting next to Elizabeth on a bench and telling her that somebody was trying to kill him. I love writing Joyce and her daughter Joanna as well. So, I had my first four or five chapters lined up instantly. The second I knew that Joanna was getting married, I knew exactly how the book was going to start.
Q: How do you keep the voice fresh and funny while still revealing plot and character?
A: I prefer the laughs coming from the character. I try not to write jokes or a one-liner or punchline. I hope that everything that makes readers laugh comes from the truth of the characters and how they react in certain situations.
Q: Food is a very powerful emotion in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’. Do you use food to create a sense of comfort?
Celia Imrie in a promotional still for the ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ movie.
A: No, when people wake up in the morning, even if they’re in a great work of literature, they’re usually not thinking deep thoughts. They’re thinking about what they’re going to have for breakfast, or what’s on the radio. I like to write about the normality of life. I like extraordinary things to happen in the plot and ordinary things to happen in people’s lives. I like to mix up the world of murder and intrigue with the day-to-day.
Q: How do you strike a balance between comedy, grief and murder?
A: Striking a balance between comedy and grief is easy, because they’re two sides of the same coin. In one of the books, Joyce says, “tears are just your pain laughing”. For murder, I throw a plot at my characters. For me, everything comes from character. Are these people real? And then what can I throw at them? And the thing that I throw at them is always murder.
Q: Between books four and five, you gave ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ a year off and introduced Amy and Steve in ‘We Solve Murders’. What prompted the break?
A: I wanted to write new stories. We Solve Murders has the same sort of humour and British sensibility as The Thursday Murder Club, but it is a much more global story, and I was able to do things that The Thursday Murder Club wasn’t able to do. My next is another We Solve Murders book. I love writing about both groups. I’m now in a position where I’m excited to get back to the characters in We Solve Murders in the same way that Agatha Christie switched between Miss Marple and Poirot.
Q: How involved were you with the making of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ movie?
Steven Spielberg, Richard Osman, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan at the U.K. premiere of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ movie, August 21, 2025.
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A: Not at all. My job is to write books. I’ve done my version of The Thursday Murder Club story, that came from my heart and my head. I went down to set a couple of times. You’ve got to go and have a bit of fun. I met Steven Spielberg [producer] when he came down there and chatted with all the actors. It was incredibly exciting. The one thing I didn’t do was give notes or opinions, because the last thing anyone wants is the writer leaning over their shoulder.
Chris Columbus [director] would ring up and tell me what was going on. I was very happy to let him get on with it. And, of course, when Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie are starring, I’m not going to complain! I just sat back and enjoyed watching those wonderful actors at work.
A still from The Thursday Murder Club.
Q: Do you think seeing these iconic actors might shift how readers imagine the characters?
A: The characters are fairly well established for anyone who’s read the first four books. Some people will think that Helen is exactly how they saw Elizabeth, or that Celia is exactly how they saw Joyce. Fans of the books will have an idea of what those characters look like and who they are. For people who come to the books through the film, however, the characters will be these four actors.
mini.chhibber@thehindu.co.in
Published – September 25, 2025 09:50 am IST