Book excerpt: THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE RECORD-BREAKING, MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES BY RICHARD OSMAN ---------- 'Smart, compassionate, warm, moving and so VERY funny' Marian Keyes 'So smart and funny. Deplorably good' Ian Rankin 'Thrilling, moving, laugh-out-loud funny' Mark Billingham In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late? The Times Crime Book of the Month Guardian Best Crime and Thrillers ---------- 'A warm, wise and witty warning never to underestimate the elderly' Val McDermid 'I completely fell in love with it' Shari Lapena 'This is properly brilliant. The pages fly and I can't stop smiling' Steve Cavanagh 'Steeped in Agatha Christie joy' Araminta Hall 'Pure escapism' Guardian 'As gripping as it is funny' Evening Standard 'An exciting new talent in crime fiction' Daily Mail 'A witty and poignant tale' Daily Telegraph 'Funny and original' Sun