The Thursday Murder Club

“So I suppose you could say that Penny and Elizabeth never really got their wish. All those murderers remained unpunished, all still out there, listening to the shipping forecast somewhere.”

The assumption is that all of the cases Penny and Elizabeth worked on went unsolved, and the murderers still free without justice having been served. At this point, the quote is working as a tool of foreshadowing. It hints at the truth revealed at the end of the novel, when Elizabeth discovers that Penny really did take revenge.

“Ron looks over again. The conversation between the men looks tense. Talking fast and low, hands aggressive and defensive, but contained. ‘They having a little barney, you think?’ he asks.”

The conversation between Tony and Ian in the parking lot, seen by Ron, Joyce, and Jason, was an important clue when it came to figuring out the murder case. The tension seen between the two men by the others was enough for the police to want to investigate the conversation, and for The Thursday Murder Club to want to take steps to look further into what Ian would have gained from Tony being murdered. The question of who has the most to gain from Tony’s death is a reoccurring thought brought up by the characters as the mystery unravels.

“Tony hears the noise a second too late. He turns to see the spanner as it swings towards him. A big one too, real old-school stuff. There’s no way of avoiding the swing and, in the brief moment of realization he has, Tony Curran gets it.”

Tony is the first death in the story, and it is the reason that everything begins unfolding at Coopers Chase. His death brings in Chris and his detective team, along with Donna’s involvement, to the retirement home. More than that, Tony’s death allows Ian to go ahead with cemetery development sooner than planned, leading to his eventual murder and the discovery of the unknown skeleton Bogdan discovers in the grave.

“Many years ago, everybody here would wake early because there was a lot to do and only so many hours in the day. Now they wake early because there is a lot to do and only so many days left.”

Coopers Chase is a retirement home, and the residents are all over 65, so there is the expectation that most people who live there enjoy a slow kind of lifestyle. By phrasing the quote in this way, it hints towards the impression that the characters are not just sitting around. Breaking the stereotype, those living at Coopers Chase do have a deep appreciation for life.

“This morning the Thursday Murder Club has a real-life case. Not just yellowing pages of smudged type from another age. A real case, a real corpse and, somewhere out there, a real killer.”

The Thursday Murder Club has been researching cold cases for a long time, first beginning with Penny and Elizabeth, so when Tony is murdered, the group is excited to be able to look into it. The quote hints at the beginning of the group’s interest in being a part of solving the murder case, kickstarting their involvement. The group sees the murder of Tony and Ian, along with the unknown buried skeleton, as cases they have the right to take the lead in solving, and there are many moments where they keep information of the case to themselves, until they can use it to get what they want from the police.

“He looks at the photograph the killer had left by the body. Three men. Tony Curran, now dead. With his arm around Tony was a local dealer from back in the day, Bobby Tanner. Hired as muscle. Whereabouts currently unknown, but they would track him down soon enough. And the third man, whereabouts very much known. The ex-boxer Jason Ritchie.”

Photographs are a major motif in the story, and the first time they are used is with respect to the death of Tony. The photograph left at the scene creates several directions for the mystery of the murder to take: The group may investigate those in the photo, who took the photo, and so on. The photograph discussed in this quote gave the plot direction by narrowing down suspects for the characters to begin investigating, along with creating further mystery by including Jason, Ron’s son, in the photo, which made him look guilty in Tony’s murder case.

“Everyone seems shocked by Tony’s death, but nothing surprises Bogdan. People died all the time of all sorts of things.”

Coopers Chase is described as a place that was known to be quiet and relatively stress-free, so when Tony is murdered it is very shocking for everyone living there. However, the fact that Bogdan specifically states how he is not surprised by it because people die all the time, hints at how accepting he is of someone being killed. Bogdan explains that he is accustomed to death, having lost his father early and lived a hard life, but it is his calm nature around the horrific way that Tony died that raises alarms about Bogdan’s potential involvement.

“He [Chris] sometimes forgets the impact a police officer can have on members of the public. The gang in front of him are looking at him with something approaching awe. It’s nice to be taken seriously once in a while and he is happily giving them the benefit of his wisdom.”

The Thursday Murder Club are underestimated many times during the story—so much so that it becomes a running theme throughout. When inviting Chris over to Joyce’s house, they set the scene to make it so that they could get what they need out of him; however, he is under the impression that they are impressed by him. By saying that he is happy to give them his wisdom and recalling how impactful officers can be on the public, Chris is showing how he views the scene in front of him differently. The group is not hoping for his wisdom, nor are they impressed by him; they are actually manipulating him into revealing information about the case.

“Jason shakes Donna’s hand, ‘My pleasure. Could you send me a copy of the photo? It looked a nice one.’ Jason writes down his number for Donna. ‘I’ll head back up and see Pops.’ ‘Before you head up,’ says Donna, taking Jason’s number.”

Jason is first questioned by the police when Chris asks for a photograph outside. He says that he is a fan, but the two officers use the time to ask him about his connection to Tony. When Jason asks Donna to send him the picture, he gives her his number without realizing the consequences of what he is doing. The act of giving his number to Donna comes back to bite him when she discovers that the number matches the one in the call logs of Tony’s phone the morning of his murder.

“It keeps me [Elizabeth] involved, you see, and it reminds you that we can be useful. I wouldn’t want you to feel like we were interfering, Donna, but at the same time I do want to interfere.”

The Thursday Murder Club’s excitement at there being an active murder case happening at Coopers Chase is made obvious early on. But in this moment, Elizabeth reiterates the desire that her and the others have to be seen as useful, which they prove in several instances by discovering things about Ian’s finances, for example. Elizabeth wants the police to see her as useful, because she wants to interfere and knows that they could be beneficial to the case.

“If you want to put a figure on it, something simple to tell Chris Hudson, our expert says Tony Curran’s death just earned Ian Ventham around twelve and a quarter million pounds.”

What someone had to gain from the murder of Tony is asked several times. After Elizabeth had Joyce’s daughter Joanna look at Ian’s financial records, it was clear that he came out on top from his old friend’s death. Elizabeth shows the usefulness of the group again when she is the one to reveal to the police that Ian earned millions of dollars from Tony’s murder.

“Bernard knows he has gone too far inside himself. Knows he is out of reach, even to Joyce. Bernard is not going to be saved and he doesn’t deserve to be saved.”

Bernard is a mysterious character who is spoken of mostly when he is noticed at the top of the hill on his bench. Most mentions of him are tied to the grief that he still feels over losing his wife, other than the moments described by Joyce when the two would spend time together. This quote is the first instance where the reader is given a hint that there is something more to the character than what the others perceive him to be, and it begins to unfold until all is revealed after his suicide.

“‘Not today, old son, afraid not,’ says Ron, turning back to the crowd. ‘We’re all weak, Mr Ventham, you can see that, right? Look at us, give us a nudge and we’d topple over. That’s the last you’d see of us. We’re feeble, the lot of us, we’re a pushover. A pushover, eh? Should be easy. But, you know, there’s a few people here who’ve done a few things in their life. Am I right?’”

Most of the residents living at Coopers Chase are underestimated by those younger than them, and many of the elderly are completely overlooked. Ian assumes that once he called the police they would all become pushovers and give in to the work he has scheduled. Ron, who often speaks on behalf of the rest of the group, reminds him that although they are old, they are still strong and smart individuals who had long lives before they moved in there, and they will still stand for what they believe in.

“He reaches out for something to hold on to, but, to his surprise, there is only air. Ian Ventham is dead before he hits the ground.”

The death of Ian is shrouded in mystery, even more so than Tony’s murder, despite the fact that it happens in front of everyone. The man quickly succumbs to the injection of fentanyl on the way to his vehicle, moments after the scuffle with Matthew and the others. This is the reason that a deeper investigation is made into Coopers Chase and its residents.

“Chris opens a folder. ‘Ian Ventham’s death was caused by fentanyl poisoning. A massive overdose, delivered into the muscle of his upper arm. Almost certainly in the moments leading up to his collapse.”

The discovery of what killed Ian by the police reveals an important symbol that is carried throughout the story. The use of fentanyl for Ian’s murder created leads as to who could have access to such a drug, helping to narrow down the list of suspects. Fentanyl, used by Penny’s husband John to kill people, is portrayed as something that helps put others out of their misery and torment—at least according to John’s justification.

“Someone put him in Bobby Tanner’s old British Telecom van, and a cabbie Tony liked to use in this sort of situation drove him out to the ‘Welcome to Fairhaven’ sign on the A2102 and dumped him there. That’s where they found him the next morning. Too late for the boy, he was long dead, but he’d known the risks. The cabbie got shot too, because Tony thought you could never be too careful.”

The quote details the crimes Tony and Bobby help to commit, but the importance lies in who is killed. Although the mention of the cabbie’s death is quick, it is an important line. Bogdan kills Tony and Gianni with the intention of getting revenge for his friend’s death. The full circle moment at the end during his confession to Stephan is when the story reveals it was the nameless cabbie that spurred his justice-driven killing spree.

“Digging was out of the question. So, what now? Who could help? Who would understand? It was hopeless. Bernard Cottle sits in a folding chair and weeps for what he has done.”

Only glimpses are shown into who Bernard is, the only real answers coming in later, but at this point, the narrative shows some of the turmoil the man has been going through. He does not give details as to what he did that makes him weep with despair and hopelessness, but he does mention digging, which foreshadows that whatever the problem is, it has to do with the area up by the Garden of Eternal Rest that he is always visiting. It is the final moment with Bernard before his suicide, until the moment Joyce reveals all reading aloud his letter.

“Asima’s funeral is not something I wish to think about or write about, but two days afterwards Sufi and Majid—that’s the daughter and son-in-law—flew to Varanasi in India and scattered Asima’s ashes on the Ganges. But Joyce—and here’s where the pills and the whisky come in, I’m afraid—they weren’t her ashes.”

The truth about Bernard is finally revealed in the letter he left for Joyce. When his wife died, Bernard did not have the heart to let her ashes go back to India with his daughter, and instead he switched them out so that he could bury them at Coopers Chase. It was not until afterwards, when Bernard realized that what he did could not be undone since they poured cement over the area where he buried her, he became overcome with guilt and eventually took his own life.

“We started looking into [the murder] months ago, John. The Thursday Murder Club. No Penny, but we carried on. I was surprised we’d never looked at the case before, surprised Penny had never brought it in. We started looking at it, John, seeing if the police had got it wrong all those years ago. I read the report on the knife wound and it didn’t seem right to me, so I asked Joyce about it. In fact, it might have been the first thing I ever asked you, Joyce?”

The quote details the moment that the opening scene of the story comes around full circle. The case Elizabeth is referring to is the one that she brought up to Joyce at the beginning of the story, which was the reason that Joyce was initially introduced to Thursday Murder Club and asked to join. Penny sought out her own justice for the case in question, and it is revealed at the end that the third murder victim, the skeleton discovered in the graveyard, was actually the guilty boyfriend involved in the case.

“So, did anyone get away with anything, darling? Tony Curran didn’t, did he? Someone did for him. Gianni, so everyone seems to think, though I have a theory about that I must discuss with Joyce. No loss there, anyway. And Ventham? Well, you know John has to pay for that. I’ll take the police there in the morning and they’ll find his body, we both know that.”

It is insinuated early on that that The Thursday Murder Club has never brought any of the guilty people in the cases they looked into to justice, Elizabeth states early on that as much as she and Penny wished for that to happen, it never did. By the end of the story, Elizabeth discovers that at least one of the murderers was killed by Penny as a form of justice, which spurs the thought that perhaps her friend had actually taken matters into her own hands on numerous occasions. It is also the moment she reflects on how no one got away with the bad deeds that they did.

“Mr. Hudson, you say my son came back to Cyprus in 2000. You have proof of this. I need to tell you that I did not see him then and have not seen him since. Not once.”

The letter from Gianni’s father is an important revelation right before the end when Bogdan confesses. It foreshadows that the characters were wrong about one of the suspects, and it is soon after confirmed why his father has not heard from Gianni for years. Bogdan killed him not long after Gianni murdered his friend, and he had placed hints of him being around at the time of Tony’s murder as a way to throw off the police.

“It was simple, honestly. I had a friend, my best friend when I arrived in England and he drove a taxi. One day he saw Tony do something he shouldn’t.”

Bogdan’s confession comes in some of the closing chapters, after he admits to killing Tony and Gianni. He explains to Stephen that the reason he killed the men is because he could not let them get away with what they had done. By murdering the cabbie, Bogdan’s dear friend, for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Tony and Gianni had to die, in Bogdan’s mind.

“[Elizabeth] reaches for Stephen’s temazepam, then pauses and puts them back in the cupboard.”

Elizabeth never really explains why she has been giving Stephen drugs in his drink without him knowing. This quote shows the growth that her character has had by the end of the book. She has decided to stop doing it, even though her reasoning isn’t explained fully. This line is one of the few showing a true character arc from beginning to end.