There is nothing wrong in sinking back into a book and enjoying it, thinking you know what is going to happen and laughing out loud. Some people might call this a book for the beach or comfort reading but that almost sounds derogatory or as if books have to be challenging all of the time rather than entertaining.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love the premise of The Thursday Murder Club where older people make use of their vast array of skills to solve crimes – the message behind this is one we could do more of in our society. And, in this book I loved the chapters which were written from Joyce’s point of view, someone who appears to be a little batty but sees through everyone and often saves the day. In this book it was the friendship bracelets that she handed out to everyone that helped move the case on. After having been interviewed by MI5 and told not to tell anyone about the shooting, Joyce says

MI5 know who I am now though, so that’s one for the Christmas newsletter.

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The book also tackles what happens when you lose confidence as an older person and how hard it is to regain it even with a group of close friends. Ibrahim was mugged for his phone by a group of youths with hoodies (so there are some stereotypes in the book) on bikes cycling around the shops and knocked into the gutter and kicked. He is helped by a nephew of a friend who takes him at face value and enjoys the same things as he does.

All of this is under the guise of a missing £20 million bag of diamonds which have to be found and are the cause of several murders. The Murder Club call on their usual friends to support them: Bogdan who seems to work at the retirement village and has any number of shady skills and needs no sleep, Chris and Donna, two of the local police and then a cast of criminals that they put to good use.

I suspect this is a series that is going to run for some time. I hope so.