What Should I Read After The Thursday Murder Club?

I get asked this a lot, and I understand why. Finishing a series you love leaves a bit of a hole.

The good news is that British cozy mystery is having a lovely moment, and there is plenty to move on to. Here are the ones I'd actually hand to a friend.

1. The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

If you want the closest thing to Osman, start here.

Judith Potts is seventy-seven, swims in the Thames with no clothes on, and sets crossword puzzles for a living. She hears a gunshot from her back garden. The police aren't interested, so she gets on with it herself.

Thorogood created Death in Paradise, so he knows how to build a proper puzzle. There's a TV version too, for afterwards.

2. Agatha Raisin by M.C. Beaton

The obvious recommendation, and rightly so.

Agatha packs in her London PR job, moves to a Cotswolds village, and is monumentally bad at fitting in. She's rude, vain, insecure and I love her enormously.

There are over thirty books. If you've just finished a series and feel bereft, thirty is a very comforting number.

3. The Dinner Lady Detectives by Hannah Hendy

Margery and Clementine run a school canteen in a small Welsh town. When a colleague turns up dead in the walk-in freezer, the police call it an accident. The dinner ladies do not.

It's properly funny, and the two of them have been together for decades, which is a lovely thing to read.

4. The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann

A houseful of pensioners in a Dorset village have a body on their hands and a very good reason not to ring anybody about it.

Stranger and a bit darker than the others here, but still warm, and very funny in places.

5. Bob and Shirley (mine, sorry)

I'll declare my interest straight away. I wrote these.

Bob and Shirley run a pub in the fictional village of Great Oakley and keep finding bodies among the regulars. They're written in alternating first person, so you get Bob's version of what happened and then Shirley's, and the two accounts never quite match. Bob thinks he's being perfectly reasonable. Shirley knows better, and she's usually right.

There are three out so far, with a fourth coming in December. They're all in Kindle Unlimited.

You can take a look here: [LINK]

Why this sort of book works so well

British cozy mysteries tend to run on the same lovely machinery. A village where everybody knows everybody. A pub or a tea shop where the gossip moves faster than any police investigation. A committee with very strong opinions about the flower rota.

The murder happens off the page. Nobody is tortured in a basement. You get a puzzle, a bit of a laugh, and everyone back in the pub by the end.

After a long week, that's exactly what I want.

FAQ: reading after The Thursday Murder Club

Is The Thursday Murder Club a cozy mystery?

Mostly, yes. It has the village setting, the amateur sleuths and the humour, which are all cozy ingredients. It's a bit sadder than most cozies and deals with ageing and grief more directly. Cozy readers tend to love it anyway.

What makes a British cozy mystery different?

Usually the setting and the sleuth. You get a village rather than a city, an ordinary person rather than a police officer, and a murder that happens off the page. No gore, no forensics, plenty of tea.

Are there any cozy mysteries set in a pub?

A few, and mine are among them. Pubs work beautifully for mysteries because everybody in the village passes through eventually, and gossip travels faster than any investigation.

What cozy mysteries are free on Kindle Unlimited?

Rather a lot of them, including all of mine and a good chunk of the indie British cozy world. Worth checking before you buy, especially if you're about to start a long series.

Do I need to read cozy mystery series in order?

Usually not. Most are written so you can pick up any book and follow it perfectly well. You'll get more out of the running jokes if you go in order, but nobody will tell you off.