Richard Osman’s The Impossible Fortune (2024) is the fifth installment in his record-breaking Thursday Murder Club series. The book, published by Viking/Penguin, cements Osman’s reputation as one of the most successful crime novelists of the past decade.
Best known as a television producer and presenter, Osman has become a household name in crime fiction. His earlier novels (The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, The Last Devil to Die) have sold millions globally, translated into dozens of languages, and are now being adapted into a Netflix film by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.
The Impossible Fortune continues the warm, witty, and intricately plotted adventures of Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron—four retirees who repeatedly find themselves entangled in cases far beyond what their age and circumstances might suggest. Osman blends humor, pathos, social observation, and nail-biting mystery into a genre-bending style often described as “comedy noir.”
In this article, I will explore the historical and cultural backdrop of the novel, break down its plot in depth, analyze its characters and themes, evaluate strengths and weaknesses, compare it with similar works, highlight its reception and adaptations, and reflect on its broader significance.
Table of Contents
1. Background
The Thursday Murder Club novels are set in and around Coopers Chase, a fictional upscale retirement community in the English countryside. While Osman writes with humor and warmth, his books often weave in darker undercurrents of crime, grief, and morality.
The cultural context is striking: Osman’s work comes at a time when the UK crime fiction market is booming, and cozy mysteries are experiencing a renaissance. Between 2019 and 2023, Nielsen BookScan data showed crime fiction sales rising by 20%, with Osman consistently topping charts. The Guardian even dubbed him “the biggest new fiction author of the decade”.
Thematically, The Impossible Fortune reflects post-Brexit anxieties, financial corruption, and the interplay between technology and organized crime. The opening pages reference bomb-making instructions available online and a company called “Boom or Bust,” underlining the dangerous accessibility of violence in the digital age.
On a personal level, Osman often highlights themes of aging, loneliness, and friendship. He has said in interviews that his mother inspired the warmth and humor of Joyce’s voice, and that the series attempts to “give older people the starring role they deserve.”
2. Summary of the Book
The story begins not with gentle humor but with a chilling prelude: an anonymous figure explores online bomb-making tutorials, noting that the cost of a human life in modern Britain is “around twenty-seven thousand pounds”. This introduction jolts readers—reminding them that beneath Osman’s wit lies genuine menace.
At Coopers Chase retirement village, Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron—the beloved Thursday Murder Club—are caught up in more than local squabbles. Joyce begins her narrative in a diary-style entry, apologizing for being absent from correspondence because she has been occupied with her daughter Joanna’s wedding preparations. The occasion, however, will set in motion a series of dangerous revelations.
The wedding day itself is painted with Osman’s trademark warmth and comedy. Joyce fusses over cakes, flowers, and dresses, and rows with Joanna over traditions. But in the midst of champagne toasts, Elizabeth senses an unease—an instinct she hasn’t felt since the death of her husband Stephen. When the best man, Nick Silver, clumsily vomits during his speech, something about his nervousness feels off. Later that evening, he confides in Elizabeth: “Somebody tried to kill me this morning”.
He shows her photos of a car bomb planted under his Lexus, a device he discovered while running a routine security check.
From here, Osman plunges his amateur sleuths into a high-stakes game. Nick Silver, co-owner of a private security firm specializing in “cold storage” (not fridges, but high-tech vaults for valuable commodities), explains that he and his partner Holly Lewis hold part of a secret code—two halves that together unlock access to something priceless.
They have told only two outsiders: Davey Noakes, a reformed rave-era drug dealer turned tech smuggler, and Lord Townes, a disgraced banker with links to organized crime. Now, with a bomb under his car, Nick believes one of these men—or perhaps even Holly—wants him dead.
Elizabeth, pulled reluctantly back into espionage mode, cannot resist. The Thursday Murder Club, fresh from wedding festivities, commits itself to unraveling the case. Osman masterfully contrasts Joyce’s chatty observations about hats and cake with the deadly seriousness of bombs and conspiracies.
Meanwhile, a parallel storyline unfolds with Connie Johnson, an ex-con crime boss from Fairhaven, who has been coaxed by Ibrahim into mentoring young offender Tia Malone.
Their conversations, filled with criminal logic, slowly build toward a daring heist plan. Connie muses that she can make “fifty grand with a phone call,” but Tia convinces her to “dream bigger”—why rob Rolex wearers when you can rob the warehouse supplying the shops?. Their plot will later intersect with the main mystery, as Osman stitches together disparate threads into one tapestry.
Back at Coopers Chase, Elizabeth grows suspicious of Nick’s sincerity. He insists the code in his head could be worth millions, but his vagueness raises alarms. Ibrahim, in contrast, warms to Joanna during a wedding dance, dispensing sage advice on love and loneliness.
Ron continues to provide comic relief, arguing about darts and football, yet proves fiercely loyal when danger escalates. Joyce, ever self-deprecating, reveals more than she intends in her diary entries—offering readers emotional grounding amid the intrigue.
The murder (or attempted murder) at the heart of the novel escalates when Nick vanishes. Soon after, bodies begin to appear—an underworld fixer here, a financier there—each death tightening the noose around the central mystery.
Elizabeth follows clues that suggest the codes held by Nick and Holly are tied not merely to financial fraud but to an “impossible fortune”—a hidden cache of cryptocurrency and sensitive intelligence files, worth billions if unlocked. The vault lies in their company’s secure compound, ominously referred to only as “The Compound”.
As threats mount, Osman layers in both humor and heartache. Joyce recalls walking her daughter down the aisle in place of her late husband, poignantly admitting: “Whenever I look at Joanna, I see Gerry”. Elizabeth wrestles with her grief, telling Stephen in absentia: “I’m still here, darling. Still here, while you are gone”. Ibrahim confronts his loneliness, while Ron barrels ahead, never letting sentiment slow him down.
The narrative spirals into confrontations with Davey Noakes and Lord Townes, both of whom deny responsibility but leave trails of deception. Elizabeth suspects both are capable of murder. Yet, in true Osman style, the most obvious suspects are not the true culprits. Suspicion falls heavily on Holly, Nick’s partner, when inconsistencies emerge about her whereabouts. But Osman, ever the trickster, teases readers with red herrings.
Parallel chapters with Connie and Tia bring tension and levity. Their mentorship dynamic evolves into a surrogate mother-daughter bond, but their criminal plotting edges toward a grand robbery. They plan to intercept shipments from a luxury goods warehouse, using meticulous timing to strike “big instead of small”. Their scheming provides comic interludes while foreshadowing convergence with Elizabeth’s hunt for the impossible fortune.
As the Thursday Murder Club closes in, Elizabeth narrowly escapes an assassination attempt—proof that the bomb was only the beginning. The group uncovers that the fortune at stake is not just money but a cache of illicit data: names of political donors, offshore accounts, and compromised officials. The power to expose or protect these secrets could reshape the balance of influence across Britain.
The climax occurs when Nick Silver, presumed victim, is revealed to be playing a double game. His panicked demeanor masked deeper ambitions: he intends to leverage the codes for himself, selling access to the highest bidder. In a twist that recalls classic spy thrillers, Nick has staged much of his danger to manipulate Elizabeth and her friends into safeguarding him until he could execute his betrayal. But Elizabeth, sharper than Nick anticipated, unmasks him at the eleventh hour.
The denouement intertwines with Connie and Tia’s warehouse heist. Their robbery collides with the Thursday Murder Club’s investigation, creating chaos in Fairhaven. Explosions, betrayals, and comic mishaps ensue. Osman blends suspense with slapstick, ensuring readers gasp one moment and chuckle the next.
In the end, justice prevails—but not neatly. The impossible fortune itself is never fully secured by any one party. Instead, parts of it vanish into digital voids, parts fall into government hands, and parts remain tantalizingly unresolved. Elizabeth and her companions survive, scarred yet smiling. Joyce returns to her diary, Ibrahim reflects on fleeting love, and Ron remains defiant against aging. Elizabeth whispers to her late husband: “A drug dealer, a lord and a car bomb, dear? It seems that I’m needed again”.
Osman closes with warmth, reminding readers that while fortune is fickle, friendship endures. Joyce sums it best in a diary entry that functions as epilogue: “Love and trouble. You can’t beat it”.
3. Setting
At its heart, The Impossible Fortune is rooted in a landscape that feels both familiar and deceptively ordinary.
The primary backdrop remains Coopers Chase, the retirement village whose manicured lawns and communal halls have hosted four previous mysteries. Osman uses it not only as a physical space but as a symbol of aging with dignity, defiance, and humor. Its residents may be elderly, but the village vibrates with life: dinner parties, gossip, gentle rivalries, and, of course, clandestine investigations.
Yet the book expands far beyond these quiet borders. The opening chapters carry us into the Sussex countryside, where Joanna’s wedding takes place in a stately house that contrasts Joyce’s dream of a church ceremony. This setting proves crucial: a seemingly idyllic terrace where Elizabeth senses danger, and where Nick Silver confesses that someone tried to blow him up that very morning. The juxtaposition of romance and threat encapsulates Osman’s style—beauty tinged with menace.
Fairhaven, the nearby seaside town, also emerges as a vital stage. Here, the shadows of organized crime and economic change collide. Vegan cafés sit alongside cocaine suppliers; art classes morph into prison mentoring schemes. Osman paints Fairhaven as a town in flux, where old industries vanish but corruption adapts and thrives.
The “Compound,” Nick and Holly’s security facility, looms like a fortress of modern capitalism. Guarded, secretive, and technologically advanced, it becomes the symbolic heart of the mystery. Within its walls lies not only wealth but leverage—codes, data, and power that extend beyond money. Osman uses the setting to dramatize how the physical landscape of crime has evolved: less about jewels and cash, more about servers and encrypted storage.
Beyond these central sites, Osman weaves in domestic details that make the extraordinary plausible. Joyce walking Alan the dog around Tennyson Court, Ibrahim reflecting in his flat, or Ron grumbling in the Coopers Chase lounge—all these micro-settings ground the larger thriller. They remind readers that the Thursday Murder Club are not superheroes but ordinary people navigating extraordinary dangers.
Ultimately, the settings of The Impossible Fortune are characters in themselves. Coopers Chase embodies friendship and persistence, Fairhaven represents the blurred lines of crime and community, and the Compound symbolizes the seductive dangers of modern fortune.
Osman makes each location pulse with humor, threat, and humanity, ensuring the reader never forgets that trouble can bloom anywhere—even in the quiet English countryside.
4. Analysis
4.1 Characters
The enduring strength of The Impossible Fortune lies in its characters, who have grown richer, more complex, and more emotionally layered with every book.
Elizabeth Best remains the intellectual linchpin of the Thursday Murder Club. A former MI5 operative, she balances razor-sharp instincts with profound grief over the death of her husband, Stephen. Early on, Osman captures her inner conflict: “Elizabeth is starting to feel again. Precisely what she is starting to feel, she couldn’t say. But there’s something there, and it’s not just the brandy”. This line reveals her slow reawakening, a woman negotiating between professional vigilance and private sorrow.
Joyce Meadowcroft, the chatty nurse-turned-diarist, continues as the series’ most beloved narrator. Her diary entries blend comic misunderstandings with deep maternal tenderness. When she recalls walking her daughter Joanna down the aisle because her late husband Gerry could not, readers glimpse both her vulnerability and resilience: “Whenever I look at Joanna, I see Gerry”. Joyce’s emotional intelligence often outpaces Elizabeth’s cold logic, balancing the team dynamic.
Ibrahim Arif, the retired psychiatrist, shines in quieter ways. His dance with Joanna at the wedding illustrates his dual role as sage and confidant. When she doubts whether she has married too quickly, he advises that the answer lies not in timing but in whom one chooses to ask for guidance. This subtle wisdom reinforces Ibrahim’s thematic link to reflection, resilience, and the psychology of choice.
Ron Ritchie, the ex-union firebrand, provides both comic relief and moral grit. He is brash, stubborn, and occasionally reckless, but his loyalty to the group never wavers. His banter masks a soft core that surfaces in moments of danger, reminding readers why he remains essential to the quartet.
Around them orbit newcomers and antagonists. Nick Silver, the jittery best man turned reluctant client, embodies Osman’s fascination with duplicity. Is he victim, villain, or both? His shifting role keeps readers off balance. Connie Johnson, reintroduced from earlier books, evolves intriguingly through her mentorship of Tia Malone, a teenage thief. Their odd-couple dynamic enriches the novel, showing that wisdom and corruption can intertwine in unexpected ways.
Together, this ensemble breathes life into a narrative that could otherwise feel overplotted. Each character carries distinct rhythms, allowing Osman to alternate between suspense, humor, and poignancy without losing cohesion.
4.2 Themes & Symbolism
Osman threads multiple themes into The Impossible Fortune, balancing levity with depth.
At the core lies the theme of aging. Far from portraying his elderly sleuths as frail, Osman insists on their vitality. As Val McDermid observed in praise of the series, the books are “a witty warning never to underestimate the elderly”. In this installment, aging is not a limitation but a vantage point from which to perceive truths younger characters miss.
The theme of grief and renewal is strongest in Elizabeth’s arc. Her whispered apologies to her absent husband (“I’m still here, darling. Still here, while you are gone”) symbolize both loss and survival. Grief here is depicted not as paralysis but as a backdrop against which new duties and friendships take root.
Family and intergenerational conflict shape Joyce’s storyline. Her wedding disagreements with Joanna echo broader tensions between tradition and modernity. Symbolically, Joyce’s walk down the aisle with her daughter collapses generational boundaries: mother becomes stand-in father, grief becomes a bridge, not a wall.
The theme of morality in crime runs through Connie and Tia’s subplot. Connie’s mentorship ironically echoes Ibrahim’s therapeutic methods—questioning, guiding, allowing self-discovery. Their plan to “dream bigger” by targeting warehouses instead of street robberies becomes symbolic of ambition’s double edge: growth through risk, but also greater exposure to downfall.
Finally, the symbolism of codes and cold storage carries weight. The two halves of a six-digit code, guarded by Nick and Holly, symbolize trust fractured, partnerships tested, and the fragility of secrets. The “Compound” becomes a metaphor for modern capitalism—fortified, digital, impersonal, and ruthlessly dangerous.
By weaving these themes together, Osman ensures his novel transcends mere puzzle-plotting. It becomes a meditation on memory, legacy, and the ways in which ordinary people confront extraordinary perils with humor and heart.
5. Evaluation
5.1 Strengths / Positive Experiences
Richard Osman’s greatest strength remains his ability to balance humor with menace. Few authors could open a cozy crime novel with instructions on how to custom-order a bomb online and make it feel both terrifying and oddly witty: “If you want to know the actual cost of a human life, it’s somewhere around twenty-seven thousand pounds”.
Equally powerful is his ensemble cast. Readers continue to fall in love with Joyce’s diary entries, Elizabeth’s sharp logic, Ibrahim’s tenderness, and Ron’s gruff loyalty. As Philippa Perry observed, “I don’t ever want to finish this book!”. The warmth of their friendship anchors even the most complex subplots.
Finally, Osman’s dialogue sparkles with authenticity. From Joyce misnaming pop stars to Ron mocking modern “London ways,” the conversations sound lived-in, not written. This is why critics like Nina Stibbe praise his novels as “full of brilliantly observed humour, spot-on dialogue, and twists and turns aplenty”.
5.2 Weaknesses / Negative Experiences
Still, no book is flawless. At times, The Impossible Fortune risks becoming overcrowded with threads—Nick’s bomb plot, Connie and Tia’s heist, Joanna’s wedding, Elizabeth’s grief, and multiple suspects. Some readers may find the narrative momentum diluted.
Moreover, Osman occasionally leans too heavily on Joyce’s diary humor. While delightful, it can risk undercutting tension in moments of high stakes. A critic in The Irish Independent described the series as “darkly funny, offbeat and deftly written”—but in this installment, some may wish for darker shadows to match the bomb threat.
5.3 Impact
For many readers, the book delivers not just entertainment but emotional catharsis. Elizabeth’s whispered line—“I’m still here, darling. Still here, while you are gone”—resonates with anyone who has navigated grief. Joyce’s joy in walking Joanna down the aisle reminds us of love enduring beyond death.
This balance of light and dark, laughter and loss, makes Osman’s series an emotional refuge. As the Daily Telegraph noted, the books are “an essential refuge from the cares of real life”.
5.4 Comparison with Similar Works
Osman has often been compared to Agatha Christie, but his blend of comedy and pathos is closer to Alan Bennett meets Robert Galbraith. Critics have also likened him to Tom Sharpe for satirical bite and to Alexander McCall Smith for warmth.
Yet, unlike most cozy mysteries, Osman anchors his plots in modern anxieties: online bomb-making, cryptocurrency, and surveillance capitalism. This distinguishes him from nostalgic crime writers and makes his novels strikingly contemporary.
4.5 Reception and Criticism
The critical reception for The Impossible Fortune was overwhelmingly positive. The Times declared, “Unlike the bullet, Richard Osman seems incapable of missing”. The Guardian dubbed him “the biggest new fiction author of the decade”.
Readers praised the book’s ability to entertain while delivering moments of tenderness. An Observer reviewer admitted, “I snickered so much reading this one that it was remarked upon by my family”.
However, a few critics noted that Osman now writes with the weight of enormous expectation, and some worried whether the formula might eventually tire. For now, though, sales and reviews suggest his magic continues unbroken.
5.6 Adaptations
A major cultural milestone is the Netflix film adaptation of the first Thursday Murder Club, produced by Amblin Entertainment. While The Impossible Fortune itself has not yet been adapted, its success strengthens the franchise’s cinematic future.
Box office projections are difficult to quantify pre-release, but given Osman’s global sales and Netflix’s marketing reach, expectations are sky-high. His blend of humor and crime, along with his recognizably British setting, is likely to appeal to international audiences in the same way Downton Abbey and Knives Out did.
The key challenge will be translating Joyce’s diary voice and Osman’s tonal balance of comedy and crime onto screen. Yet if done well, it could expand the Thursday Murder Club into a multi-film or even serialized franchise.
6. Personal Insight with Contemporary Educational Relevance
What struck me most as a reader is how Richard Osman uses a mystery novel to illuminate real-world lessons about resilience, aging, and the blurred boundaries of crime in a digital era.
The elderly sleuths of Coopers Chase remind us that experience does not diminish with age; instead, it sharpens into perspective. In an ageist society where people over 65 are often sidelined, Osman flips the narrative.
In fact, the UN projects that by 2050, one in six people globally will be over 65, yet surveys show only 13% of media roles feature older characters in non-stereotypical ways. Osman offers a corrective by giving Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron agency, humor, and depth.
Equally powerful is the novel’s commentary on online radicalization and digital dangers. The chilling prologue—describing how bombs can be purchased online and delivered with a “money-back guarantee”—mirrors genuine security concerns.
Europol’s 2023 Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment warned that the dark web now facilitates bespoke criminal services, from ransomware kits to contract killings. Osman’s fiction thus echoes reality: violence is commodified and frighteningly accessible.
Yet the book also suggests solutions rooted in community and intergenerational solidarity. Joyce’s ability to bridge the emotional gap with her daughter Joanna during the wedding quarrels illustrates how dialogue and empathy defuse conflict. In schools, social scientists now emphasize “intergenerational learning projects,” where younger students learn alongside older adults to reduce prejudice and increase empathy. Osman’s characters enact these principles naturally.
On a more intimate level, Elizabeth’s grief is universal. Her whispered line, “I’m still here, darling. Still here, while you are gone”, resonates with the estimated 115 million people worldwide who experience bereavement annually. Modern education, too often focused on career outcomes, rarely teaches us how to live with loss. Osman’s fiction offers a gentle primer: grief is not an obstacle to living, but a texture of life itself.
In connecting humor, crime, and compassion, Osman delivers what classrooms, policies, and workplaces often struggle to: an acknowledgment that human value transcends utility. Whether we face terrorism, corruption, or the everyday ache of loneliness, the antidote lies not in isolation but in solidarity—friends who sit with us at sunsets, children who ask us to walk them down the aisle, and communities that listen when the world dismisses us as past our prime.
This, I believe, is why The Impossible Fortune matters beyond literature. It is both story and lesson, both entertainment and quiet education.
7. Quotable Lines
Some lines from The Impossible Fortune linger long after the book is closed.
“If you want to know the actual cost of a human life, it’s somewhere around twenty-seven thousand pounds.”
A chilling opener that frames the novel’s exploration of money, morality, and mortality.“Elizabeth is starting to feel again. Precisely what she is starting to feel, she couldn’t say. But there’s something there, and it’s not just the brandy.”
A subtle glimpse into Elizabeth’s grief and slow reawakening after Stephen’s death.“Whenever I look at Joanna, I see Gerry.”
Joyce’s line at her daughter’s wedding, encapsulating love, loss, and continuity.“A drug dealer, a lord and a car bomb, dear? It seems that I’m needed again.”
Elizabeth’s wry reflection to her late husband — humor laced with duty.“Love and trouble. You can’t beat it.”
A closing epigram from Joyce’s diary that distills the novel’s spirit into five words.
These passages showcase Osman’s dual gifts: the ability to make readers laugh at absurdity while simultaneously confronting profound truths about grief, loyalty, and the price of survival.
Taken together, they remind us why his writing has captivated millions — it’s not just the puzzle of the murder, but the sentences that hum with wit and humanity.
8. Conclusion
Richard Osman proves again that crime fiction can be both sharp-edged and deeply humane.
The Impossible Fortune is not just another cozy mystery but a novel that bridges humor, grief, and the high stakes of modern crime. Osman’s gift lies in reminding us that the elderly sleuths at Coopers Chase are more than caricatures: they are vivid reminders of resilience and the value of friendship.
The book works best for readers who love layered mysteries, witty dialogue, and ensemble storytelling. Those who crave nonstop action or gritty noir may bounce off its warmth, but for most, the blend of suspense and humor is irresistible.
Its greatest achievement is its emotional truth. Beneath car bombs and codes lies the universal reality of grief, aging, and love that endures beyond loss.
As an intellectual experience, the novel succeeds in marrying cozy crime with social critique. It tackles online radicalization, financial corruption, and intergenerational bonds without losing its lightness of touch. This duality is why the Thursday Murder Club series has become a global phenomenon.
I would recommend The Impossible Fortune to readers who enjoyed Agatha Christie, Alexander McCall Smith, or even Kate Atkinson — but also to anyone seeking a story that entertains while quietly educating. The novel underscores that humor and compassion are not distractions from danger but weapons against it.
In the end, what Osman offers is not just a clever mystery but a philosophy: life is fragile, unpredictable, and often ridiculous, but friendship — like fortune — is worth fighting for.
