Richard Osman

Richard Osman spent decades as a British television producer and on-screen presenter, co-creating and hosting the long-running quiz show Pointless, before reinventing himself as a novelist in his fifties. His debut, The Thursday Murder Club (2020), introduced four residents of a retirement village who reopen cold cases for fun and quickly find themselves entangled in real, current murders; it became an instant bestseller and launched a series that has grown to five novels, most recently The Impossible Fortune (2025). The books combine cosy-mystery warmth with sharp plotting and a very English sense of humor about aging, friendship, and grief. The first novel was adapted into a 2025 Netflix film directed by Chris Columbus, starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie as the core quartet. In 2024, Osman launched a second, unrelated series, We Solve Murders, following a globe-trotting trio of a private-security operative, her retired-detective father-in-law, and a bestselling crime author, with a sequel, We Chase Shadows, due in September 2026. New readers should start with The Thursday Murder Club for his signature series, or We Solve Murders for a faster-paced, more globe-hopping alternative. Osman continues to publish in both series.