3 Cozy Paragraphs (Or Not): The Thursday Murder Club

2025, Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire) -- Netflix

Believe it or not, but the term "cozy mystery" was something I only heard recently, despite it being a (sub)genre we watch a LOT of, in fact, something we seek out. But to be honest, its much more a Marmy thing, one of those things where I wander in and out of. At their core, cozy mysteries usually present the murder off-camera, and are generally set in small, picturesque locales. Violence is at a minimum and often the "investigators" are just local busy-bodies. You probably can name a few from PBS or BBC. I like to think of them as the polar opposite of the cold, scary, emotionally bleak Scandinavian murder mysteries. 

And yet, while being "light", you have to wonder what it would be like to live in a pretty little town where someone gets killed pretty much every week.

The Thursday Murder Club, based on a book by British TV presenter & humourist Richard Osman, wishes to exemplify the purity of the genre, by having a group of seniors in a rather upscale retirement home meet once a week to discuss cold cases, but who are immediately drawn into an actual murder investigation. This is A-class casting with all the standard trappings of a British cozy mystery, but... cough... a little dumbed down for American sensibilities? Thought saying that out loud, its a bit disingenuous -- plenty of these are designed to be entirely palatable, not deep at all.

Funny enough, as this post sat in drafts, the next season of "Marlow Mystery Club" became available. This is another "cozy mystery" show, written by and based on books by Robert Thorogood, the man responsible for preeminent cozy mystery show, "Death in Paradise".

The first book of Thorogood's series came out in 2021, while Osman's came out in 2020. And apparently, there is something called the "Dinner Lady Detectives" by Hannah Hendy. I guess we have ourselves a sub-sub-genre?

Full disclosure, I have not read any of these books but some are on our shelves.

Our cast: Elizabeth (Helen Mirren, Red 2), Ron (Pierce Brosnan, The World is Not Enough), Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley, Iron Man 3), and newcomer Joyce (Celia Imrie, Malevolent), who just moved into the home. This is not just any retirement villa -- each of the cast have quarters that are at least three times the size of my apartment, and probably twice the size of most London flats. Everyone here came from money. Into their privilege comes developer Ian Ventham (David Tenant, Doctor Who), who wants to dig up the local graveyard and turn all the land into an upscale housing development. Of course, its he who is murdered... well, eventually; initially its his business partner and friend of the villa, someone who would have stood up to Ventham. But still, the quaint group of investigators have a real life situation to deal with, and real life cops to annoy.

I admit, I was expecting a wee bit more polish considering the cast and the critical acclaim around Osman's book. But I forget, its Netflix and they just do as much as they want to do. That said, it is still rather delightful as the quirky character jaunt about investigating the murder, poking their noses where the police don't want them to, baking absolutely wonderful looking cakes, and just generally being impressive seniors. I mean it doesn't hurt that Elizabeth has a shady past very well suited to be rooting out murderers. 

These types of shows/movies/books are not meant to be critically acclaimed, deep thought murder mysteries. They are meant to be ... cozy. Kent is not far off when he compares the movie to those on Hallmark Channels -- they do very much follow the format, but where I argue is that Hallmarkies were always pale imitators of other genres, the cheap & shoddy, quickly built form. They were usually about replicating the rom-com flick in a mass produced manner, but its not like rom-com's were ever high art to begin with, usually just passable stories and roles that made you smile, laugh and fall in love. Sure, you can raise a "who dunnit" up to a greater form (the recent remakes of Agatha Christie come to mind) but its not always required. To me, this was exactly as I wanted, maybe a wee bit underdone, but still... cozy.

Have you said "cozy" enough?