It’s official: you can’t keep a good mystery team down. Richard Osman’s latest instalment in the Thursday Murder Club series, The Impossible Fortune, has stormed to the top of the charts, selling an astonishing 145,580 copies in its first week and securing its place as the number one hardback fiction bestseller in the UK.
A Record-Breaking Launch
This is no ordinary launch. The record-breaking figure makes The Impossible Fortune the second-fastest-selling book of 2025, behind only Rebecca Yarros’ Onyx Storm. More significantly, it marks a dramatic leap forward for Osman himself.
His previous entry in the series, We Solve Murders, sold 102,257 copies on release. Impressive by any standard, but the new book’s 42 per cent increase shows just how unstoppable the Murder Club juggernaut has become.
In fact, when placed against the rest of the week’s new releases, Osman’s dominance becomes even clearer. The next closest contender, Alchemised by SenLinYu, sold just under 48,000 copies — less than a third of Osman’s total.
Why Readers Keep Coming Back
So what explains this enduring obsession with Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim?
Part of the answer lies in Osman’s ability to make these characters feel like old friends, who just happen to stumble into danger again and again. In The Impossible Fortune, domestic joys and challenges — weddings, loss, and uncertainty — collide with a mystery triggered by a threatened guest and a coded message that could have deadly consequences.
Osman never forgets the human heart of his plots: relationships, humour, vulnerability, and the courage to face another crisis together.
The Rise of “Gentle Crime”
But there is something more at play, too. Readers today seem to be hungrier than ever for what might be called “gentle crime.”
At a time when news cycles feel relentlessly grim and hardboiled thrillers can sometimes mirror that darkness too closely, Osman’s blend of warmth, wit, and suspense feels like an antidote. His books deliver the thrill of a crime story — bodies, clues, and villains — without plunging readers into unrelenting brutality.
Instead of cynical detectives and bleak landscapes, we have retirees in a Kentish retirement village, armed with sharp minds and sharper humour. It’s crime fiction as comfort food: still tense, still clever, but always leaving the reader uplifted rather than drained.
Heart, Humour, and Humanity
That balance of humour and heartache, tension and tenderness, is precisely why Osman’s books have become cultural touchstones.
Each new release feels like both an event and a reunion. Readers line up not just to discover who the villain is, but to spend more time with characters who embody the values of friendship, resilience, and optimism — even in the face of murder.
Another Triumphant Chapter
With The Impossible Fortune, Richard Osman has not simply matched his previous success; he has exceeded it in style.
The series continues to grow in popularity and cultural resonance, proving there is still plenty of life in the Thursday Murder Club. For those who have followed from the start, it is another triumphant chapter. For those yet to join, there has never been a better time to discover why millions of readers around the world are reaching for cosy intrigue over cold cynicism.
Find signed first editions of all Thursday Murder Club books.
