Published By: Viking
Pages: 448
Released On: 25/09/2026
Who’s got time to think about murder when there’s a wedding to plan?
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who fears for their life, the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into their most explosive investigation yet, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?
*****
Thanks to Viking for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review. I was lucky enough to receive a proof of this at the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Festival 2025.
I mean, we all knew this was going to be good, didn’t we?
I did have some concerns before I read it. Firstly, it’s been a while since I last read the previous one and so I couldn’t fully remember how it ended, but Richard has done a good job in reminding us without regurgitating the plot. And secondly, cosy crime books, as good as they are, they all tend to be quite similar, even within series, and so I was worried a fifth book would be too samey and lose some of what made it so successful. But it was just as fresh and enjoyable as the beginning of the series.
Whilst I would highly suggest you read the series in order, I think you could read this as a standalone but you wouldn’t get the full effec.t
We’ve got our old, much loved characters who are like our friends, and we have some new ones, slotting perfectly into this little community. Whereas Elizabeth and Joyce tend to be the stars of the previous books, in this one, the men really come into their own and take centre stage which was a nice contrast.
I read it in one sitting. It’s relatively long but so quick to read. It has really whet my appetite for the upcoming movie adaption.
I saw one review of the series as a whole that said it was too unbelievable and far-fetched for them. Which is a fair opinion, and I can see what they mean, but that’s what I love about cosy crime books. They’re thrilling but that over-the-top element makes it fun to read and gives you joy out of trying to decipher it.
This is still a five star read and I think it’s the best of the lot, but as this is an honest review I have to say I found a few sentences or phrases a bit clunky and I had to pause my reading to look them up which wasn’t ideal, but that could just be a ‘me’ thing and therefore it won’t go against the five-star rating.
Books By Your Bedside 