Collecting the Thursday Murder Club: A Complete Guide

True Viking firsts, the Goldsboro and Waterstones exclusives, the US editions collectors miss — and the maths of a matched numbered set.

A Modern Phenomenon Worth Collecting

Few debuts of the last decade arrived with the force of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club. Published by Viking on 3 September 2020, The Thursday Murder Club sold 45,000 copies in its first three days, became the first debut novel ever to take the UK Christmas number one, and went on to become a Platinum bestseller — reportedly the only title to sell more than a million copies in its year of release. The Guardian called it the fastest-selling adult crime debut on record.

That matters to collectors for one reason above all: the earliest states were printed in comparatively modest numbers, before anyone understood what the book would become, while later reprints run into the millions. Add a clearly defined five-book series, a well-organised ladder of retailer exclusives, and a 2025 Netflix film, and you have a contemporary set with genuine, durable collecting momentum.

Publishing History

The series is published in the UK by Viking (Penguin) and in the US by Pamela Dorman Books / Viking. Five novels have appeared:

#	Title	UK First Edition
1	The Thursday Murder Club	2020
2	The Man Who Died Twice	2021
3	The Bullet That Missed	2022
4	The Last Devil to Die	2023
5	The Impossible Fortune	2025

Each follows the four Coopers Chase pensioners — Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim — in their Kentish retirement village. The series didn't merely sell; it kept rewriting the record books. The Man Who Died Twice (2021) was among the fastest-selling novels since records began, and The Bullet That Missed (2022) broke the record for the fastest-selling adult-fiction hardback by a British author. After a one-year detour into a second series, We Solve Murders (2024), Osman returned to Coopers Chase with The Impossible Fortune in 2025.

Identifying a true first

For the trade hardbacks, the only distinction that carries a premium is the genuine first edition, first impression. Because the debut was reprinted heavily and fast, later printings vastly outnumber true firsts. Rather than the descending number line found in many hardbacks, these Viking editions carry a three-digit impression code on the copyright page, directly beneath First published 2020: a true first reads 001, and each later printing steps up — 002, 003 and on (a 26th-impression copy, for instance, reads 026). A useful corroborating tell is the printer line: the 001 first impression was printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, whereas later impressions were produced elsewhere — the 026, for example, in Italy by Grafica Veneta. Confirm the Viking imprint and the hardback ISBN 978-0-241-42544-2, insist on an unclipped first-state jacket with the correct price and no film tie-in banding, and enjoy the debut's dedication while you're on the copyright spread: "To my mum, 'the last surviving Brenda', with love."

The Retailer Exclusives

This is where the series rewards the completist — and where the two best-known exclusives sit.

Goldsboro Books

Goldsboro issued signed, hand-numbered limited editions, each numbered on a dedicated limitation page and signed by Osman, and dressed with exclusive touches: stencilled/sprayed page edges, exclusive endpapers and foiling. (The Impossible Fortune issue, for instance, carried a reversed-colour exclusive jacket, exclusive foiling, a ribbon marker and bespoke endpapers.) These are the blue-chip pieces of any collection. Crucially, the limitation sizes are not uniform:

Title	Goldsboro Limitation
The Thursday Murder Club (Sept 2020 Book of the Month)	/1000
TThe Man Who Died Twice	/2000
The Bullet That Missed	/2000
The Last Devil to Die	/2000
The Impossible Fortune	/1000

That variation is the single most important fact for anyone chasing a matched-number set — the same number across all five volumes. Because Books 1 and 5 were capped at 1,000 while the middle three ran to 2,000, only numbers 1–1000 can exist across all five titles. A fully matched run is therefore permanently constrained by the scarcer 1,000-copy ceiling, which is precisely why intact matched sets so rarely surface and command a premium well beyond the sum of their parts. Goldsboro also sold signed, "lined and dated" trade editions, which sit a rung below the numbered issues.

Waterstones

The Waterstones exclusives are the accessible entry point. They were signed by Osman (to the half-title on the debut) with a tipped-in "Exclusive Signed Edition" leaf, and finished with sprayed/stencilled page edges — black on the first volume — plus, on several titles, bonus content such as an extra chapter. They were signed but not individually numbered, and produced in larger quantities than the Goldsboro runs, which keeps prices within reach for most collectors.

Beyond the two: editions collectors overlook

The series does not end at Goldsboro and Waterstones, and this is where a UK-focused collection often has gaps:

• US Barnes & Noble Exclusive Editions — e.g. The Last Devil to Die, with a bonus short story and specially designed endpapers.
• US deluxe printings — sprayed and stencilled edges, silver foil and a reading-group guide, distinct from the standard Pamela Dorman first.
• Uncorrected proofs / ARCs — printed before the debut became a phenomenon and genuinely scarce; among the most sought-after items in the whole series.
• The audiobook, read by Lesley Manville, and the 2025 film tie-in printings — the tie-ins matter mainly as the state to avoid when buying a "first."
• We Solve Murders (2024) — not part of the club, but Osman's parallel series received its own Goldsboro and Waterstones exclusives, and completists increasingly shelve the two together.

Promotional ephemera — tote bags, bookmarks, enamel pins, shelf-talkers — surfaces around each launch and adds completeness rather than headline value.

The Collector's Guide

For a series this recent, condition is everything; the market pays only for near-perfect copies.

• Prioritise the jacket. Unclipped, unfaded, sharp. Spine-fade is the most common flaw and the fastest way to shed value.
• Insist on the first impression. For a trade set, every volume's copyright page must read 001; a run of later printings (002 and up) is a reading set, not a collection.
• Verify signatures. Goldsboro and Waterstones signings are documented (tipped-in leaves, limitation pages). Treat unverified "signed" copies from third-party sellers with caution.
• Do the matched-set maths early. If you want a matched Goldsboro run, remember only numbers 1–1000 exist across all five — decide before you start buying, because completing one retrospectively is the hard and expensive part.
• Keep the proofs and ephemera. They are what separate a genuinely complete collection from a shelf of nice copies.

Secondary Market Values

The series trades actively. Goldsboro itself has offered a matched numbered set of Books 1–5 at around £2,500, while complete or partial matched sets appear on AbeBooks nearer £1,000; single Goldsboro, Waterstones and unsigned trade firsts are plentiful on eBay and AbeBooks. Condition is the primary driver of value, and every figure below is approximate.

Configuration	Approx. Value Range (GBP)
Trade first, first impression, unsigned (Book 1, fine)	£60 – £150
Trade first, first impression, author-signed (Book 1, fine)	£300 – £500
Complete set of 5 trade firsts (fine, unsigned)	£250 – £600
Waterstones signed exclusive (single, fine)	£30 – £90
Goldsboro signed & numbered (single, fine)	£75 – £250
Fully matched-number Goldsboro set (Books 1–5)	£900 – £2,500
Uncorrected proof of The Thursday Murder ClubThe Thursday Murder Club	£150 – £400+

The strongest performers are the debut in every format — the scarcest true first — and any matched Goldsboro run, whose value is underwritten by that 1,000-copy ceiling. The 2025 film has added fresh demand pressure to early printings of Book 1.

Snap Facts: Richard Osman

• He built hit television before he wrote a word of fiction. Osman created the BBC quiz Pointless and spent years as a producer and executive — he was pulled in front of the camera almost by accident.
• He is 6ft 7in tall — enough that early TV work needed adjusted framing, and something he's said he once felt "awful" about.
• He writes with a significant visual impairment. Osman has nystagmus, which he has described as seeing the world "as if driving in dense fog."
• He is one half of a literary-musical sibling act. His older brother, Mat Osman, is the bassist of Suede — and a published novelist in his own right.
• Spielberg beat roughly a dozen rivals to the film. Amblin Entertainment won the worldwide rights in a competitive 2020 auction reportedly involving around 14 studios; the Chris Columbus–directed film reached Netflix on 28 August 2025.
• The whole series began with a single visit to a retirement village. Watching residents "drinking, gossiping… loads of politics," Osman decided it would make "the perfect place for a murder."

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Image credit of Richard with typewriter: https://airmail.news/