What major changes did Netflix’s The Thursday Murder Club movie make from the book? Explained

The Thursday Murder Club, created by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’s director, Chris Columbus, hit the screens on August 28, 2025, on Netflix. Richard Osman’s novel House of Games was adapted for the screen, with the film making several major changes from the original book.

The plot follows a senior group of people hoping to solve cold murder cases and connect the dots in their Jigsaw Room every Thursday. The gang of four retirees includes Elizabeth (a retired spy),  Ron (a retired union leader), Ibrahim (a retired psychiatrist), and Joyce (a retired nurse). They even have a name for their group, calling it ‘The Thursday Murder Club.’

The club members were busy finding the killer of Angela Hughes, a murder case from 1973, whose boyfriend, Peter Mercer, claimed that she was killed by a masked intruder in their apartment. But a real murder case happened in the Cooper’s Chase retirement center, and their attention shifts to the new murder case in the town. 

Tony Curran (co-owner of Cooper’s Chase)  was found dead in his own apartment, and the major suspect was Ian Ventham, who was his partner, and the duo had a heated argument over the sale of Cooper’s Chase right before the murder. Ian even hired a Polish immigrant named Bogdan as a replacement for Tony’s position. 

However, the main suspect of Tony’s murder, Ian, was also murdered by a fentanyl overdose, ruling him out as a suspect from the picture. A few days later, Bogdan calls out Elizabeth to show her that he found a skeleton while he was digging for a new housing development, and turns out the remains were of Angela Hughes’s boyfriend, Peter Mercer. 

However, Bogdan later confesses that he accidentally killed Tony as he was not handing him back his passport and forcing him into a lifetime of labor. 

As the club was digging into the case, they found the truth via Penny (a former police officer) about who murdered Peter. Penny confessed that she killed Peter, as she was sure that he had killed Angela and was making up the story of a masked intruder. Penny killed Peter, and her husband John helped her hide the body. 

But the question remained, who killed Ian? Well, John (Penny’s husband) killed Ian as he did not want him to dig up the area, as he could find out Peter’s body, which could open the threads of murder that happened years ago.

Major changes were made in the film The Thursday Murder Club as compared to the book

Jason’s arrest

Jason never gets arrested in the book, but he was on the suspect list in the film. Instead, in the book, he worked with the Thursday Murder Club to find the other men from the picture. Later, in the film, he proves his innocence by confessing that he has an affair with Ian’s wife, and the ‘timestamped’ picture of him with her gives him an alibi. 

Turkish Johnny was never in the film

In the book, there’s a photographer called Turkish Johnny who took the photo of Jason, Bobby, and Tony. He seems suspicious at first (a red herring) because he was in business with them. Jason and Bobby even think he ran away to Cyprus after killing Tony.

But in the film, Turkish Johnny doesn’t appear at all.

Changes made in Bobby Tanner’s character

In the book, Bobby is quieter and less threatening. When Elizabeth goes to meet him, she takes Joyce along. She convinces him through blackmail to sell to an investor she picks, so he stays out of the murder trouble.

In the film, Bobby is more dangerous. He sends someone to scare Elizabeth in a graveyard with the words “Don’t Wake the Dead,” and has an intruder leave threatening flowers in her home. He is shown as the third owner of Cooper’s Chase and wants to sell the property fast for a big profit. He even reveals that he and Tony Curran were running a human trafficking business, taking passports from Eastern European workers to trap them into labor.

The Thursday Murder Club (TCM) Necklace

In the film, Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron each have gold necklaces with “TCM” on them, showing they belong to The Thursday Murder Club. Penny was the fourth member, but since she couldn’t take part anymore, Elizabeth invited Joyce to join the club at the start of the movie. Later, Joyce also gets her own TCM necklace.

These necklaces don’t exist in the book. 

Father Mackie

In the book, Father Mackie is given more attention. He seems suspicious (a red herring) because he may have had a reason to delay work at the graveyard. He also has a sad backstory linked to the graveyard, but he is not the killer.

In the film, Father Mackie only shows up briefly at Ron’s protest at the graveyard and doesn’t play an important role in the story.

Bogdon’s confession of killing Tony was changed in the film

In both the book and the film, Bogdan Janowski finds a skeleton in a grave, creating another mystery besides the two murders. He was Tony Curran’s handyman, and in both versions, he admits to Stephen that he killed Tony. 

In the book, Stephen forgets this because of dementia, but in the film, it was recorded on the daily memory recorder.