Published: September 30, 2025
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Series: Thursday Murder Club #5
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 368 (Kindle)
My Rating: 4 Stars
Synopsis:
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 favorite criminal.
But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who’s in trouble, kidnap and death are hot on their heels once more. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code, and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into action once more, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?
I was surprised when a fifth installment to the Thursday Murder Club series was announced, mostly because I thought the end of The Last Devil to Die was a great way to say goodbye to the characters. I was even more surprised to find that I enjoyed The Impossible Fortune, though at times it felt an awful lot like the mandatory cybersecurity training I have to do at work. While this won’t set any records as my favorite of the series, it was certainly fun.
The Impossible Fortune is set months after the events of The Last Devil to Die and we find Joyce preparing for her daughter’s imminent wedding. At last! She will be a mother-in-law! Elizabeth is still grieving Steven and Ron and Ibrahim are the same as usual. During the wedding reception Elizabeth is approached by Nick Silver, the best man, who tells her that someone is trying to kill him and shows her a car bomb that was planted beneath his vehicle. As one might expect, this certainly piques Elizabeth’s professional curiosity and when Nick Silver disappears she jumps into action. What follows is a rather convoluted tale of Bitcoin, criminal involvements, and an investigation that seems to be going nowhere fast.
There are several secondary plotlines unspooling whilst the Bitcoin and Nick Silver’s disappearance are being investigated. Ron’s daughter kicked out her abusive husband and he’s trying to assassinate several people now, Ibrahim is still trying to help out the cocaine dealer Connie Johnson, and Joyce is simply overwhelmed with joy now that her daughter is married. I mean, it’s really business as usual for the Thursday Murder Club.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, though perhaps it was unnecessary after what I felt was a fine ending to the series with The Last Devil to Die. I did think that there was perhaps just a bit too much going on in The Impossible Fortune and the main plot with the missing Bitcoin dragged a little more than I would have liked. While by no means a perfect book, it was nonetheless entertaining and the characters were just as delightful as in previous books. I always enjoy the way this book addresses topics like aging and grief, though I didn’t quite appreciate the lessons in identifying potential phishing schemes carried out over text.
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