Chapter 1

The Thursday Murder Club wraps a meeting about a 1975 crossbow killing and moves to lunch at Coopers Chase. Joyce muses about getting a dog or joining Instagram, prompting Ibrahim’s statistical caution and Ron’s jokes. Elizabeth, distracted, has just received a letter from Marcus Carmichael, newly moved to Ruskin Court, inviting her for a drink.

Elizabeth recalls late 1981, when her team recovered Marcus Carmichael’s corpse beneath Lambeth Bridge. She supervised the procedure, helped transport the body in a disguised van, conversed with the attending doctor, and later informed Carmichael’s young wife and attended his funeral, cementing her certainty of his death.

Back at lunch, the dog debate continues, with Ibrahim insisting Joyce must not outlive a pet. Elizabeth cuts through, predicting Joyce will inevitably adopt a rescue. The group is served by Poppy, an amiable but inept new waitress whose polished nails and errors Elizabeth quietly notes, filing away the observation.

Weighing the impossible invitation against her memories, Elizabeth resolves to accept and meet “Marcus Carmichael” the next day, intrigued by the reappearance of a man she knows to be dead.