Introduction: Cozy Crimes, Big Themes—Why This Whodunit Matters for Creative Leaders
Chris Columbus’s “The Thursday Murder Club” (2025) isn’t just a charming, star-studded whodunit set in a bucolic English retirement village—it’s a masterclass in the art of storytelling, reinvention, and legacy. As Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie bring to life a quartet of amateur sleuths who solve murders between Pilates and cake, the film gently subverts expectations about aging, creativity, and purpose. Guided by Peter de Kuster’s “Power of Your Story” framework, this column invites creative leaders to reflect: At any age, in any role, you are the protagonist in your legend. Will you be content to follow the script handed to you—or will you, like the Thursday Murder Club, author surprises, seek truth, and spark joy, mystery, and meaning wherever you go?
Inheriting and Challenging Stories—Who Gets to Be the Hero?
The film opens on the idyllic but suspiciously orderly Coopers Chase Retirement Village, where protagonist Elizabeth (Helen Mirren) and her friends gather for the Thursday Murder Club—a society dedicated to revisiting cold cases, drinking tea, and refusing to quietly fade into irrelevance. Here, the dominant story is that later life is about withdrawal, gentleness, and safety. The club’s existence is an act of narrative rebellion: instead of invisibility, they choose agency, camaraderie, and curiosity. They are not extras in someone else’s story. They are the central detectives.
Reflection for Creative Leaders:
Whose story about your potential—or limitations—are you still living? What narrative about “late stage” leadership, creativity, or relevance have you been tempted to accept? How might you subvert it?
The Call to Adventure: When Routine is Shattered, Will You Investigate?
Soon, the familiar rhythms of club meetings are interrupted by violence: local developer Tony Curran is found dead, and the rambling, comfortable world of cold cases transforms into an active crime scene. With the arrival of the wonderfully outmatched police (Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays), the retirees find themselves dismissed, underestimated, and gently patronized. But a real mystery—one connected to the fate of their home, friendships, and principles—isn’t a threat; it’s a call to adventure.
Creative Leader’s Reflection:
What disruptions—downsizing, new competition, technology, personal change—are you tempted to ignore or outsource to “the professionals”? Is there an uninvited adventure beckoning you to lead, learn, or contribute in ways you thought were behind you?
Deepening the Mystery: Intersections of Past, Purpose, and Legacy
As the plot thickens—complete with red herrings, development deals, and secrets from the Cold War—Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim, and Joyce realize that their powers as a group far exceed their “retired” labels. Elizabeth’s secret-agent past, Ron’s union boss savvy, Ibrahim’s analytical brilliance, and Joyce’s gentle medical skills all find necessary, if unexpected, application in the present-day hunt for justice. These are not accidental gifts; they are evidence that every chapter of life contains assets for creative leadership.
Creative Leader’s Reflection:
Which buried strengths or “formerly essential” skills might be plot devices in your next adventure? Is there a place for your wisdom, networks, temperament, or scars—even if you think those days are over?
Gathering Allies: Friendship, Diversity, and Unexpected Partnerships
One of the film’s true joys is watching alliances form across generations, backgrounds, and authority lines. The club welcomes Joyce, a sometimes-awkward, relentlessly cheerful new resident whose warmth and medical insight prove indispensable. Police Constable Donna De Freitas, new and restless in her own career, becomes both an ally and mentee to the seniors. This mixing of experiences and outlooks is where magic—and breakthroughs—happen.
Creative Leader’s Reflection:
Where might you intentionally invite “outsiders” into your circle or project—those with different ages, cultures, or backgrounds? Who needs to be welcomed as an ally, not merely as an assistant or apprentice?
Testing Theories: Humility, Humor, and Leadership Without Ego
As suspects pile up and subplots multiply, the Thursday Murder Club operate with a mixture of amateur enthusiasm and sly wisdom. Their leadership is not top-down or expert-driven; it is participatory, iterative, and unafraid of wrong turns. Elizabeth—the “brains” of the operation—is as likely to take advice from Joyce as to go undercover herself. The seniors bicker, joke, fail spectacularly, and share not just expertise, but vulnerability.
Creative Leader’s Reflection:
What assumptions do you hold about leadership that keep you from experimenting, laughing at error, or inviting others to co-author solutions? How does humility grow your creative impact?
The Ordeal: Facing Mortality, Ethics, and the Shadow of the Past
Beneath the comedy lurks real darkness—a reflection on aging, mortality, unfinished business, and regret. Elizabeth is haunted by her ailing husband and her own moral compromises; other club members confront loneliness, frailty, and fear that “the end” is approaching. The film doesn’t shy from the hard stuff, insisting that a legendary life is not always comfortable, but it is always honest.
Creative Leader’s Reflection:
What hard truths or old wounds are you running from as a leader or creator? What would it mean to let mortality, loss, or uncertainty into the story you are writing now?
The Reward: Reinvention and the Joy of Ongoing Plot Twists
The clues are unraveled (including secrets about missing skulls, buried pasts, and complex property deals), but the real treasure is found in renewed purpose, unexpected friendships, and the sense that “more adventures await.” The club’s victory is not only justice, but what follows: a new sense of belonging, influence, and invitation to the next chapter—even as the world tells them their role should be shrinking.
Creative Leader’s Reflection:
What kind of “reward” will you celebrate in your next act? What nonmaterial victories—purpose, laughter, connection—might await if you say yes to unorthodox choices?
Returning Home: Living as Storytellers, Not Spectators
The Thursday Murder Club ends not with a last case but with another weekly meeting, coffee brewing, and mysteries yet to come. The club passes the torch, includes new members, and stays open to whatever strange, beautiful problems might walk in the door next. Their legend is still being written, and so is yours.
Creative Leader’s Reflection:
What new rituals, meetings, or projects will help you keep living as the protagonist—not the audience—of your story? How can you bring others with you, ensuring that mentorship, diversity, and creativity are central to all you do?
Conclusion: Legends Aren’t Bound by Age—Craft Yours Now
At its core, “The Thursday Murder Club” is not about death or decline, but about the surprise, possibility, and leadership found everywhere, at every age. It’s proof that the world’s neat stories about retirement, roles, and irrelevance are exactly what creative people, like the Murder Club’s members—or like you—exist to disrupt. Your legend is always under revision. The only question: Will you be content to follow, or will you create?
Essential Questions for Leaders and Legends
- What script about age, relevance, or risk do you need to rewrite this year?
- Who are the allies—expected or unexpected—whose experience, youth, or perspective could ignite your next project?
- Which “skills gone dusty” are ready to shine again?
- Where can laughter and humility make even the most daunting adventure possible?
- What’s one “club” you can create, join, or champion to foster legend-making for yourself and others?
Coaching Invitation—Lead and Live Your Creative Legend with Peter de Kuster
If “The Thursday Murder Club” stirs something restless in you—a hunger for reinvention, a refusal to become a side character in your own story—my Story Coaching is for leaders, creators, and seekers at every stage of life.
Who’s it For?
- Executives and artists hungry for a fresh plot twist
- Innovators facing change or uncertainty
- Midlife and late-career professionals exploring legacy and meaning
- Anyone who senses the adventure isn’t over
The Coaching Payoff
- Reconnect with purpose and agency—in work and beyond
- Discover and activate your “dormant” talents for new adventures
- Transform old wounds and regrets into wisdom and possibility
- Build inclusive, energetic teams through story and legacy
- Design your own “club”—a culture of creativity, fun, and impact
Special Offer
Hero’s Journey Story Coaching with Peter de Kuster
- 3 x 90-minute private sessions (online or in-person)
- A creative story map of your unique legend
- Personal assessment and actionable rituals
For €495 (exclusive of VAT)
It’s never too late—or too early—to become the hero, sleuth, or creator of record. Book your journey today, and take the radical lead in shaping your story, your impact, and your legend.
The Power of Your Story 