Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood issued an apology to Richard Osman after having an awkward realisation about their books. Robert released his novel The Marlow Murder Club, a series following three women investigating crimes in Marlow, Bucks, in 2021.

It came shortly after Richard released his own crime novel, The Thursday Murder Club. After his book was released, Robert soon noticed it was "ridiculously similar" to Richard's. This included the fact both had an elderly woman who becomes an amateur sleuth as their lead character.

Despite the similarities, Robert maintains that his plot was planned ahead of The Thursday Murder Club's release, having originally been planned as a TV show. After being knocked back by executives, Robert decided to write The Marlow Murder Club as a book, and then see if it can hit the screens, reports Coventry Live.

It prompted an awkward exchange between the two authors. Speaking on the Binge Podcast with Alex Jones and Harry Judd, Alex explained: "I met him eventually at a party. I don't usually go to those sorts of parties and bless him, he was a plus one at the party so it wasn't like a fancy party, and you do know when Richard Osman is in the room.

"So I got introduced to him and I go, 'I'm really sorry but I appeared to have copied your book, three months after your book'. I explained I was an actual writer and I think he was concerned that my publisher had just hired a hack to quickly churn out a book.

"But I said, 'No, I've been working on this for years and years and it's going to be part of a series, and maybe we'll do it as a television show', and he said 'That's fine'."

The One Show host Alex Jones noted the striking similarity between the titles of the two books. This prompted Robert to elaborate that the parallels extended beyond just the titles.

He stated: "It's not just the titles. His Elizabeth was a 78-year-old woman, Judith is a 78-year-old woman, it's ridiculously similar. Elizabeth gathers together a coterie of friends to solve light-hearted murders in the home counties and my Judith gathers together a coterie of friends who solve light-hearted murders in the home counties. But there are lots of differences between the two books."

The filmmaker theorises that the two books bear similar names because they drew inspiration from the same source. He suggests both authors were influenced by The Tuesday Club Murders, the US title for Agatha Christie's first Jane Marple book, Thirteen Problems.

Following its publication, The Marlow Murder Club was adapted into a TV series by UandDrama in 2024, with the second series airing earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Richard's The Thursday Murder Club is set to be turned into a film later this year. Directed by Christopher Columbus, it will star the likes of Helen Mirren, Peirce Brosnan, David Tennant and Ben Kingsley.