Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club (Viking) was the UK’s most loaned book in 2020/21, according to newly released Public Lending Right (PLR) data. 

The author, first published in paperback just over a year ago, also celebrated his 35th week in the Mass Market Fiction number one spot this week.

Tom Holland, author and chair of the PLR Advisory Committee, said: “At the best of times, the work done by PLR on behalf of authors is a thing of wonder. To have kept the show on the road during a time of pandemic, and ensured that authors will continue to be paid for library loans, despite the very worst that Covid could do, has been nothing less than heroic. 

“This year’s PLR figures reflect both the creative ways in which libraries managed loans when buildings were closed and the importance of being published in all formats – print, e-book, e-audio and audio. This flexibility ensured most borrowers requests could be fulfilled by the library and that all authors could benefit from the loans of their works. While the Most Borrowed author listings continue to reflect the success of authors with many titles to their name, the Most Borrowed title listings celebrates new authors and reflects the significance of multiple formats on a title’s popularity.”