The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman (2023 Penguin/Viking paperback 424pp)
For the uninitiated, the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman involves the adventures (or misadventures) of a group of retirees in an idyllic UK retirement home. As the name suggests they initially met once a week to talk about historical unsolved crimes as a sort of intellectual pastime but soon found themselves involved in actual live cases when murders start happening close to home. The main characters are Elizabeth, a former intelligence agent, Joyce, once a nurse, Ron a former union organiser and Ibrahim a not-quite-retired psychiatrist. Along with the crime-fighting there’s a lot of wry commentary on modern life and society. Above all they are a fun group to read about and have garnered the perhaps over-used description of “Cosy Crime Dramas” and so on.
To me the first book (The Thursday Murder Club) was an unexpected pleasure, the second (The Man Who Died Twice) by contrast seemed more cartoon-y and poorly plotted. The third (The Bullet That Missed) was back on track and highly enjoyable. Along the way the series’ popularity has snowballed into something of a phenomenon. Now we come to the fourth and apparently the last volume for some time, The Last Devil To Die.
Expecting something light and fluffy I was surprised with how far Osman pushed the boat out this time. Using what we’ve learnt about the main players over the previous books and the supporting cast of secondary characters that have gathered around them as the series progressed, Osman has created something more complex and somehow more subtle and organic this time. Yes, there is still a main driving mystery but much more is explored and there’s more of a serious message to be had in this book.
The basic plot involves a box of heroin smuggled into the UK and left by drug dealers in the antiques shop of Kuldesh, a minor character in the previous book and friend of Elizabeth’s husband Stephen.
When Kuldesh is found shot dead in the forest and the heroin goes missing it launches an epic drama in which the team race against time to find who among the sundry local drug dealers and thugs were responsible. As the bodies start piling up (and the death count is much higher in this outing) they must discover why this particular box of drugs is in such demand despite being only worth a paltry £100,000.
At points in this story the above mystery seems almost incidental, the author has chosen to explore the characters more. A very strong story thread involves Elizabeth and Stephen as they face the brutal reality of Stephen’s growing dementia. Things between them come to a conclusion which ends up affecting most of the other characters and makes for sobering reading in a book you were expecting to be all fun hijinks.
Meanwhile we learn more of Ibrahim’s back story as he finally finds someone new he can trust. Again, it’s an unexpected turn but not unwelcome.
With Elizabeth sidelined by personal issues, Joyce steps up to lead and rally the team. I’m glad to see her taking a prominent part – two books ago the author seemed to have relegated her to comedy dimwit, something I always felt was very wrong for a former frontline nurse.
Its only Ron who feels short-changed this time round – he’s a bit of a comedy punching bag for most of the plot until Elizabeth and Stephen’s issues managed to bring a little happiness back into his life.
As I said above, I was surprised with the quality of the writing and the direction The Last Devil To Die takes. It is, without a doubt, the best in the series (so far) but I also recognise it would be nothing without the preceding books having introduced us the simpler, funnier versions of these characters first.
If you’ve been following this series, it’s a no-brainer to highly recommend this book. If you haven’t read any of them, go see what the fuss is all about, you’ll be in for a treat.
