The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman | book review

【 THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE 】

book #4 in the Thursday Murder Club series

[TW x grief x dementia x death]

Genre: Cosy Crime
Audience: Adult
Author: Richard Osman
Published: September 2023
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Pages: 421 (hardback)

This series has continued to impress and delight me, and things take a very serious turn in book 4.

While there has always been good continuation between the books, particularly the character development, The Last Devil to Die really took this up a notch and manage to pull severely on our heartstrings in doing so. Osman certainly has a way of bringing these characters to life and getting us invested. This was a fascinating mystery to solve, with many unexpected twists and turns. There were many layers to the story, beyond the main mystery/crime itself.

Of course, I feel I can’t review this without mentioning the beautiful way that Osman wrote about Stephen’s battle with dementia. While it’s been mentioned previously, it almost felt like Osman had decided we finally knew the characters well enough to learn and see a little more about what was going on. It was like a heart-felt little mystery, as several chapters are from Stephen’s perspective and give you a sense of him trying to understand what he suspects is going on. As a topic that is close to my heart, I thought Osman did a great job delicately but profoundly representing this awful disease. But I won’t say more, so that you can experience that for yourself for the first time.

Thanks to Elizabeth being preoccupied with Stephen’s health, this gives Joyce some real solid stage time to shine. It’s a leap of character growth as she learns to be more independent and confident when stepping out from behind Elizabeth’s wing.

One of the funniest side stories is Ron and Ibrahim dealing with the idiot Mervyn as he gets himself caught up to the eyeballs with an online romance fraud. This was such a funny plot line (and much needed antidote to some of the more serious themes) throughout the book.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the sulky and slightly underhand role that Chris and Donna take in this book. They’re very much so told to stay in their lane, as the big boy police come in to deal with the heroin scandal that forms the backbone of the plot. And do we expect that either of them will follow orders? Of course not. Do we think that they’ll work together, or that they’ll secretly break the rules hoping that the other won’t notice? Obviously the latter – these two are delightfully childish.

This is an excellent case for the Thursday Murder Club; so many characters are at play relating to the heroin case. From police officers, to the club, to prisoners, to dealers (in more than just drugs) and beyond, this really is a level up in storytelling. I’m super intrigued as to where things will go in the final book and how Osman will follow up such an epic story!