The Last Devil to Die

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An instant #1 New York Times bestseller!

A new mystery is afoot in the fourth book in the Thursday Murder Club series from million-copy bestselling author Richard Osman

It’s rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club.

Shocking news reaches them—an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.

The gang’s search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online fraudsters—as well as heartache close to home—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust.

With the body count rising, the clock ticking down, and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out?

And who will be the last devil to die?Praise for The Last Devil to Die:
 
“Skulduggery and laughs abound as our favorite gaggle of amateur-detective retirees tackle drug runners, dodgy antique dealers, art forgers and Battenberg cake recipes.”
—People

“The best Murder Club book yet. . . A poignant complement to both the fair-play mystery plot and the characters’ lively humor.”
—New York Times Book Review

“So what is it about the Thursday Murder Club books that make them so broadly appealing? The simple answer is that they are really good. The writing is pithy and fresh, so much so that I kept writing down lines from The Last Devil To Die. . . But there’s more than just quotable sentences at work here. Osman’s plots play fair with the reader, carefully placing ‘red herrings’ to fool the reader into picking the wrong possible murder suspect—a gambit that has improved with each successive book. The endings feel both inevitable and earned: the exact combination one wants in a good mystery. . . Osman’s greatest strength is fusing the puzzle-mastery of Christie and her Golden Age peers with emotional earnestness and wry humor.”
—Esquire

“There may be other aged detectives in print and on television, but for wit, intelligence and humanity, the Thursday Murder Club outranks them all.”
—Wall Street Journal

“While author Richard Osman will be moving on to write a second series, he assured me (and the many other readers who are similarly invested) that he’ll return to the funny, sweet stories of my favorite retirement home sleuths. The Last Devil to Die is a beautiful send-off that will get us through the wait.”
—Elle
 
“Richard Osman’s books are a slyly sophisticated bunch, boasting emotional development equal to the memorable mysteries. . . Thursday Murder Club mystery stands up well on its own, but given the richness of character and relationships, as a set, they’re bloody brilliant.”
—NPR

“Osman doesn’t disappoint… Everything is here that fans of the series have come to expect: humour, warmth, the confounding of expectations as these pensioners investigate… Along with the laughs, there is grief, and an ending that is handled sensitively (I was weeping)… We all need a regular injection of the Thursday Murder Club to keep our spirits up.”
—The Guardian

“Richard Osman returns with an enchanting fourth installment of his retirement village mystery series. . . Osman takes readers on an emotional journey, penning a story that deals with love, life and dementia, for a softer, more thoughtful tale than previous books in the series. I found myself tearing up at times, so maybe keep a box of tissues nearby.”
—Seattle Times

“The Last Devil to Die is equal parts well-plotted mystery, scintillating repartee and deep reflection on what it means to love and live.”
—BookPage, starred review

“I cannot think of another series with a more moving exploration of love after a lifetime together, and The Last Devil To Die reduced me to tears at more than one point.”
—The Christian Science Monitor

“What is truly special in the books are the characters, whose age allows for a beautiful kind of interaction… For all the fizz of jokes and romance, the books carry with them a sense of grief and sadness which becomes much stronger in The Last Devil to Die… The kindness is his books comes out of something greater for Osman. It’s how he wants the world to be and it’s how he thinks the world is, if only we could realize it.”
—Town & Country

“Incredibly clever, with some deeply poignant scenes and laugh-out-loud shenanigans from the elderly friends, this fourth entry in the series is chaotically fun… Osman weaves numerous plot lines, both tragic and hilarious, into an irresistible novel, perfect for fans of Mrs. Pollifax or Miss Marple.” 
—Shelf Awareness

“The latest adventure of the Thursday Murder Club is also its best… Even if the mysteries weren’t absorbing — which they are — Osman’s books, like Alexander McCall Smith’s, would work simply because it’s such fun to spend time with these people. What sets Devil apart from its predecessors is the deftness and humor with which Osman confronts a subject that’s completely not funny: dementia… In the end, the murder club books are not really about crime but about friendship and finding ways to stay involved in life.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Delivers the same kind of clever dialogue, colorful characters and corkscrew plotting that made the other books so much fun… As you reach the last chapters of this book, you’ll think you’ve figured out the mystery. You’ll think so several times. But Osman and the Thursday Murder Club will keep the surprises coming.”
—Tampa Bay Times 

“It’s impossible to resist Osman’s quartet of septuagenarian crime solvers, so go ahead and give in to the Thursday Murder Club. But start at the beginning and work your way to this one; it’s the best and most fully realized of the series’s four books.”
—AirMail

“The strands of the plot multiply entertainingly and get tied together in the usual satisfying way… Osman serves up another delightful mystery.”
—Kirkus

“Osman follows The Bullet That Missed with a bittersweet mystery about the problems facing many older people: dementia, computer fraud, death. Humor does, however, alleviate the poignancy in this strongest, most emotional book in the best-selling series.”
—Library Journal, starred review

Praise for The Bullet That Missed:

“Osman concocts a satisfyingly complex whodunit full of neat twists and wrong turns. But unlike most crime novelists, he ensures his book’s strength and momentum stem not from its plot or its thrills but rather its perfectly formed characters. Once again, the quartet of friends makes for delightful company… Heartwarming and enthralling. ‘They carried a kind of magic, the four of them,’ a policeman muses. That magic is still there in abundance.”
—Washington Post

“The Bullet That Missed hits on every front. Its quandaries stymie, its solutions thrill, its banter is worth reciting and its characters exemplify an admirable camaraderie. One can only hope that the Thursday Murder Club’s next outing appears before long.”
—Wall Street Journal

“The Thursday Murder Club is back, and that should make everyone happy — except, of course, murderers. Richard Osman’s engaging series about a group of crime-solving retirees has delighted readers since the first book. The Thursday Murder Club, an international bestseller, was funny, original, baffling, poignant and thoroughly engaging. That’s a high bar to set from the get-go, but Osman has easily achieved it in subsequent books… This book is as delightful as the others. A remarkable achievement, Osman up there effortlessly balancing on that very high bar.”
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Not to be missed.”
—Parade

“Charming.”
—People

“The mysteries are complex, the characters vivid, and the whole thing is laced with warm humor and—remarkably, considering the body count—good feeling. Your next must-read mystery series.”
—Kirkus, starred review

“Bestseller Osman’s diverting third Thursday Murder Club mystery (after 2021’s The Man Who Lived Twice) delivers laughs along with a nicely woven plot….The pace is breezy, the characters are intelligent and varied in their interests and backgrounds, and the humor is often pitched to readers who understand the vagaries of getting older. Osman reliably entertains.”
—Publishers Weekly

“It’s charming and, as always, will leave you guessing the murderer until the very end.”
—Town and CountryRichard Osman is an author and television presenter. His novels, The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, and The Last Devil to Die, were number one, million-copy international bestsellers as well as New York Times bestsellers. He lives in London with his wife, Ingrid, and Liesl the cat. We Solve Murders is his fifth novel.AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE
 
Irresistibly charming and full of heart, with a cunning mystery at its center, The Last Devil to Die is Richard Osman at his finest. Pitting the unforgettable pensioners of the Thursday Murder Club—Elizabeth, a former spy; Joyce, a retired nurse; Ibrahim, a still-practicing psychologist; and Ron, a former trades union official (and forever West Ham fan)—against an international drug smuggling ring, Osman has set the stage for another wild whodunit that is sure to entertain.
 
The Last Devil to Die opens on Boxing Day. The Thursday Murder Club has just enjoyed a lovely holiday together at the Coopers Chase Retirement Village when a single shot in the dark brings an abrupt end to their merrymaking. Kuldesh Sharma, a local antiques dealer and close friend of the amateur detectives, is found dead. And a box containing £100,000 worth of heroin is missing. Can the Thursday Murder Club uncover how these two things are related before Kent’s latest killer strikes again?

A CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD OSMAN

1. The Last Devil to Die is the fourth mystery in the Thursday Murder Club series. What was your inspiration for this novel?
 
I was taking part in a UK television program called Celebrity Antiques Roadtrip and was partnered with a lovely antiques expert called Raj Bisram. Over the course of a couple of idyllic days in a classic car in the English countryside, he told me so many amazing stories about some of the dodgy dealings that go on in the supposedly genteel business of antiques, and I immediately thought this was a wonderful world to drop the Thursday Murder Club into. Every time during the writing process I’d ask Raj a question about whether something particularly outlandish might happen in the world of antiques, he would simply nod and reply “Oh yes. And much worse than that.”
I should point out that the vast majority of people in the world of antiques are perfectly well-behaved, innocent souls. But–hoo boy–the bad ones!
 
2. In each installment of the Thursday Murder Club, we learn a bit more about our diverse group of intrepid sleuths. How do you approach writing from different perspectives?
 
Every time I begin a scene, I think about whose mind I’d most like to experience the scene through. Who might provide the most insight? Who might be the most out of their comfort zone, or, often, which character’s perspective would make this scene the funniest? If ever there’s someone in the room with a gun, for example, I always think, “Well, this one’s for Joyce.”
 
3. In the novel, we say goodbye to one of the Thursday Murder Club’s beloved characters. How did you approach writing this loss, and how do you think the group will move forward in future installments?
 
As I was approaching the fourth book, I knew I wanted it to feel like the conclusion of something. I hope the first four books can always be read together and feel like one continuous story. I wanted a series of events where readers think these characters deserve a little break; a fallow year to recover and recuperate. They will be back, and soon, but I wanted The Last Devil to Die to feel like the end of their first era as a club. I also always want to tell the truth in these books. It’s all well and good to show the humor, and the mischief and the love they all share, but I have to show the pain, too.
 
4. Speaking of the future, Joyce’s growth across the series has been one of its many delights. Will we see Joyce take on a bigger role in the group? And might she ever land herself a bachelor of her own?
 
It would please me enormously for Joyce to find love, but I think she’s her own worst enemy. Her taste in men needs to change, and I genuinely don’t feel in control of that. Joyce is very much her own woman, and she won’t listen to me. She loves an emotionally unavailable man, and at some point that has to change. She loves love, she loves romance, and she loves the chase. Someday I hope someone might chase her. It will take quite a man, though.
 
5. You’ve shared that following The Last Devil to Die, you will take a short break from the Thursday Murder Club series to introduce us to a new crime-solving duo. Can you share anything about the new series?
 
I am very excited about my new series. It follows a daughter-in-law/father-in-law detective duo. The daughter in law travels the world as a bodyguard, enjoying the private jets, luxury yachts, and island retreats that come with the job. The father-in-law, a widower and an ex-cop, has a very quiet, very happy, gentle life in the English countryside, and all he wants to do is enjoy a pub quiz and a few pints with his friends. But the daughter-in-law finds herself in danger, and in need of someone she can trust, and sends for him. Much to his dismay he finds himself on a private jet, flying to the States, and lands in a world of trouble. It will keep the charm and humor of the Thursday Murder Club series, but will involve far more kicking down warehouse doors and jumping out of helicopters—a little like The Thursday Murder Club meets The Da Vinci Code.
 
6. The novel opens on Boxing Day, and we get a brief glimpse into how the Thursday Murder Club celebrates the holidays. Do you have a favorite tradition that you snuck into Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim’s festivities?
 
There is an enormous row in the book between Ron (of course) and his partner, Pauline, about when is the correct time to open Christmas presents: before lunch (Ron) or after lunch (Pauline). I am very much from a “before lunch” family. I love Christmas, and loved thinking about the presents the club might all buy for one another. That’s in a very early chapter and I think people will enjoy it.

 
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Elizabeth and Stephen have been together for a very long time. How did you react to the events of this novel? How do you think you would feel in similar circumstances?

2. The book introduces us to the sometimes dramatic world of antiques dealers. What other industries do you think might have surprising links to crime?

3. Where would you hide a box that everyone was desperate to find? Where do you think is the last place anyone might look?

4. Ibrahim continues his therapeutic relationship with a hardened criminal. Do you think the sessions Connie has with him are changing her? In what ways? Do you think Connie herself might have an impact on Ibrahim?

5. Joyce and Ibrahim both ruminate on their lost loves. What do you think they have learned from their previous relationships? Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

6. A few new characters are introduced in the novel. Are there any you would like to see become members of the Thursday Murder Club?

7. Why do so many people fall victim to romance fraud?

8. Joyce wishes for more weddings than murders for the coming year. Who would you like to see get married?

9. Would you rather pay ten thousand dollars for a real Picasso or a hundred dollars for an identical fake?

10. Joyce remarks, “I think we’re due a period of peace and quiet now, aren’t we? A few months without murders, and corpses, without diamonds and spies, without guns and drugs and people threatening to kill us. Some time for Elizabeth to find her new feet.” Do you think the Thursday Murder Club will stay out of trouble for long?US

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