The Last Devil to Die

A Thursday Murder Club Mystery, Book 4

By: Richard Osman

Narrated by: Fiona Shaw

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

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?

©2023 Richard Osman (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“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

“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

“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

Story is great; narration is terrible

Although not quite as charming as the previous three books, the story is still interesting and complicated and the characters are wonderful. However, I long for the narrator of the first two books. The current narrator, Fiona Shaw, whispers half of the dialogue, and it’s almost impossible to understand.

narration was so hard to hear (whispering) that I’m going to have to read a hard copy!

I love The Thursday Murder Club series. This is another good one by Richard Osman with an interesting plot and subplots, great characters, and a particularly gutting and poignant chapter that will leave most readers (listeners) in tears…. IF they can hear all the whispered dialogue well enough to understand it.

Please bring back Lesley Manville as the audiobook reader /narrator!!! — or at least someone else who doesn’t whisper half of the time. Fiona Shaw whispered at least half of the book, and many of the whispered lines were difficult to impossible to understand even with the volume cranked up high (we listen to audiobooks on long drives. All audiobook dialogue should be understandable if played at normal volume through an auto’s sound system, and this just wasn’t). Part of it is the low volume of her voice in the extensive whispered parts compared with the “normal” spoken lines, but there’s also a sibilance to her whispered voice that creates a sort of “white noise” that interferes with understanding what is being said no matter how high the volume is cranked up. My husband said he could only catch every 4th or 5th word, making the book essentially unintelligible to him. I had a hard time with it also, not as bad as him, but it was ridiculous to have to keep backing it up to try to catch what was being said. The sections where Joyce is writing in her journal (whispered) and the voice of the narrator (whispered) were especially bad, with even worse drop-off of the volume at the end of words/sentences. I may be asking for a refund on this one -a first- because we’re going to have to get a hard copy to pick up everything we missed.

Best one yet!

Very few writers carry me through a story like Richard Osman. I love these characters and feel more and more attached to them. I highly recommend the entire series.

It just got better!

This series 4th book just made this series better! But tighten your emotional seat belt because this one takes a bit of a detour that will pull at your heartstrings. There is a lot more depth in these characters in this book making this book a little different, while providing the necessary multi-dimensional layers needed for future books in this series. I love this series and highly recommend it!!

Best book of the year!

Absolutely phenomenal! From the story line of all the different characters, to the plot, all the twists, it simply could not get any better than this!!! I literally laughed out loud so many times while listening, I also cried hard at one point. Even though this is the fourth book in the series, it is NOT going down hill, they get better and better as the series continues. I hope there are many more to come in this series (please). I’ve read ( and listened) to quite a few books this year and there is no other book that compares to the story, the plot, the characters, their development, the plot twists in this book *chefs kiss*. I will admit I was taken aback when they first switched from the original narrator to the current narrator, but I think she did a fabulous job in this book’s narration. I give this book 10/10 stars!!!

Perfection.

I cannot tell you how much I have come to love these stories and more importantly, these characters. I just finished this one and I’m going to go back to the beginning of book one and start all over again! Excellent narration and brilliant writing.

Great series

Maybe the best segment on the way it really is when you or someone very close is dealing with dementia. So many people that have never cared for Alzheimer’s patients think they don’t know their own situation but most do, at least occasionally. I can’t think of anything sadder.

Another Brilliant adventure!

Another brilliant adventure with the Thursday Murder Club! We get to know and love our favorite pensioners even more!

Another perfect book

This book is just as wonderful and perfect as the first three in the series!

best one yet

I never thought I would be brought to tears in a murder mystery but such poignant writing. the characters pull in this book more than ever. my only regret is that I went through it in 3 days. I should have paced myself.