The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE by Richard Osman is a terrific offering in The Thursday Murder Club series featuring pensioners Elizabeth (former agent), Ibrahim (part-time psychiatrist), well-meaning scatter-brained retired nurse Joyce, and Ron (former union organizer). They are joined once again by some local, amusingly tolerant cops and a few well-connected criminals. Mixed together, that brings plenty of laughable moments and numerous witty observations as they try to solve the death of an antiques dealer and locate a missing shipment of heroin worth 100,000 pounds. There is a bittersweet element in this entry, too, as Elizabeth reflects on her life with husband Stephen, “the real secret was that when they looked at each other, they each thought they had the better deal.” THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE received a well-deserved starred review from Library Journal. Osman entertains and will make readers both laugh and cry. Humor (“‘people rarely pay in cash these days. It's a nightmare,’ says [drug dealer] Connie. ‘Even I have to take Apple Pay now.’”) is interspersed with more serious and poignant plot points about older people grappling with computer fraud or dementia: “our memories are no less real than whatever moment in which we happen to be living.”