This series keeps getting BETTER and BETTER, and this time Richard Osman has combined a cozy mystery with some thoughtfully written sub plots which include the themes of “romance fraud” and “end of life decisions”. 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.” With Elizabeth preoccupied with Stephen’s care, Joyce takes the lead. Ron is Ron, while the reader finally learns more about Ibrahim’s past. A new friend comes into the fold, and some new residents of Coopers Chase find themselves in scandalous situations. Also, the criminal characters are entertaining, and I especially enjoyed Garth’s character. Donna, Chris, and Bogdan also play significant roles.

But even the new characters we have not had the chance to build an understanding of manage to be well-rounded. And if not sympathetic then at least interesting and understandable.Osman added: “I’m so thrilled to be writing more Thursday Murder Club books at Viking, the gang couldn’t wish for a happier home. And I’ve been secretly excited for a while now about my new series, which I think readers will love. More details soon, I promise, but for now here’s a toast to more Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim and Ron, and to some brand-new friends too.” In a peaceful retirement community in southeastern England, four friends come together each week for a meeting of the Thursday Murder Club – a group that discusses unsolved crimes. It seems like a bit of harmless fun to keep their minds active, but that will soon change… Returning in The Last Devil to Die are DCI Chris Hudson, PC Donna De Freitas and the unflappable, Bogdan Jankowski. When a local developer is found murdered and in possession of a mysterious photograph, they'll find themselves up close and personal with a very real, very current homicide investigation. Will their combined skills be enough to solve the murder before too many more bodies pile up? Usually by the fourth book in a series, my interest starts to wane and I don’t continue on, but I have grown fond of this gang, and look forward to what’s next!

Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club is concerned. A decade-old cold case leads them to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers.The residents of Coopers Chase have seen a lot, but the impact has rarely been felt so close to home. Drawn into the world of international smugglers and scam artists Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron are on the case. There may be other aged detectives in print and on television,but for wit, intelligence and humanity, the Thursday Murder Club outranks them all.” While many of the main locations in the Thursday Murder Club series are fictional, we do know the Cooper's Chase retirement community is said to be located off the A21 in Kent, in “the Kentish Weald”. In real life, that would place it somewhere in the neighbourhood of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Wadhurst, Robertsbridge, etc. I cannot adequately express how desperately I want Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim, the octogenarian wunderkinds and founding members of "The Thursday Murder Club" to be real so that I can hang out with them.

Osman told BBC News that although he is taking a break, there will be “loads and loads more” Thursday Murder Club novels. "I love the four of them as a gang and I love the balance between them," he said. There's always something just out of reach. . . . Everyone chasing the thing they don't have. Going mad until they get it." As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home. This is the fourth book in the series, and while it can be read as a standalone, the emotional aspects of the narrative might not resonate if you are not familiar with the characters or the series. The television star, who recently announced he would be stepping down from “Pointless” to focus on his writing career, said he hopes to publish the first in the new series after the fourth Thursday Murder Club novel.Richard Osman is planning to publish the first in a new crime series inspired by The Da Vinci Code after his fourth Thursday Murder Club book, though he says more mysteries involving his bestselling elderly detectives will follow. I highly recommend The Last Devil to Die to those readers who enjoy a Cozy Mystery with a solid group of main characters! Richard Osman sure knows how to tug at the heartstrings. This is one emotional book. But it is also funny, and addictive and a joy to read. I am hoping my knee will have healed enough for me to go and see Richard when he comes to Sydney in November. I am a big fan, not only of his books, but I love Game Night and miss him on Pointless. I'm always sad when I get to the end of another book in the Thursday Murder Club series but I know there's more to come from these septuagenarians. It may be a bit longer wait this time around for Book #5 but I'll be here for it when it's published.