The Last Devil to Die (The Thursday Murder Club #4)

 

Fall is in the air and I was finally able to pull out all my coziest clothes again, so what better audiobook to match the mood of the season? The Last Devil to Die, book number four in the cozy crime series The Thursday Murder Club. While others celebrated autumn’s return of pumpkin spice in all its disturbingly copious forms … I enjoyed my annual visit to Coopers Chase Retirement Village and its clever septuagenarian sleuths: Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibraham, Ron.

I won’t rehash the plot since it’s been thoroughly reviewed by others at this point, other than to say it involves a stolen box with a valuable stash inside, the darker side of the antiques trade and forgery, a side story about romance fraud and, of course, murder!

The cast was a bit smaller this time but still had a diverse cast of fascinating characters including an art forger, her comically psychotic Canadian husband, some drug runners, a couple museum experts, a victim of romance fraud, a brief return of Stephen’s friend, antiques dealer Kuldesh Sharma, imprisoned drug maven Connie, and of course, the eminently lovable Bogdan, along with detectives Donna, Chris and others. Narrator Fiona Shaw did a stellar job once again of voicing them all.

As always, Joyce’s diary entries were hilarious, and it was nice to see her stepping out of Elizabeth’s shadow a bit this time around. She may seem a bit daft at times, but let me assure you, I’d trust her with my back any day! The camaraderie and support that this group show one another is always heart-warming, and we’d all be lucky to have such loyal friends.

I will say that while this entry was every bit as charming and full of life as its predecessors, it also had more emotional heft due to a loss that impacts all of the characters. As a reader of the series, it wasn’t necessarily unexpected, but the amount of tears I shed was! My apologies to the drivers in the cars next to me who surely thought I was having a breakdown of some sort. Kudos to Richard Osman for handling the potentially controversial topic sensitively, with room for opposing views.

I’ll miss my yearly September visit with the gang next year, as Osman is taking a break from the series to write a father-daughter mystery. Though I’m looking forward to seeing where his creative mind takes him with that story, I hope to see my Thursday Murder Club friends again soon. Fall just isn’t the same without them!

★★★★ ½

Thanks to my library and Libby for the audiobook.