"The Last Devil to Die" by Richard Osman

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club mystery series -- about a group of four aging amateur detectives, all in their late 70s/early 80s, residents of Cooper's Chase, an upscale retirement village in the UK. I eagerly scooped up #4 in the series, "The Last Devil to Die," when it came out earlier this week, and started tearing through it. 

(I woke up this morning at 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep -- I'm wondering if reading a few chapters before bed was a wise idea??  Naturally, after tossing & turning for an hour, I decided to get up and fire up my e-reader for a few chapters more, lol. I finished the book this afternoon.) 

Each of these books could probably stand alone, but they really should be read in order, as one generally picks up where the last one left off, with several continuing storylines and  peripheral characters. This one is no exception.  

It's just after Christmas, and there's a new murder to solve. Unfortunately, the victim is Kuldesh, an antiques dealer and friend of Elizabeth's husband Stephen, whom we met in book #3. Also at stake: the whereabouts of 100,000 pounds sterling worth of heroin, which was temporarily housed at Kuldesh's shop and has now gone missing.   

This edition features the same wonderful characters, wit, humour and convoluted plot twists we've come to know and love from the Thursday Murder Club.  Warning:  It's also the most emotional entry in the series to date. Have Kleenex handy!     

An(other) enthusiastic 5 stars.  :)  

Osman says (in the acknowledgements at the end) that he's taking a break from Cooper's Chase  :(  while he pursues other writing projects. I will happily read anything he writes -- he's more than proven his talents with this series -- but I hope we won't have TOO long to wait for the next installment...!    

Links to my reviews of the previous books in the series, in order of publication:  

• "The Thursday Murder Club"  
• "The Man Who Died Twice" 
• "The Bullet That Missed" 
• "The Bullet That Missed (re-read)" 

This was Book #35 read to date in 2023 (and Book #3 finished in September), bringing me to 78% of my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 3 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2023 tagged as "2023 books."