The Last Devil to Die

“Joanna bought me a lovely present: it’s a flask they use in space, and it has Merry Christmas, Mum! Here’s to no murders next year engraved onto it.”

At the beginning of The Last Devil to Die, the Thursday Murder Club has been involved in three mysteries in a very short space of time, and it is now about to be involved in another. Joyce’s daughter’s gift suggests that she finds it odd that her nice, elderly mother and her closest friends spend their free time cavorting with underworld kingpins and solving murders the police can’t; however, doing so helps the members of the group maintain a sense of purpose in old age, demonstrating The Resilience and Resourcefulness of Elderly Individuals.

“Today is a good day. Stephen remembers him, and Stephen remembers chess. A nice start to the year.”

Throughout the first three books in the series, Elizabeth has hidden Stephen’s dementia from everyone in her life except Bogdan. At the end of the third book, however, Stephen’s dementia has progressed to the point where sometimes he no longer remembers Bogdan. Aging, dementia, and mortality are major themes in The Last Devil to Die, and this quote brings the reader up to speed with how Stephen is doing at the beginning of the book.

“There are so many ways to die when you’re almost eighty, it seems unfair to add murder to the list.”

Writing in her diary shortly after New Year’s, Joyce laments that they’ve already got another murder on their hands. Even worse, the victim was someone who was already nearing the end of their life. Joyce’s remark is somewhat ironic given that she has frequently had guns pulled on her in the course of her investigations, but it also points to the intersection between the group’s age and The Challenges and Dangers of Getting Involved in Criminal Investigations.

“‘And now,’ continues the vicar, ‘do please join me in a moment of silence as we remember our friend Kuldesh Sharma. Or just keep whispering away to each other. You knew him better than I did, though I did like his wife when we met.’”

The vicar who presides over Kuldesh’s funeral does not know him very well, and his sermon provides a humorous backdrop to the conversation that the gang has with Chris and Donna about the case. The author injects humor into the novel as much as possible, even at a funeral.

“‘I need you to show me this letter every day,’ says Stephen.”

This chapter, the last in Part 1, features one of the most emotional scenes of the series. Stephen has received the letter he wrote to himself one year ago, and after reading it to Elizabeth, he makes her promise that she won’t destroy it. This is an incredibly difficult request for Elizabeth, but betraying him is out of the question. The promise to read the letter every day enables them to make a plan of action despite his worsening dementia, showing how agency and dignity remain possible even amid the realities of terminal illness.

“Every evening the fox comes a little nearer; Stephen remembers this quite clearly. A curving walk, eyes scanning from side to side, a man who understands fear, understands that people wish to do him wrong. And then the fox settles, head on paws, and looks into the window, as he does every night. Stephen looks back, as he does every night. They nod to each other. Stephen knows they don’t actually nod to each other—he isn’t barmy—but certainly they acknowledge each other’s existence. Stephen calls him Snowy, because of the white tip to each of his ears. Snowy lies down and thinks he’s camouflaged, but the tips of those ears always betray him. Stephen himself has white hair now; he saw it only this morning and was taken aback. His father has white hair too though, so perhaps he is getting mixed up.”

In this scene, Stephen is in the midst of a crisis. He does not know where he is, not recognizing his own living room. He does not remember the name of the woman he sees in a photograph in the kitchen or that she is his wife. He does not remember that he is an old man and that his father is long dead. Through all of this, however, he manages to remember Snowy, and he holds onto these memories and uses them as an anchor. The connection between Stephen and the fox means that the latter’s death closely anticipates Stephen’s own.

“Mitch would rather be talking to Luca. Rather be fending off blows from a broken pool cue in an underground hangar. You know where you are then. You know the rules. But here he is, in the dead of night, in a comfortable armchair, drinking good whisky with four pensioners.”

Danger is pervasive in the world of criminal investigation; it doesn’t only impact the Thursday Murder Club. Mitch, recently roughed up a bit by his partner, Luca, is very uncomfortable when he finds himself in conversation with Ron, Elizabeth, Joyce, and Ibrahim, whose very age seems to unnerve him, as it doesn’t fit what he knows of his trade. However, the conversation takes place after Mitch breaks into Ron’s apartment, exacerbating Ron’s hip injury in the process, making Mitch’s discomfort ironic.

“As it is a Thursday, the gang are in the Jigsaw Room.”

This line, which opens the chapter, is a callback to the book’s origins. As the series has progressed, it has spent less time within the confines of the official Thursday Murder Club. More characters have been introduced, and many of those characters are regularly involved. The main four also spend more of their time out in the world actively investigating. What started as a group of friends investigating cold cases has evolved significantly. The Exploration of Friendship and Camaraderie Among Retirees now goes well beyond the Jigsaw Room.

“Viktor, inside my head, while I can still explain…Things are not moving forward. The world, that keeps moving forward, I understand that, I sense that. It won’t stop moving forward. But my brain is doubling back on itself. Even now, back I go.”

This is one of several passages in the book where Stephen is explicit about what is happening to him. The reader gets a look at dementia from the perspective of someone experiencing it during one of the rare moments where he can articulate it. Stephen’s concept of time—a major motif—is eroding or at the least evolving as he lives increasingly in the past.

“He remembers Kuldesh because that was his last big adventure. Out and about with Bogdan and Donna. It must have made him feel alive.”

Like many mystery novels, The Last Devil to Die employs frequent foreshadowing. Much of it comes from Stephen, whom the reader is primed to consider an unreliable source due to his dementia. In fact, Stephen himself is unsure why he continues to mention Kuldesh and provides alternate explanations for Kuldesh’s significance. In this way, the novel buries its hints beneath layers of context and characterization.

“‘There was a big chap with a beard and hat around earlier too,’ says Stephen. ‘There’s been all sorts going on.’”

Stephen is upset because Snowy hasn’t been by the apartment that evening, and he’s worried that something has happened to him. Even though his dementia is getting worse by the day, there are still some things he remembers. He even notices that Garth has been sneaking around, and he’s aware that this is suspicious in some way. This helps to establish that some of the other things that Stephen has noticed and remarked upon may also be relevant to the story, foreshadowing the reveal that it was he who helped Kuldesh hide the box.

“‘Elizabeth wondered if you might have a view about the murder on Saturday?’

Connie breaks off a third finger of Kit Kat. Out of character—she normally eats two in the session and takes two back to her cell with her. It is Ibrahim’s job to notice things like this.

‘Who was murdered?’ Connie asks.”

Connie knows exactly who was murdered (Dom) because Connie ordered his murder. Ibrahim notes her unusual behavior—a testament to his observational skills in a novel where he mostly sits on the sidelines—but the foreshadowing isn’t paid off until the very end of the book.

“‘There’s a hundred thousand pounds’ worth of heroin out there, and I’m betting…’ says Samantha, ‘…that we could have stalls selling jams and chutneys.’”

In another comedic scene, the gang hosts Mitch Maxwell, Luca Buttaci, Samantha Barnes, Garth, and Nina for Sunday lunch at Coopers Chase to discuss Kuldesh’s murder and the missing heroin. In order not to arouse the waitstaff’s suspicion, they are forced to pretend that they are planning a charity event whenever someone comes near their table. The episode reflects the broader disjunctions of the series’s premise—a group of retirees solving crimes—which Osman often exploits for humorous purposes.

“A recently widowed woman from Ruskin Court called him ‘Harold,’ and she was one of many people in tears as we sang a hymn and laid him to rest.”

When “Snowy” the fox is buried, there is a very large turnout from the community, and everyone seems to have different names for him. This small detail regarding the widow from Ruskin Court relates both to the importance of fellowship in old age and to the impact of aging. Everyone in Coopers Chase has experienced loss, some very recently. The fact that these former strangers are able to share their grief and be among those who understand what they’re going through is part of what the series implies is special about this community.

“We think time travels forward, marches on in a straight line, and so we hurry alongside it to keep up. Hurry, hurry, mustn’t fall behind. But it doesn’t, you see. Time just swirls around us. Everything is always present. The things we’ve done, the people we’ve loved, the people we’ve hurt, they’re all still there.”

At the very end of his life, Stephen once again thinks about time. Without a firm present to hold onto, he lives with and in his past. It is as alive to him as anything happening in the now, which the novel suggests provides some compensation not only for his illness but for loss and death more broadly.

“It is Thursday at eleven a.m., but nobody is in the Jigsaw Room.”

The ending of Chapter 62 calls back to the opening of Chapter 27, acting as a grim mirror to a more upbeat time. All of Coopers Chase seems to have ground to a stop after Stephen’s death.

“I thought there might be a bit of a crowd at the crematorium, but, as we pulled up, there were only four people, three men and one woman, all looking as old as us.”

The novel implies that one of the hardest parts of growing old is outliving loved ones. Joyce is surprised not to find more people who want to commemorate Stephen’s passing because Stephen means so much to her and those close to her.

“I think Kuldesh came over on the twenty-seventh, while we were with Donna and Mervyn. Two old men, a fortune in drugs and trouble on their tail. Where safer to hide the box than Coopers Chase?”

Elizabeth has finally cracked the case—or at least part of the case, as she doesn’t yet understand the significance of the box itself. That Kuldesh called on one of his oldest friends to help him when he found himself in trouble shows how important friendship and camaraderie among retirees is as a theme.

“The view from the top of the multi-story car park is to die for.”

The author mixes foreshadowing with a bit of humor to open Chapter 71. Later in the chapter, Luca dies after being thrown from the top of this multi-story car park.

“There are five people in Joyce’s flat now. Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron and Ibrahim all present and correct, and their new friend Computer Bob. Ibrahim can see that Bob feels like the fifth Beatle. Ibrahim is glad he is happy, and is glad that he has finally told somebody about Marius.”

Ibrahim has just told Computer Bob about his relationship with Marius—something he’s never told anyone about. Rather than move on abruptly from this revelation to resume the investigation, the author includes Computer Bob in the next stage of the proceedings, hinting at further development of this relationship in future books and underscoring the significance of human connection broadly.

“‘You have a beautiful home,’ Garth says to Joyce, his gun pointing straight at her.”

Osman frequently injects humor even into scenes that find the characters in mortal danger. Garth is very polite while he’s making his threats—he seems to genuinely like and respect the Thursday Murder Club—but he’s certainly willing to kill to get what he wants.

“‘So you’ve broken into a warehouse,’ says Jill, gesturing with her wine glass in gloved hand. ‘You’ve aided and abetted tampering with a crime scene and withheld evidence in a criminal investigation, and I’ve been shagging a key witness, which makes us all about even, I’d say.’”

Chris, Donna, and Regan are all celebrating having finally retrieved the missing heroin. They’re also pointing out that some of the challenges of criminal investigations are more complicated than simple physical danger. Chris and Donna have become more willing to bend the rules as a result of their involvement with the Thursday Murder Club, but Regan’s own questionable behavior ensures that they do not face professional or legal consequences.

“The daffodils are out very early this year. I’ve seen the daffodils bloom for nearly eighty years now, and they are still a miracle to me.”

Not everything about aging is negative, as Joyce points out to her diary. There are many beautiful things in life, some of which are better appreciated with age. Moreover, the annual blooming of the daffodils hints that some things endure even amid loss.