Deception and Fraud: Lies and Hidden Motives in The Last Devil To Die

Introduction: The Many Faces of Deception

In The Last Devil To Die, Richard Osman weaves a intricate tapestry of deception that reaches far beyond a single criminal act. The novel argues that fraud is not merely a tool of professional criminals but a pervasive force that shapes relationships, grief, and identity itself. From romance scams preying on lonely pensioners to art forgeries born of boredom and loss, and the shadowy manipulation of the heroin trade, every character must confront the lies they tell others and themselves. This theme of deception and fraud ultimately reveals how hidden motives can entangle the innocent and the guilty alike, forcing even the Thursday Murder Club to question their own instincts.

The Romance Scam: Mervyn Collins and the Lies of Loneliness

The novel opens on Boxing Day with the introduction of Mervyn Collins, a new resident at Coopers Chase who has fallen for a Lithuanian sweetheart named Tatiana, whom he has never met. Mervyn has already sent £5,000 and additional cash to her "brother," money that has been lost to fraud or confiscated. Elizabeth immediately suspects a romance scam, and the club enlists DC Donna De Freitas to expose the truth. Donna performs a reverse-image search and reveals that Tatiana's photograph belongs to a Lithuanian singer named Larissa Bleidelis—a stock image used by romance-fraud gangs. Yet Mervyn refuses to believe the evidence, stubbornly clinging to his faith in love. This deception is cruel because it exploits genuine emotional need: Mervyn's isolation makes him vulnerable, and the fraudsters' lies promise connection. The episode highlights how deception can be a weapon against the lonely, and how the victim's own denial becomes a second layer of self-deception. The club's gentle intervention eventually helps Mervyn recover his money, but only after he nearly falls for another scam—suggesting that fraud is a persistent threat that requires vigilance and empathy to counter.

Art Forgery: Samantha Barnes and the Deception as Entertainment

Samantha Barnes provides a contrasting example of fraud: one that is deliberate, skilled, and almost playful. She runs a successful art-forgery operation from her home in Petworth, forging Banksys, Picassos, and other works with ease. Her backstory reveals that fraud began as a game with her late husband William: they would place a worthless inkwell in a locked glass case and sell it as a "possibly Bohemian" antique for a laugh. After William's death, Samantha's grief spiraled, and the arrival of Garth—a Canadian man who once bought that very inkwell—led her into a life of large-scale forgery. Samantha justifies her crimes as "victimless," arguing that buyers who want a Banksy on their wall rarely look too closely at authentication. Yet she is also a liar: she hides her true self from her bridge club and even lies to Elizabeth when questioned about Kuldesh. The deception here is both a survival mechanism and a form of play, blurring the line between right and wrong. Samantha’s fate—murdered by a blow to the head while engaged in another forgery—suggests that even "victimless" fraud can have deadly consequences when it intersects with more ruthless criminal deception.

The Heroin Trade: The Box, the Lies, and the Murder

At the heart of the plot lies a terracotta box containing £100,000 worth of heroin smuggled from Afghanistan. This box becomes a symbol of deception on multiple levels. First, the drug itself is hidden inside an innocuous object meant to be sold as an antique—a literal container for fraud. Mitch Maxwell, the drug trafficker, intends to deliver the box to a Brighton antiques shop, but it goes missing after Kuldesh Sharma intercepts it. Kuldesh, an elderly antiques dealer and friend of the Thursday Murder Club, is murdered on a snowy night after hiding the box as "insurance." His killer remains unknown, and the subsequent investigation unearths a web of lies: Hanif, the Afghan supplier, sent the box through the regular smuggling chain without telling Mitch or Luca what it was, hoping to avoid sharing profits. This secrecy leads to multiple deaths—Dom Holt, Luca Buttaci, and eventually Samantha. Connie Johnson, a rival gangster, orders killings and signs heroin deals with Sayed in Afghanistan, but feels guilty because she lied to Ibrahim after he told her about Kuldesh. Manipulation of the heroin trade thus becomes a chain of deceit that entangles everyone, from the Afghan suppliers to the elderly club members. The box itself, when eventually recovered by the Thursday Murder Club, is used to store Stephen's ashes—a poignant transformation from a vessel of poison to one of memory, but also a reminder that deception can be repurposed for healing.

Complexity and Contradiction: When Fraud Becomes Personal

Deception in the novel is not morally simple. Samantha's art forgery is illegal but she donates to local charities and gives £700,000 to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. She and Garth form a genuine partnership based on mutual trust, even as they plan to steal the heroin from the Thursday Murder Club. Connie, a cold-blooded killer who orders multiple murders, is haunted by her lie to Ibrahim and wishes she could apologize. Even the Thursday Murder Club themselves engage in deception: Elizabeth orchestrates a fake negotiation to trick Jeremmy, the romance scammer, into returning Mervyn's money by pretending the club wants to sell heroin. The club also deceives the police, withholding evidence to further their own investigation. These contradictions suggest that fraud is not a binary of good and evil but a spectrum shaped by intent, relationship, and consequence. The characters who lie most effectively are often those we sympathize with most, while the victims may be complicit in their own deception. Mervyn's denial, Samantha's rationalization, and Connie's guilt all show that fraud wounds both deceiver and deceived.

Symbol Connections: The Box, the Fox, and the Allotment

The terracotta box is the central symbol of deception: its beautiful artisan exterior conceals a deadly cargo. It passes through hands—Kuldesh, the police, the club—each time revealing a different aspect of fraud. The heroin itself symbolizes the false promises of quick wealth and escape. The allotment and spade, where the club digs up the heroin, represent their hands-on approach to uncovering truth buried beneath layers of lies. Snowy the fox, mentioned in the prologue as the season changes, may be a minor symbol of wildness and untamed nature that contrasts with the cultivated deceptions of human society—but its role is subtle. Overall, the novel uses these objects to ground abstract ideas of fraud in tangible, often ordinary things, reminding readers that deception hides in plain sight.

Study Questions

• What makes the romance scam against Mervyn particularly cruel, and how does his own denial contribute to the fraud?
  The scam exploits Mervyn's isolation and yearning for connection, feeding him stock photos and fake promises. His denial—refusing to accept evidence from a reverse-image search—shows how self-deception enables external fraud. He clings to "faith" in love, making him vulnerable to further manipulation.

• How does Samantha Barnes justify her art forgeries to herself, and does the novel support her view that they are "victimless crimes"?
  Samantha argues that buyers are complicit in their own desire for status symbols, and she refunds complaints. She donates to charity, suggesting a moral offset. However, the novel complicates this by showing that her fraud intersects with violent drug trade, and she is killed as a direct result. The narrative implies that no crime is truly victimless when it feeds a larger system of dishonesty.

• What role does the terracotta box play in the theme of deception? Trace its journey through the plot.
  The box hides heroin inside an innocent-looking antique, making it a physical metaphor for concealed intentions. It travels from Afghanistan to Mitch's warehouse, then to Kuldesh, who hides it before his murder. The police and the club later recover it, and it finally holds Stephen's ashes. Its dual nature—container for poison and later for memory—shows how deception can be transformed but never erased.

• How does Elizabeth's own use of deception (e.g., tricking Jeremmy) compare to the frauds committed by other characters?
  Elizabeth lies to Jeremmy, pretending the club wants to sell heroin, in order to recover Mervyn's money. Unlike Samantha or Connie, she deceives for altruistic ends, targeting a criminal. This raises the question of whether ends justify means. The novel seems to condone her manipulation because it restores justice and protects a vulnerable neighbor, contrasting with purely selfish fraud.

• Why does Connie Johnson feel guilty about lying to Ibrahim, and what does this reveal about the moral complexity of deception?
  Connie, a gangster who orders executions, is haunted by her lie to Ibrahim after he confided about Kuldesh. Her guilt shows that even hardened criminals have moral boundaries, and that deception against someone who showed kindness can wound the deceiver more than the deceived. It reveals that fraud is not always a power play—it can also be a betrayal of trust that leaves psychological scars.