Stephen Best

Elizabeth’s husband and an academic life

Stephen Best is Elizabeth’s husband, a retired academic whose intellectual life remains part of the atmosphere of their home. He is not one of the four Thursday Murder Club investigators. His importance comes through family, friendship and the life Elizabeth leads when she is not managing an enquiry. Their conversations show that her formidable confidence has a domestic counterpart built on affection and shared intelligence. Stephen is living with dementia when readers meet him. The books follow the effect on memory and independence, while continuing to show a person with interests, humour and relationships.

Chess with Bogdan

Stephen’s games of chess with Bogdan are among the most recognisable parts of his story. Bogdan is the Polish builder working around Coopers Chase, and the friendship joins two people who might appear to occupy quite different worlds. The board gives them an activity they can share without turning every visit into a discussion of illness. Stephen is an opponent as well as someone who needs company. Bogdan’s patience and skill become important aspects of his own character, and Elizabeth’s household gains a dependable friend. These scenes offer a particularly gentle introduction to the series’ interest in companionship.

What he reveals about Elizabeth

Elizabeth is accustomed to anticipating danger, organising contacts and finding a way to influence events. Stephen’s illness presents something she cannot manage through the same professional skills. Their relationship makes that limit emotionally clear. Her care for him is not an incidental contrast inserted between mystery scenes; it is part of the reason the books’ adventures matter. The home she returns to has its own routines and difficulties. Stephen brings tenderness into a story that could otherwise make Elizabeth appear invulnerable, and the strength of their bond gives the later novels much of their emotional depth.

Dementia and the shape of the series

Stephen’s story continues across the first four novels, alongside the changing investigations. The illness affects what he can do and remember, but the books also make room for familiar interests and moments of connection. Readers approaching The Last Devil to Die should know that dementia, grief and care have a substantial place in the novel. A full account of Stephen’s later circumstances would spoil important developments, so this profile does not recount them. The useful preparation is thematic: the fourth book is more emotionally demanding than a purely comic murder puzzle, particularly for someone with personal experience of these subjects.

Where to begin

Start with The Thursday Murder Club and read the following novels in order. Meeting Stephen early lets the domestic scenes accumulate naturally rather than arriving at their most difficult moments without context. His chess friendship with Bogdan is a good reason to slow down during the quieter passages. The first three books establish affection and continuity that make the fourth more involving. If you choose to pause before The Last Devil to Die, our content notes can help you decide when it is the right book for you. There is no need to rush a story whose gentlest scenes are among its most rewarding.

On screen

Jonathan Pryce plays Stephen Best in the 2025 Netflix film. See the full actor-to-character cast guide and the film guide.

Read the books and extracts

Start with The Thursday Murder Club. Our reading order follows the novels’ publication sequence. The publisher’s extracts below let you meet the characters in Osman’s own prose; review and cast links offer further background.

• The Thursday Murder Club: opening chapter
• Penguin’s guide to the four club members
• Netflix’s character and cast guide