The last word

Natalka and Edwin are perfect if improbable partners in a detective agency. At eighty-four, Edwin regularly claims that he's the oldest detective in England. He is a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka, Ukrainian-born and more than fifty years his junior, is a math whizz, who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated. She loves a murder, as she's fond of saying, and none have come the agency's way. That is until local writer Melody Chambers dies. Melody's daughters are convinced that their mother was murdered. Edwin thinks that Melody's death is linked to that of an obituary writer who predeceased many of his subjects. Edwin and Benedict go undercover to investigate and are on a creative writing weekend at isolated Battle House when another murder occurs. Are the cases linked and what is the role of a distinctly sinister book group attended by many of writers involved? By the time Edwin has infiltrated the group, he is in serious danger.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	MYSTERY GRI	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	MYSTERY GRI	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	MYSTERY GRI	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wildwood Library (Mahtomedi)	MYSTERY GRI	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Words turn deadly with an unlikely detective duo on the case of a murdered obituary writer in this literary mystery from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway series. Perfect for fans of Richard Osman and the Thursday Murder Club.

Melody's daughters are convinced that their mother was murdered. Edwin thinks that Melody's death is linked to that of an obituary writer who predeceased many of his subjects. Edwin and Benedict go undercover to investigate and are on a creative writing weekend at isolated Battle House when another murder occurs. Are the cases linked and what is the role of a distinctly sinister book group attended by many of writers involved? By the time Edwin has infiltrated the group, he is in serious danger...

Seeking professional help, the investigators turn to their friend, detective Harbinder Kaur, and find that they have stumbled on a plot that is stranger than fiction.

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

Is a writer's workshop the nexus for murder? That's the question three sleuths have to answer before more names are added to the list of dead authors. Former BBC presenter Edwin Fitzgerald may be the oldest detective in England, but he and his business partner, Ukrainian math wizard and caregiver Natalka Kolisnyk, have solved several murders with some help from DI Harbinder Kaur. Natalka's life partner, ex-monk Benedict Cole, owns the Coffee Shack in Shoreham, where they share an apartment with Natalka's mother, who fled Ukraine while her son remained behind to fight. Edwin and Natalka are hired by two sisters whose romance-writing mother has just died--murdered, they insist, by her second husband. When Benedict's friend Father Richard Fraser drops by with the news that his longtime friend Father Don led a double life, writing romances as Donna Parsons, and may have been murdered, it's the first hint that someone may be killing writers. Intrigued, Natalka asks Harbinger to run some names through the police database. Sure enough, another dead author turns up. All the deaths have been put down to natural causes, but Edwin is suspicious when he finds ties they shared, especially attendance at a writer's workshop at Battle House. After Edwin and Benedict sign up for a session, one of the attendees drowns in a lake on the property, reinforcing their feeling that something is very wrong. Beautifully written and intricately plotted, with a surprisingly dystopian reason for murder. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Griffiths (The Last Remains, 2023) fans will rejoice to be back in the company of Edwin Fitzgerald, Natalka Kolisnyk, Benedict Cole, and Harbinder Kaur, all first introduced in The Postscript Murders (2021). It seems that, once again, writers are turning up dead in droves. Edwin and Natalka now run a detective agency in Shoreham in West Sussex. They are hired by two sisters who believe their mother, a romance writer, was killed off by her much younger second husband, even though she appears to have died of natural causes. Meanwhile, one of Benedict's friends confides in him that he believes a friend of his who had a successful career under a female pseudonym was murdered. They consult their friend Harbinder, now a London police DI, and learn that she's heard from a woman who believes her mother, a crime writer, has died suspiciously. After discovering a connection to a writers' retreat, Edwin and Benedict sign up for a weekend, and yet another author dies while they are there. What is going on? Griffiths' humor helps make for a highly entertaining ride on what feels like a runaway train shared with a goodly number of well-formed, slightly flawed characters, which are her forte. Griffiths is one of the most engaging writers in the business.

Library Journal Review

Griffiths's (Bleeding Heart Yard) new stand-alone title features an unlikely sleuth duo. Ukrainian-born math whiz Natalka Kolisnyk and octogenarian Edwin Fitzgerald run a successful detective agency in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, but still long for a big, juicy case to solidify their firm's reputation. They get that and more when local romance author Melody Chambers turns up dead. Her grown daughters suspect their mother was murdered by her younger husband, but Edwin finds links to an obituary writer who predeceased his subjects and to Battle House, a slightly creepy writers' retreat in a local manse. Edgar goes undercover with Natalka's boyfriend to infiltrate the retreat. But as other writers begin turning up dead and clues overwhelm them, Natalka turns to police detective Harbinder Kaur, protagonist in another series by Griffiths, for help. Navigating the twists and turns of this bevy of literary bodies requires all their detecting skills. VERDICT This satisfyingly twisty cozy from the author of the marvelous Ruth Galloway mysteries will be utter catnip for current Griffiths fans and will have new readers begging for more.--Susan Clifford Braun

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Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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