The Last Word: 03/14/24

The Last Word by Gerri Lewis and Alex Raby (Narrator) (2024) is the start of the Deadly Deadlines mystery series. Winter Snow is an obituary writer in Ridgefield, Connecticut. She's hired by a wealthy recluse to pre-write her obituary. When Winter comes back to ask some questions, she finds the woman crumpled at the bottom of her stairs.

With the woman now in hospital and her assistant missing, she's now responsible for a Great Pyreneese puppy named Diva. Curious about the elusive Mrs. Arlington and well aware that someone else is interested in her and her estate, Winter decides to investigate the woman.

Much of Winter's investigation is hampered by the remote location of Mrs. Arlington's house. It's in the West Mountain Historic District, outside of reliable cell service and pressed up against the border with New York. With its remote location and old fashioned skeleton key locks, it's tempting to a variety of dangerous people and Winter seems to be in the middle of most of it.

The basic who done it is fairly easy to solve, although theb why behind it takes some extra thought / sleuthing. What complicates things, though, is the sheer number of people with their own motives and interests in the woman and her estate. All of them too seem hell bent on stopping Winter from her investigation.

My one quibble with this first book is its pacing. The opening chapters take too much time introducing Winter, her job, her location, her hobby, and her backstory. I had to back up the audiobook I was listening to in order to go back and re-listen to details I had missed.

Four stars

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