The Last Word

De: Gerri Lewis

Narrado por: Alex Raby

Obituary writer Winter Snow is no stranger to grief, and writing obituaries for the citizens of Ridgefield, Connecticut, is her way of providing comfort to those who have been in her shoes. But funerals and eulogies are meant for the dead, so when the very much alive Leocadia Arlington requests her own obituary by the end of the week, Winter’s curiosity is piqued—even more so when she finds Mrs. Arlington dead soon after. Officer Kip Michaels and his relentless partner Tom Bellini make it clear that Winter is under suspicion for the death.

Drafting an obituary for someone who hadn’t died yet certainly looks bad, but Winter knows that it wasn’t her, and she becomes obsessed with trying to figure out the real killer. She dives headfirst into the investigation to give Mrs. Arlington and herself some peace. When Winter realizes Mrs. Arlington was working on a revealing memoir that has now gone missing, Winter begins to wonder if the death wasn’t exactly random—accident or otherwise. With the help of her foodie Uncle Richard, her wise octogenarian neighbor Horace, her best friend Scoop, and Diva, the Great Pyrenees puppy she inherited from Mrs. Arlington, Winter must uncover the killer before the next obituary written is her own.

©2024 Gerri Lewis (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Great cozy mystery!

Interesting set up with an obituary writer as the protagonist. Hope to see more in this series!

Compelling Mystery

Complex yet intriguing characters unfold murder in Ridgefield Ct, a hometown we’d all like to live in.

The Last Word

So, I actually came across the second installment first and it sounded like a potentially cute cozy. So, of course, I had to read the this installment first. Ok, that’s not the only reason: both of the installments had a cute puppy on the cover and this one actually had the puppy in the storyline. So glad I did start from the beginning though; I would have missed some really good character development for the MC and some of the residents of Ridgefield, CT and, of course, there’s Diva!!! What a great doggie name!

Anyway, the book summary introduces the MC’s and the primary storyline. Obituary writer Winter Snow (seriously!!! LMAO😂) discovers her latest client injured in her home when Winter does a wellness check on her during a storm. The local cops are immediately suspicious of her when they catch her snooping around and especially after Winter cleans up the potential crime scene. With her client off to the hospital, Winter reluctantly agrees to take home her client’s Pyrenees puppy, Diva, who is not only claustrophobic, but she’s also afraid of water. LOVE DIVA!!!. There is also a secondary storyline of Winter’s growing attraction to one of the cops, Kip, a new recruit who is not getting along with his training officer, Tom. Tom appears to have a bit of a drinking problem and is definitely acting sketchy, according to Kip.

Anyway, most of the story revolves around the investigation of Lottie, Winter’s client who ends up dying from her fall down the stairs. From the get-go, Winter has been baffled as to why Lottie was so emphatic that the obituary she hired Winter to write be done by the strict deadline she set. After Lottie’s death, Winter is certain that Lottie knew she would be dead by then and Winter is certain that Lottie knew someone was going to kill her.

There are so many subplots and supporting characters going on here, it actually got a little ridiculous how all of them tied into the primary storyline. Of course, there was Winter in the middle of it all and driving Kip bonkers with her meddlesome behavior making it harder for him to actually investigate the crime(s). After a while I just started laughing whenever Winter went off half-cocked into the fray of mayhem. Gotta love silly cozies!!!

The character development for Winter, Kip and a couple of the supporting characters was well done. Would have liked to have seen a little more development on Richard and Horace, but I’m sure that was by design for future installments. Loved how Diva was integral in the storyline and investigation. The pacing was steady and the storyline entertaining. Having never read anything by Lewis (this appears to be her debut novel), I don’t know her writing style, but this story is pretty typical for a small-town cozy mystery. I’m looking at an overall rating of 3.75 that I will be rounding up to 4star review. Already have the next installment coming up soon on my to-read list.

not for me

The Last Word is a boring and stereotypical cozy mystery and I'm not going to finish it.