The Last Lie Told

Finley O’Sullivan, Book 1

By: Debra Webb

Narrated by: Megan Tusing

From USA Today bestselling author Debra Webb comes the thrilling first installment in the Finley O’Sullivan series, featuring a legal investigator haunted by her past and obsessed with the truth.

Legal investigator Finley O’Sullivan searches for evidence the police overlooked, wading through secrets, lies, and betrayal to find answers. With the unsolved murder of her husband still very much on her mind, Finley must confront her own personal trauma on a daily basis. Lies are part of her livelihood, but they’re also the reason she can’t get justice for the man she loved.

When a man imprisoned for murder recants his confession, claiming he cleaned up the mess for his girlfriend—the victim’s own daughter—Finley takes on the case. She discovers the victim had identical twin daughters...and the sisters have very different accounts of the crime.

As she dives headlong into the twins’ traumatic past, Finley will have to contend with her own demons to get to the truth—before it’s too late.

©2022 Debra Webb. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Deftly narrated by the vocal storytelling talents of Megan Tusing, this…offers a true theater of the mind experience and is highly recommended.” (Midwest Book Review)

“A complex case fraught with angst and danger ends with surprising revelations.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Debra Webb writes the kind of thrillers I love to read. Sure, there is a murder or more. Yes, a twisted mystery to be solved. Once again, in The Last Lie Told, her characters are fully rendered and reveal themselves authentically as her novel unfolds and careens to its stunning conclusion. The Last Lie Told is her best yet. Webb is the queen of smart suspense.” (Gregg Olsen, number one New York Times best-selling author)

Legal investigator unfolding lies

Finley’s mother is a judge. Her husband is dead. She’s living in the house her husband bought to refurbish. She suffered a breakdown after her husband was murdered. She’s back working a murder case with Jack. Jack is representing the Lenard family. Jack Finnegan is an attorney representing the Legard family. Five years ago Charles Holmes admitted to murdering Lance Legard. He recently shared with Mr. Siniard his attorney that he’s found God and has evidence to prove his innocence.

Attorney Jackson Finnegan directed Finley to reconstruct the events surrounding the murder of Lance Legard. Finley interviewed the relationships between the Legard family members and Charles Holmes. Every lead led to another lie.

There were many introductions to be made early on in the story making it difficult to find my footing in the story.
There’s two murder investigations taking place at the same time. One involving the murder of Finley’s husband and one involving the murder of Lance Lenard. The blending and meshing of the two is difficult at times to separate in my mind.
The story settled on interviewing numerous characters following lie after lie. Every lead led her to more people to interview.
This is a character driven story. It’s a busy read. For me I struggled with all the connections.
This is my first read by Debra Webb. It’s also my first time reading a storyline about a legal investigator. It wasn’t like police procedures or typical detective investigations. Most of the time Finley reminded me of a dog chasing his or her own tail.
This was my Prime free Read selection. I purchased the audiobook as my whispersync voice selection. I listened using the audible app at 2.1x speed.
Megan Tusing is the solo female performer. This is my first listening experience by this narrator. I found her voice was ideal for Finley’s character. I enjoyed her voice acting skills.
The Last Lie Told read like a cozy read. This is a light, comedic read with Finley was playing a juvenile game of Hot and Cold. A lie is hidden and it’s Finley’s job as an investigator to find the lie.

Still missing answers

Loved the story. I almost had to make a chart to keep up. But I was left with lots of questions.

Quite a twist in the story v

Had a hard time getting into the story line but once there it held my attention and it had took me by surprise with the ending. Enjoyed listening to this book.

Uniquely Qualified

This is a really interesting story with a uniquely qualified heroine who is determined to get to the bottom of her current case. While she’s quite the risk taker, she doesn’t carry a gun and has to rely on her wits.

I like Finley.

I liked this book. This is the first book I’ve read by this author but I like her style. There were a lot of unanswered questions in this book I’m assuming they will be answered in the next one as it looks like this will become a series. I will definitely continue on with series because I really enjoyed the characters. The narrator was pretty good and overall I would give this 4.5/5 stars!

Predictable, but entertaining

I liked the story, but I guessed the ending shortly after the twins were introduced. The multiple back stories and plot lines helped to keep me interested, along with hoping that I was wrong about already knowing how the story would end.
I wasn't too bothered by the fact that we were left hanging about her husband's death because I knew this would be a series and figured that it would come out in a later book.
I do hope that the next book will address Derrick's death and back story and not drag it into another book (I'd prefer a fresh start for a third book if Finley's story continues). I have an idea of where it will go based on context sprinkled throughout this book, but again, I hope I'll be surprised. Provided the next book answers the questions left in the first, and isn't completely predictable I'll continue to read this series, but so far it isn't looking likely.

What happened to Derrick?

I liked the mystery or “who done it.” Although the investigation was solved, there was no solution to her own husband’s death. Oh, come on, that’s just wrong. Don’t tease us like that. The confrontation at the end was a bit talky and low key, was a bit of a let down.

The Last Lie Told

I loved the book, but all the mysteries weren’t solved. I’m really hoping she uses these same characters in another book.

OK

Courtesy 3 stars.

This book is OK. The story has the bones of something interesting, but never quite comes together. The A plot lacks coherency, but isn't terrible. And the B plot never really goes anywhere, though progress there is heavily hinted at without foundation.

The protagonist's character never quite comes together to be believable either, though again there is the possibility that it could happen.

The suspense falls a bit flat, though the author seems to be trying really hard to engender it. And the legal/police elements lack verisimilitude as well.

This will be my last Debra Webb book.

Wow! What twists and turns!!

Narrator is great! Story line compelling! Characters believable! Hope there’s a sequel!! I’ll be following this author!!