This is how you start a series! I found this book to be gripping and I found myself making time to read this entire book in one day.

It's a party to end all parties, but not everyone is here to celebrate.

On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd, an opera singer, had a house full of celebrating guests at his vacation home in Mirror Lake. Most of the guest were there to party and have a good time, but not all had partying in mind. Rhys' body was found the next day!

DCI Ffion Morgan is called in to investigate and learns that she is teamed up with Leo Brady, a man she had a one-night stand with on NYE. This makes things both equally messy and interesting. Watching them move past this was part of the charm of this book. Both Ffion and Leo are likeable characters with their own secrets and pasts. They won me over and sold me on the book.

This was a solid police procedural with many suspects - basically everyone that the duo needs to sift through. The book goes back and forth in time as the story is told. Rhys was not the most likeable man, hence, there being many people who had reason to kill him.

I enjoyed the characters and can't wait to read more about them and their investigations in future books. I am not the biggest fans of slow starts or slow burns; I struggle with them, but I didn't mind the slow beginning.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book has so many of my favourite thriller tropes:
🏘 Small town where everyone knows everyone
👀 Lead detectives who have secrets of their own
🌧 Cold and rainy atmosphere

Hometown hero Rhys Lloyd is back in Wales and hosting a NYE party to celebrate his new, upscale vacation homes. He’s even invited the locals! Before the party is over, he’ll be dead and there’s no shortage of suspects.

This book is a certified page turner. The town is full of characters and I love the chemistry between Ffion Morgan and Leo Brady. I’m so excited that this will be a series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @netgalley and @bookmarked for this ARC for review.

This is a fabulous whodunnit with so many surprising twists and a ton of warmth and heart at its center. Highly recommend!

Clare MacIntosh does it again! The Last Party reminds me of a modern day Agatha Christie novel- strong sense of place, large cast of suspects, an interesting detective you cannot help but to root for. It is set in a small town on the Welsh/English border, where locals are not too happy about a new development of vacation homes. One of the developers is Rhys, a former local boy who has achieved international success as a singer. Rhys is found dead, and the story takes off from there. I really appreciated the setting and Welsh language and culture. Ffion is the local detective on the case and is a super compelling character I want to know better. So happy that this is a first in a new series with her! The Last Party is a perfect mix of police procedural, psychological thriller, and examination of a small town and its history. It is fast-paced and though it is long at 430 pages, it went by quickly. Highly recommend! Thank you to Sourcebooks and Net Galley for this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book very much. I heard so much about it before I started to read it and just like everyone said it kept you going. I did not have a clue that it would end the way it did. I think I just found a new author to read.

What a great slow-burn mystery! I love the author's writing and how they set the atmosphere of the novel. Many thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the ARC!

If you like a whodunnit with a wide cast of characters where everyone has a motive, with several twists and turns along the way, then I think you’ll like this one!

There’s a lot of POV characters, and it took me a while to get my bearings on who everyone was. The timeline also jumps around quite a bit, which I usually don’t mind if it’s jumping back to flashbacks, but this was still a lot to keep track of.

That being said, when it came together, it REALLY came together! There are a lot of threads to keep track of, and I thought I would be left with some questions at the end. But I think all my questions were answered! This is a murder mystery where the main detectives were likable, even though the book is filled with a lot of unlikable characters. I also enjoyed getting a glimpse into small town life in Wales. The twists were great with some captivating action at the end, and when you think you’ve figured it all out, just wait because there’s more!

I’m excited that there’s going to be another book and we’ll get to see DC Morgan again!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Party by: Clare Mackintosh, Publication date - 11/8/2022

Synopsis: On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His vacation homes on Mirror Lake are a success, and he’s generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbors. But by midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.

This is my first book by this wonderful author! I I really enjoyed the writing style, the characters, especially the detectives, Ffion and Leo.

The plot was very gripping from the begging until the last page. I highly recommend this 5 Star book and can't wait until the sequel!

Thank you to #TheLastParty #NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book,

The Last Party started a bit slow for me, but once the stage was set and I was invested, I could not get enough.

I really liked that the two investigators, Ffion and Leo, had met outside of work in an interesting way and weren't immediately thrilled to work together!

Rhys Lloyd and his development partner in The Shore are hosting a New Year’s Eve party. Rhys is a local boy made good - a singer and celebrity, who returned home to develop vacation homes along Mirror Lake. Many aren't thrilled with the development, and others harbor ill feelings toward him from the past. By New Year's Day, Rhys is dead.

We have a dual timeline of before and after his death, with some flashbacks to the past. We get the perspective of not only the investigators, but also the townspeople. It's clear many folks aren't sad Rhys is dead. And everyone seems to have a secret. The investigators definitely have their work cut out for them.

Ffion has a little secret of her own that I sort of figured out but was still sucked into that storyline.

A great book that kept me engaged and threw me for a loop more than once. The pace accelerates the farther you get into the book and I could not put it down! I suspected so many people as the murderer, and I was wrong!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review taken from Instagram.

Had the privilege of reading one of my favorite crime author’s new procedurals early. Been waiting to share how much I enjoyed it. Clare Mackintosh is a 👸🏻when it comes to writing crime thrillers!

“At midnight, one of them is dead. By morning, all of them are suspects.”

Here’s what I loved most about THE LAST PARTY (out today in the U.S.):

✔️Atmospheric - Icy, North Wales setting
✔️Beautiful, crisp writing
✔️Closed cast mystery (a tight community with many secrets)
✔️Complicated female detective and her partner (fun banter between them)
✔️Red herrings galore
✔️Twists and turns and hairpin curves

This gave me Bad Sisters meets Broadchurch vibes, so naturally, I loved it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I discovered Clare Mackintosh when, years ago, I read I LET YOU GO. If you want one of the most mind-blowing Act II twists, I highly recommend getting your hands on that one. Happy reading! 📚

I LOVE a murder mystery where the victim is someone who was hated by everyone . . . so many suspects with so many reasons for wanting him dead!

Mackintosh spins a terrific web with this twisty tale of murder in a small Welsh village where the haves have been lording it over the have-nots. There's plenty of humor, and a swell cast of characters, including not one, but two, likeable detectives. In all, a pretty good whodunnit.

I can't wait for the next in the series.

Clare Mackintosh shows us her love of Wales with her latest, The Last Party. We are introduced to two new detectives who are investigating a murder among the wealthy at a resort built just for them. Everyone seems guilty or has secrets that they don't want to get out. Richly detailed! I look forward to this being a new series!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC!

So many layers to unpack with this one. It’s New Year’s Day and Ffion Morgan is looking at a dead body and a lot of suspects.

On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd is entertaining the neighbors and townsfolk on Mirror Lake. His vacation houses seem to be popular with the rich and not so much with the town folk. With everyone drinking champagne, who would guess that Rhys would end up floating dead in the lake?

There are so many secrets in this one. It is a small town but that means her neighbors are also suspects.

I am not sure any of these folks know what the truth is. And it turns out the question should be who did not kill him

This author is so good at red herrings and twisting us up in a really good tale!

NetGalley/November 8th, 2022 by Sourcebooks Landmark

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy of this book. Mackintosh never leaves me disappointed. I will continue to read anything she writes. The plot is a bit familiar with the party, guests and a murder,but Mackintosh sneaks in enough twists to make this one memorable.

On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His vacation homes on Mirror Lake are a success, and he’s generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbors. But by midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake. This is a psychological thriller that shifts from the past to the present. We hear from all the different suspects. Lots of secrets are being kept. The plot was such that kept me reading all the way to the very surprised ending. If you like atmospheric psychological thrillers then you would love this book. I would like to thank Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for a copy for an honest review.

On New Year’s Eve, famous singer Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests, but by midnight, the host will be found dead. In a small town where everyone knows each other (and a majority wanted Rhys dead), Ffion Morgan finds herself co-leading the investigation to find out just who murdered him.

THE LAST PARTY by Clare Mackintosh is my second read by this author (my first being HOSTAGE), and this one was vastly different.

I’ll start by saying that there are a lot of Welsh words and sayings thrown around in this story, which added some confusion and slowed down my comprehension a bit (especially when words were said, but then not explained?), but THAT ASIDE, this book played host to a large array of characters that Clare fleshed out beautifully. Everyone seemed to have a motive and their own hidden secrets that kept me constantly second-guessing who I thought the killer could be.

The setting was also so well-described that I felt like I landed on The Shore myself!

If you love a story with a large cast of characters, and alternating timelines, pick this one up!

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: November 08, 2022

Excellent fast paced novel about the death of a man with many enemies. Rhys Lloyd is a terrible person. From shady business deals, sexual assault, harassment, and betrayal of his family, he has few true friends. When he builds an exclusive luxury housing development with an equally shady partner, the community he lives in is divided. The people who have moved into the development all seem to have a reasonably friendly relationship on the surface with Lloyd, but the rest of the community who were mostly against the development have even more reason to hate Lloyd. When Lloyd ends up dead after a blow out party at the development that included people from the entire community, the police have no idea who could have done it since he was so unpopular. This book is impossible to put down, another fantastic novel by this author.

This is a great book because it's 2 cultures There is a lot of twist and turns put together in this book. They had Welsh Words and English words as well. The name person who Who is RHSL IOD He was born in this village Became a singer. His father left him Land you're gonna develop that called the shore On On the Is lake for wealthy people from London. And this book was very interesting because it would go back-and-forth in time and you really got to know what was really happening and how people reacted to this man. Everybody had a chapter 2 and tie in with this book. When his body was found there are so many different people never knew it was gonna happen. The detective FIFO NMONE And her partner Lee Brandon. She had a history with this singer and nobody was really happy he was back in town. His mother protected him a lot. He owned money to a lot of people. There's a lot of twist and turns on this book and it was interesting with the titles in the last P ART Y. There is so many interesting parts of this Book FIFO O And a history with this person because she had a sister or Sean The find out this really means in the book. I like the characters because they all have interesting stories behind me Everybody has problems and this party just seems to aggravate people who want The rich people remain with the town Peopt n The Boat builder had a problem drinking even When he was not supposed to drink You drank that night here's completely drunk. Everybody have problems And how everybody seemed to get along and this was interesting in the book But some people do not.

Clare Mackintosh returns with her latest novel, THE LAST PARTY —a blending of psychological thriller, small-town mystery, and cop procedural in an alluring atmospheric setting centered around a posh New Year's Eve party, which will keep you guessing to the end.

Rhys Lloyd hosts a New Year’s Eve party. He is a singer, a celebrity, and a developer of vacation homes along Mirror Lake, which straddles North Wales and England in his hometown.

He grew up in the village of Cwm Coed on the Welsh side, where he became disliked for building a luxury vacation development on the British side that the villagers believed would spoil the area and price them out.

And by New Year’s Day, he is found dead on the freezing Mirror Lake.

There are two detectives on the case. Det. Constable Ffion Morgan of the North Wales Police and Det. Constable Leo Brady of the Cheshire Constabulary.

Needless to say, there was an awkward moment between them due to the New Year's Eve party. Ffion knows more of the village's secrets than Leo, who is more of an outsider.

There are many suspects and red herrings. Almost every character in the book has a motive to murder Rhys Lloyd.

We learn about the murder investigation and the time before his death from many suspects with motives at the party. Lots of SECRETS!

From multiple POVs: Ffion, Leo, Rhys, and Mia; Yasmin, Ceri, Clemmie, Blythe, Seren, Dee, Caleb, Steffan, Felicia, Bobby, and Glynis— both past and present.

As always, Mactonish keeps you in suspense and has lots of surprises. This would make for a great book club pick with a Reading Group Guide, discussion questions, and an interview with the author included.

The author was a police officer for many years, and it always shows in her expert writing, investigating, and twisty plots. I enjoyed Ffion's character, her secrets, and the well-done cop procedurals.

I am looking forward to the next DC Ffion Morgan #2!

A special thank you to #Sourcebooks and #NetGalley for an eARC for an honest review. #CoverCrush

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www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Dat: Nov 8, 2022
My Rating: 4 Stars
Nov 2022 Must-Read Books

This is a total mind spinning, complex, incredibly deeply layered and wonderfully written small town murder mystery. I love all of Mackintoshs books. My top two would still be I let you go and I see you but this was a pretty wonderful read. The writing was very good. It was long and keeping tabs on lots of characters was a little tiring but doable but I was still able to get lost and wrapped up In this murder mystery.