From the publisher: It's the party to end all parties...but not everyone is here to celebrate. 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. On New Year's Day, Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbors, friends and family—and Ffion has her own secrets to protect. With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn't who wanted Rhys dead...but who finally killed him. In a village with this many secrets, murder is just the beginning.

The Last Party was a ton of fun. Within the first few pages we meet two recently single people who had a one night stand on New Year’s Eve. They both used fake names, and they never expected to see each other again. We meet up with them again a few pages later when Ffion (a Welsh cop) and Leo (an English cop) are assigned to work together on the case of a dead body found at a New Year’s Day swim on the Welsh/English border. Talk about awkward!

Both Ffion and Leo are interesting characters with flaws, and I enjoyed their interactions immensely. There are a lot of characters in the book, but the author did a great job of allowing me to keep them straight. The timeline jumps all over the place, but I had no problem following what was happening when to who. The dead guy was not a nice guy, and everyone has a reason to kill him. So who did? There are a lot of revelations and twists and turns on the way to the book’s conclusion.

The victim was a local boy who had some fame as a singer and has now turned his historic land into high price vacation homes for the rich and famous. The people in the Welsh town across the lake resent him and the development. The author skewers influencer culture. Complicating the case is the fact that Ffion knows everyone, is related to a lot of them, and is keeping secrets. Leo on the other hand is dealing with racists comments from his boss and an ex-wife planning to move to Australia with their only child. There is so much going on in this book! Lots of moving parts but I thought the author did a masterful job of keeping me intrigued and involved. I do kind of wish I had listened to this book. There are a lot of Welsh names and words, and I’d like to have heard them pronounced.

Clare Mackintosh is turning out to be an author to watch for me. I also enjoyed her book Hostage from 2021. If you like cozy police procedurals (is that a thing?), I recommend The Last Party. The author is already working on a sequel. I will definitely be reading it.

I read an advance reader copy of The Last Party from Netgalley. It is scheduled to be published in early November 2022 and will be available for checkout from the Galesburg Public Library in print and as an ebook.

Such a good little mystery! So many questions and twists kept me guessing the whole time! Loved the new years eve setting. Definitely recommend for an easy cozy mystery read! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

Thank you NetGalley for your ARC copy of this book for my honest review. Overall I will say I enjoyed this book, but there were a few things that I didn't enjoy. There were so many characters in this book and it keeps you guess on who is guilty of being the killer. The author does keep you guessing as every person has an issue with the victim and has a reason to wish him harm in some way. I mostly enjoyed the two detectives in this book, Leo and Ffin were excellent and they evolved nicely throughout the book. I liked how the author didn't throw them together at the end to make it a nice neat bow, but keeps you guess and this is what makes you want to read her next story!

The only things I didn't really enjoy is that there were so many characters in this book and not everyone felt like their story was finished. The one son, Caleb, looked like he was a trouble maker and then it turns and seems like he was forced or peer pressured into doing bad things. But then the author just kinda stops with that character, so you don't know if to like Caleb or not like Caleb. It was like that with a few of the other characters.

Overall, a really great read and it will keep you turning the pages fast to find out what is going on. I look forward to more in this series from Clare Mackintosh. Thank you again for my ARC copy and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

Clare Mackintosh is one of those authors that is an automatic read for me. Unfortunately "The Last Party" was a miss for me. Her typical psychological thrillers always suck me in and keep me reading "just one more chapter". While the premise of the book was interesting to me, who killed the rich guy floating in the lake, I found the execution to be a bit too slow moving for me. There were a LOT of characters, and chapters rotating through multiple perspectives that made it hard to keep track of who was who, and who did what. While the authors ability of revealing a twist or dropping an important clue is still wonderful, this police procedural/mystery just wasn't for me. Mackintosh will continue to be an author I continue to read, and I look forward to what she comes up with next!

Better than ever! I start by saying I’m a big Clare Mackintosh fan and have read all her previous books. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy “The Last Party", in my opinion it is her finest work to date; a captivating story with echoes of a classic Agatha Christie whodunnit. The setting, a well-drawn, brooding place and characters, multi-layered, flawed and relatable, are evocative and draw the reader into the story quickly. Main protagonist, Ffion, is particularly compelling with a sharp wit and wicked sense of humor. The interaction between her and Leo is relatable and real. The storyline alternates between the present time, where it follows the live progress of the investigation into the death of Rhys Lloyd, a man no one seems to like much, and past with flashbacks to various points in the months leading up to the fateful night of Rhys’ untimely demise. I’m excited to learn this book is the first in a series and look forward to continuing to ride along with Ffion and Leo. I would happily recommend this book to not only to fans of murder mysteries as well as any readers who just appreciate a well-written book. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Thank you Netgalley! Great read by a great author. So many questions & guesses at to who the murder was and then the ending blows your mind! Long read though.

“The Last Party” was my introduction to Clare Mackintosh. The novel opens on New Year’s Day where members of the Cwn Coed village partake in the polar plunge. Yet before anyone can take a dip, the body of a man is found floating in the water of Llyn Drych, or Mirror Lake that separates England from Wales. Has this man been killed or is this a tragic accident. The reader is then given privy to the night before and a big party held on the English side of the lake.

The story flips back and forth to the present whodunit to the night of the party. To help investigate, we meet English detective, Ffion, and Welsch detective, Leo, and you can imagine that they do not immediately get along.

While is a great psychological thriller, be prepared to be introduced to plenty of characters and backstories. I felt like I had to do a lot of scrolling back and forth to determine who was who. This story is also told in a variety of point of views, which is not my favorite technique, but it works for this type of story. I found Mackintosh’s writing to be compelling. She does a great job at individualizing each character’s voice. I also like how the village itself is its own character.

Three and a half stars.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and Net Galley for the privilege of reviewing this book.

The Last Party begins with the body of Rhys Lloyd floating to the surface during a New Years Day polar plunge in the lake and spirals into a wide ranging and atmospheric who done it. Ffion and Leo are the two detectives assigned to the case. The lake sits on the border of England and Wales, and a set of homes called The Shore have been built on the English side by Rhys and his investors. There are tensions between the owners at The Shore and the townspeople across the lake and it all boils to a head at the New Year’s Eve party at The Shore.

The more we get to know Rhys, the more despicable he becomes. There are many dark secrets that are slowly revealed by using the point of view of multiple characters, and so many characters have a good reason to want Rhys dead. It was almost too many points of view for me, as we would get a small snippet of one character in the past then be thrown back to present day with the detectives. The plot was a slow burner as the details were slowly doled out and there were multiple red herrings. The end was a surprise that I didn’t see coming!

The setting and atmosphere were described beautifully. At one point a character is out on the lake in rough, choppy waters, and I could picture it all so clearly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of The Last Party in exchange for my honest feedback.

Who-dunnit set on the border of Wales and England at a set of lake houses newly built by Rhys Lloyd who is found dead in the lake on New Year's day during the annual lake swim. Ffion Morgan from the Welsh police force and Leo from the English police are told to work together to find the murderer. Many suspects, many secrets, a bit of romance keep you turning the pages.

Out the gate Clare Mackintosh has created a engaging and flawed new main character in DC Ffion Morgan, a local on the Welsh side of Mirror Lake. First of what will no doubt be a successful series, The Last Party pairs DC Morgan with her English counterpart, Leo Brady, when a body is discovered near a posh development called the The Shore after a New Year's Eve party. Mirror Lake is split right down the middle vertically between Wales and England. There are many on the Welsh side (most) that didn't want to see The Shore development happen. The residents of The Shore also have reasons to wish the developer and cabin owner, Rhys Lloyd, dead. And dead he is.
There are many characters on both sides of the lake that are introduced and fleshed out with most having secrets. I love a good secret. With deep insider knowledge of the police system, being a resident of Wales, Ms Mackintosh is in a good position to bring the believability to the story. More than that even with big reveals in this novel, you can feel many more stories with DC Ffion Morgan leading the investigations.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for access to an early copy. All opinions are mine.

During the New Year's Day polar swim, the body of wealthy real estate developer Rhys Lloyd washes up in a small Welsh town. After an awkward one-night stand together, local detective Ffion Morgan must work with English detective Leo Brady to discover how killed Rhys. But the more they discover about Lloyd's life, the more they realize that almost everyone has a reason to want him dead.

I attended a murder mystery event hosted by Clare Mackintosh and when I learned she is a former detective, I knew I needed to read her latest thriller. In my American ignorance, the Welsh names were impossible to pronounce and I wish I had listened to the audiobook version instead of reading it. I loved the setting, but as a whole, the book ended up being an underwhelming boiler plate mystery with glacially slow pacing and a murder victim who turned out to be too evil, the absolute scum of the earth.

I have read many of Claire mcintosh's books and enjoying them all, this one did not disappoint. If you are into mystery / thrillers, this may be the book for you. The book had lots of very interesting characters, I stayed up reading through the night, and could not put the book down! Great storyline and loved the twists and turns! Would highly recommend. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this Arc in exchange for an honest review

This latest murder mystery from Clare Mackintosh, set on a moody, grey lake on the border of Wales & England, draws you in and doesn't let you go until the very last page. Mackintosh works with a myriad of colorful characters and non-chronological timelines, and in less skillful hands, it could have been a confusing mess, but not so here. Never too far-reaching to feel unrealistic, but full of twists & turns that lead to a satisfying conclusion, "The Last Party" is the perfect book to cuddle up with on your couch on a cold, rainy day.

*Thank you to NetGalley & Sourcebooks Landmark for this advanced copy. The book releases everywhere November 8th, 2022.*

Oh my gosh I absolutely loved this book! It had me literally sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time!

"The Last Party" was a great book! The main crime was quite compelling and there were many other uncertainties for the reader to puzzle out. The main characters were fully developed, though some of the more minor characters were not as fully fleshed out. I would have liked to have heard a bit more from/about all the teenagers. The setting was beautifully described and I thought it was a fresh take on an old premise (high end development in a rural area.)
Finally, the final "twist" was a total surprise! I didn't see it coming at all and I always like when that happens.
I would like to read another book with these characters and/or more by the same author.

The Last Party gets 3.5 stars due largely to the fact that it took me getting halfway through the book to feel invested in the characters and the plot. There are so many characters, backgrounds and stories going on at once that I fully engage. The main plot line is the murder of Rhys Lloyd but through the first half of the book I found myself asking if I even cared how or why he died.
As the second half of the book developed I did connect with the characters and their stories became easier to follow. It was at this point that I became very interested in the murder investigation. Mackintosh did include some twists that pulled me into the story more.
Although the story had an extremely slow start for me, I really did enjoy the second half of the book. I was surprised even at the very end at how the story was concluded. I even found myself rooting for different characters by the end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I received an ARC of this fascinating mystery from NetGalley.

In many mysteries, you know or are almost sure of who did it, but wonder if or how the murderer will get caught. In The Last Party, there are so many possible killers, as the victim had made enemies with just about every character in the book.

The Last Party is set in Wales, in a small town on a lake. The town, whose population is working class, is invaded by upper class types who move into newly-constructed lodges built on the lake. A famous singer, well-known but now on the downside of his career, is found dead in the water (literally) after a New Year's Eve party. The case is investigated by two detectives, a man and a woman, with the woman being a long-time resident of the small town. Both of these detectives have difficult personal issues impacting their lives, but they come together to work the case. The story is told mainly from their points of view.

If you are the type that needs to solve the case before the author reveals it, good luck with this one! I just enjoyed the trip the author took me on, which was a bit slow at times, but was filled with many unexpected and sometimes shocking twists and turns.

A very well-conceived plot, expertly-written. Just a little slow in pace and confusing at times. But well worth the read!

I loved the fast pace of this book. As well as the many twists and turns. The structure of the past timeline made me want to keep reading. I did stumble over the Welsh words thrown here and there but they were relatively easy to figure out and just made the story seem more authentic. Yes, it was dark and probably should come with trigger warnings. What a dysfunctional group of characters! I can’t wait to see what Clare Mackintosh comes up with next.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Love her writing style. So gripping right from the beginning to the ending of the story! Mackintosh does it again in this thriller where a wealth i love you night Rhys has a wonderful New Years party, but by the time the new year hits, the wealthy man is dead. So who did it? I love a good locked room mystery!!!!

I’m a fan of Claire McIntosh’s books but even if I wasn’t I’d have still enjoyed this book. I don’t recall reading another book set in Wales & I’ve no clue what some of the Welsh phrases I read mean (or even how to pronounce some of the names) but this was a great one. May have started a bit slow but when I got to a quarter in, I could not put it down. Highly recommend!!