I loved this book! Just this year I picked up my first Elly Griffiths book and boy am I glad that I did. How have I gone so long without reading this amazing crime author. This book was just what I needed to get out of a semi book slump, nothing was appealing to me and I just wanted something good that I could get lost in.

It was wonderful to have a book that focused on Natalia, Edwin and Benny. DI Harbinder was there of course, but she was in the background. These 3 were the stars this time and I loved it. Hot on the case of a dead romance writer, they soon find themselves with many dead writers…. Coincidence? I think not. This book was fun to read, following the clues with these characters l of course I didn’t pick it

As with most of Elly Griffiths's books, this is a perfect vacation read! I highly recommend packing it on your next trip so that you can curl up with Edwin, Natalka, Benedict, and Harbinder each night as they try to figure out who is doing all the killing. I very much enjoyed the twists and turns as the crew investigated what appeared to be a rather cursed writing workshop and book group. It had a throoughly fun ride from start to finish. Highly recommend!

Elly Griffiths is an interesting author. I have read the Ruth Galloway series and fell in love. They are wonderful books. This book has many of the same characteristics, quirky characters, murder, lay-people as detectives, but there's something missing. I can't quite figure it out. I love the relationships between the detectives, police, and main characters. I find the family relationships interesting and want to know more. But somewhere along the line, the story gets complicated with all the different characters and information and I get lost.
It might be that I can't solve the mystery so I lose interest. I don't know.
That being said, I still reach for any book this author writes.
Enjoy!

Slow to catch my attention but overall a good read. I tried a new style of book that I don’t typically read. Lots of repetition and parts that I didn’t understand (which I later learned that would’ve been helpful if I read the other books). Overall I liked the characters and would recommend

Every time I crack open an Elly Griffiths book, I am newly surprised by her skill at telling a story. A writer I treasure once told me she loved Agatha Christie because “she’s so organic” and Griffiths has this same quality. Each part of her story unfolds from the next in a seemingly effortless fashion, making the completed book a sound structure that holds together in every way. This novel is the fourth book in her Harbinder Kaur series, though Detective Kaur is only the loose tie binding the novels together, all of which have been very different from one another. This book bears the strongest resemblance to The Postscript Murders (2020) because the delightful cast of characters she introduced in that novel re-appear here. It’s really their book, Harbinder just gives them a little guiding nudge now and then.

They are three of the most distinctively different characters who somehow work together I’ve ever seen. There’s the 80+ year old Edwin, lover of libraries, crossword puzzles, and wordle. There’s Benedict, a former monk who now runs a coffee bar on the shore; and there’s Ukrainian Natalka, Benedict’s girlfriend and the most practical thinker of the bunch. She and Benedict share a tiny apartment with Natalka’s mother, Valentyn, and both women have an ongoing thread of worry: Natalka’s brother, Dmytro, has returned to Ukraine to defend his country. While Griffiths often addresses current events – she had an entire novel about COVID (The Locked Room) – I am sure this one presented itself to her and she had to include it. She has a light yet sensitive hand with a topic that is ongoing.

This book, however, is primarily a book about words and their importance. It opens with Edwin’s and Benedict’s ongoing wordle competition and progresses to a story about writers. The three of them are now working as private eyes, and a woman brings them a case, insisting that her dead mother’s much younger husband has killed her for her money, her house, and her dog. The trail leads to a writer’s retreat and Edwin is all in – he can’t wait to go undercover, posing as a writer. Benedict, who really wants to be a writer and has a novel already written, is more reluctant but the two of them set out despite his misgivings.

The retreat house seems sinister and in keeping with Griffiths’ taste, appropriately goth, down to a stained statue of a drowning woman near the brackish body of water where a former member of the retreat killed themselves. Or did they? Suspicious deaths that can easily be explained away are tied together, all paths leading to the retreat and its offshoots: a book club and even a WhatsApp group chat. When one of their number is discovered dead over the weekend the three newly minted private eyes are on the case, much to the annoyance of the police in charge. The lead detective worships Harbinder and ultimately takes some cues from her, reluctantly admitting that the three amateurs are actually helpful.

Griffiths’ sly, witty, yet loving take on writers, on the writers retreat and on the book club meeting included in the story make this book sparkle. She’s always alert to any diss on genre fiction and is quick to defend it. As a mystery reader I can only silently applaud this while reading. The story itself is appropriately clever and the ultimate resolution is courtesy of a decoded word puzzle. Somehow this detail is not twee, only delightful. There’s also an emotional thread involving Natalka’s brother. If I were ever to finish a Griffiths’ book without my heart in my throat, accompanied by well earned tears, I would be very surprised. I am very much hoping this trio of characters – populating a series within a series – returns.

This was my first book by Elly Griffiths. This is the fourth Harbinger Kaur mystery, but can easily be read out of order or as a stand-alone, I was told. I really enjoyed the main characters and how they were developed. I did find some of the messages shared by the characters repetitive. For the most part, the mystery was pretty confusing and didn't fully make sense. That part kind of missed the mark for me. For that reason, it wasn't a top book for me. If you are looking for a good cozy murder mystery romp, you will probably really enjoy this book.

Natalka, a Ukrainian woman, and Benedict live in Sussex with her mother. Their older friend, Edwin, and Natalka run a detective agency. They get a case from a woman who thinks her mother, author Melody Chambers was murdered. Then they discover that the writer of her obituary also appears to have been murdered. They soon realize another author who was probably murdered went to the same writing retreat as Melody. Edwin and Benedict decide to go to the next book retreat to see if they can learn anything about the murders. They also have a talk with Harbinder Kaur. When someone dies at the retreat, the police are called in. The police woman, Liv Brennan calls Harbinder Kaur for help, and Kaur recommends Natalka and Edwin to Liv.

It's not until nearly the end of the book when it appears there is probably more than one murderer, and one of them had not even been a suspect! Suddenly, both Natalka and Edwin find themselves in a very dangerous position with a murderer.

This is a great third book in the series. I thank Netgalley and Mariner Books for sending me an ARC to read before publication.

I'm a long time reader (and fan) of Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series but have found myself enjoying these somewhat loosely connected Harbinder Kaur novels even more than that series. I'm not sure if these are even meant to be a "series" in the traditional sense, but since Harbiner shows up here at some critical moments, it feels like it's part of that larger universe. This features three characters from The Postscript Murders, once again involved in a murder all tied up in the world of literature. Natalka (still working as a carer) and Edwin (still a retiree) have started a private detective agency and are hired by two sisters whose mother, a fairly successful author, has recently died. Though it was ruled to be of natural causes, her daughters suspect their mother's much younger husband, who has inherited her home and money. Natalka and Edwin find connections between the deceased woman and several other authors, all of whom have spent time at a specific writer's retreat that's not too far away from them. Edwin and Benedict (Natalka's partner who still runs a coffee shack but has secretly written a few mysteries) go semi-undercover at the writer's retreat to investigate, and the body count increases, the local police (and later Harbinder Kaur) get involved, and the story twists and turns. I really enjoyed this, and it was nice to go back to Shoreham and see how things are for Natalka, Benedict, and Edwin post-COVID (and for Natalka and her mother during the ongoing war in Ukraine). Something about Elly Griffith's writing just pretty much always works for me, and I'm a sucker for mysteries set in the world of writing/publishing, so this was a fun ride.

The Last Word is listed under Ruth Galloway mysteries. At the beginning I was trying to see how this pertained to Ruth Galloway. I was disappointed as I have read this series from the beginning and looked forward to reading another adventure in this series. Putting that aside, I really enjoyed this book. The story takes place in the town of Shoreham-by Sea UK. There are three characters that make up the main characters. Benedict. (Benny) who was a monk and is now owner of a coffee shop called The Shack which is located near a beach; Edwin Fitzgerald partner in K & F Agency, which does investigations and Natalka Kolisnyk who is the other partner and Benedict's girlfriend. She also owns a care business. Her mother, Valentyna lives with her and Benedict. Her brother, Dmytro lives in Scotland. The three lived in Ukraine and escaped.

Charlie Walker (Chip) a veteran broadcaster and BBC producer who set-up Counterpoint Production Company died. Malcolm Collins wrote the obit for Charles. He also died. Melody Chambers, author of romance novels recently died. She is married to her second husband Alan Franklin a pharmacist. Melody's daughters Minim (Minnie) and Harmony come to the agency and ask them to investigate her husband. They believe that he killed her, He is 15 years younger. Everything was left to him including the dog. They show Natalka a notebook their mother wrote in. It says that Alan is going to kill her. They showed it to the police. Richard Frazer, a vicar came to Benedict about a priest Don Parsons that lived a double life. He wa s also Donna Parsons, a romance novelist. He was asked to leave the church recently died. Richard thinks that he was murdered. What's Natalka to look into it. Natalka and Edwin agreed to look into both requests. They call good friend, DI Harbinder Kaur to do some research for them.

Edwin and Natalka go and speak to Alan. He told them that Melody's children did not like him and he knew they were accusing him of killing their mother. She was also a friend of Malcolm Collins and was very upset when he died. Edwin finds info that both Don and Melody knew each other. They both did emails about their pets and both went on a writer's retreat lead by writer, Leonard Norris at Battle House. Edwin looks up Battle House and finds testimonials from Melody Chambers, Donna Parsons and Malcolm Collins.

Natalka brings two friends of Melody to the Shack and tells Benedict that Melody seemed very happy with her husband but did complain about her daughters always wanting money and having her babysit.

Harbinder got a case where an elderly woman named Eileen O'Rourke, was found on her kitchen floor dead of a heart attack. She was the author of the book, My Name is Jack. Her daughter, Felicity Briggs comes and speaks to DS Kim Manning saying she believes her mother was murdered. Harbinger goes to speak to her. Felicity has moved into her mother's house. After telling her what she believes she gives Harbinger one of her mother's books. When she gets back to the station and shows Kim the book. Kim gets upset when seeing the cover. Harbinger takes the book to her office. Reads the back and in very small print is a quote from Melody saying "Well-written and empathetic".

Edwin looks up Battle House and sees that there will be another session with only 8 people. Leonard Norris and Imogen Blythe will be their tutors. He talks Benedict into coming with him. Upon their arrival they meet the other authors.

This is where the story takes off which has too much to put on paper so I will leave it to the reader to enjoy with all the twists and turns to the exciting and unexpected ending.

The books ends with the wedding of Natalka and Benedict, I hope this becomes a series as I enjoyed the adventure.

Thank you NetGalley and Mariner Books for this ARC,

;

"Why would anyone kill a writer?"

3.65 stars

The Last Word is a slow-burn mystery about a group of authors targeted for murder.

Private Inspectors, who happen to be inspiring authors, infiltrate a writer’s retreat to investigate murders linked to the group. They soon find themselves entangled in another murder, culminating in a surprising twist.

Natalka, Benedict, and Edwin, who appear in The Postscript Murders, are the main characters and stars of this book. You don’t have to have read The Postscript Murders to enjoy this one. Harbinder Kaur is also featured but plays a minor role. All of their POVs are shared, with Edwin’s being my favorite. He is such a lovely character.

The characters’ personal lives are as significant as the mystery. Natalka is struggling with the impact of the war on Ukraine. Benedict and Natalka are a couple going strong, but he is grappling with a bit of an inferiority complex, and Edwin might have found a new love.

The mystery is intriguing, and the setting of the writer's retreat is dark and eerie, but the excrutiagly slow pace made it challenging to immerse myself in the story. Despite the witty literary references and all the right ingredients, I had trouble connecting to the characters. However, when everything clicked, I was fully on board and enjoyed the twisty ending.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Mariner Books.

What starts out as a small private investigating gig quickly turns into a full blown murder mystery. Funny banter between friends gives this story a modern day sherlock holmes feel. Tie in family drama with enjoyable prose and it makes for a great read!
The only thing that lacked for me here was speed of unfolding. This is more of a personal preference. Character building was done very well.

Elly Griffiths is one of my favorite mystery writers. Edwin, Benedict and Natalka are a team of private investigators, hired to investigate two suspicious deaths. More begin piling up-all of them authors. Almost all have attended at writers' retreat at Battle Hall. The link to these murders becomes clear. DI Harbinder reappears to lend a hand to her PI friends. The charcters are very well drawn-Edwin, the oldest private he claims; Benedict, the former monk who runs a coffee bar; and Natalka, his very hot Ukrainian girl friend. A great read!

The Last Word features characters we met in Postscript Murder - eighty year old Edwin who dresses stylishly, reads the Guardian and does Wordle, Benedict, a former monk now operating a coffee shop(he makes perfect flat whites for Edwin), and Benedict's partner, Natalka who is from the Ukraine.and runs a care agency. After the trio's involvement in solving a murder in Postscript Murders Edwin and Natalka formed a detective agency.
While reading the obituaries Edwin sees that writer, Melody Chambers has died. Soon after, he and Natalka are contacted by Chamber's daughters asking them to investigate the death. Eventually Edwin and Benedict(under duress) attend a writers retreat with authors who knew Chambers. When one of the attendees is found dead Edwin starts looking for clues and finds some interesting connections to other deaths.
At one point after attending a book group with some of the writers, Natalka says to Edwin "For God's sake, don't give me anymore names. There are quite enough in the book." That summarizes my reaction . There are way too many characters and if not for Edwin's lists of suspects that appear occasionally, I would have given up halfway through! In addition, the murders and their motives and solution are a bit murky. The main characters are well drawn but most of the others leave no impression. It's almost as though Griffiths wrote this one on a rainy weekend to fill the gap after ending the Galloway series. Harbinder plays a small role in this one and I look forward to another one in which she's featured. Thanks to Netgalley and Mariner Books for the ARC.

The Last Word is considered part of the Harbinder Kaur series but it comes across as more of a standalone as Harbinder is more of a side character. Instead, the book focuses on Natalka, Edwin and Benedict, who featured in The Postscript Murders, the first book of the series.
Natalka and Edwin have a PI agency and are thrilled to finally get a case that’s not spying on a cheating husband. Two daughters want to prove their mother was murdered, specifically by their mother’s younger second husband. The mother was a successful author. Then, they’re asked to look into the suspicious death of another writer, which gets Natalka and Edwin thinking the deaths might be related, especially as another writer has also recently died. Edwin and Benedict take off for a writer’s retreat that all the writers had coincidentally attended at various times. This part of the plot was a bit convoluted, relies on a lot of coincidences and didn’t quite hang together for me. Griffiths even seems to recognize how many coincidences she’s using. “ “Coincidence is only another word for fate”, says Benedict. “I read that somewhere.””
The three characters are all fully developed with wonderful personalities. These were people I’d like to know. In fact, that is a key element of all Griffiths’ books, creating characters that feel so real I’d like to be friends with them. The chapters swing between the various POVs, which keeps the book moving at a steady pace.
Once again Griffiths has written a story filled with small elements of humor and the perfectly crafted phrase.
My thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of this. Ok.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Griffiths continues an ARC with characters from The Postscript Letters, which I have not read, but certainly will. Not quite amateur, but also not polished detectives investigate a strange death of a writer. Her death is connected to a series of other suspicious ones by the fact that each person attended the same writers retreat. Griffiths writes with her usual spunk and sense of humor. In fact, if you like the series The Thursday Murder Club, you'll enjoy this.

When Melody, a writer, dies of supposedly natural causes, her two daughters hire private investigators Natalka and Edwin to look into the much-younger husband they think murdered her. Natalka and Edwin soon figure out that other local writers have died recently--all suddenly but seemingly naturally--and discover some connections between the recently deceased. Natalka's boyfriend Benedict goes undercover with Edwin at a writing retreat and eventually figure out what is going on. Meanwhile, Natalka and her mother, recently arrived from Ukraine, worry about her brother who has volunteered to leave the UK and go back to fight with the Ukranian army. The story is told in shifting first-person perspective between the main three characters and Harbinder. Griffiths tells the story through her characters thoughts and their interactions with other people and I like seeing some of the same events through multiple perspectives. While the denouement is a bit rushed after the leisurely pace of the rest of the book, I still really enjoyed it.

This is a companion to Griffith's Postscript Murders and makes several references to the events of that book, but it can stand alone and is accessible to new readers. I really enjoyed revisiting Shoreham by the Sea and catching up with Natalka, Benedict, and especially Edwin. and hope Griffiths writes more stories about them. I did wish Harbinder was featured a bit more heavily in this story, but I always enjoy her popping up. I like the way the author uses the Harbinder character in her stand-alone novels; sometimes she's the main investigator, and other times she's more peripheral to the story.

Not my favorite Elly Griffiths, but plenty here to like, with a nice mystery, our favorite investigative team, a cameo from Harbinder, and a very happy ending.

I’m so happy to see Griffiths broaden the Harbinder Kaur series to focus this one on Benedict, Edwin & Natalka, the amateur detectives we met in the previous book. Here, Harbinder takes a back seat to the trio who are engaged to investigate the death of a writer and turn up a very mysterious sequence of deaths. I very much enjoyed the development of these three characters and their progression in each others lives. Griffiths writing is, as usual, spot on and engaging. I did find the conclusion and wrap up of the bigger mystery a little frenetic and confusing, but a re-read of the last couple chapters helped cement my understanding of the action.

Griffiths’ fans will enjoy.

I really enjoy all the characters in this series of Griffiths' - some echoes of the Thursday Murder Club, even.

This is the fourth in what I would call the Harbinder Kaur series, but the focus is mostly on Natalka, Edwin, and Benedict - characters from The Postscript Murders. Natalka and Edwin enjoyed crime solving so much they decided to start their own agency. A couple of deaths appear unrelated, and might not even be murders, but are tangentially linked to a recently deceased obituary writer and a secluded writing retreat group. Edwin and Benedict attend a retreat, somewhat undercover, only to witness another death; and the case expands to a London murder Harbinder has been working. The investigation takes lots of twists and includes plenty of suspects, with an exciting conclusion. This trio is both smart and endearing, it’s no wonder Harbinder can’t resist them. The character development throughout the book gives us hope that we’ve not seen the last of them. I’m grateful to HarperCollins and NetGalley for access to this advance reader copy.