From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a riveting story of a seaside community shaken by a violent crime and a tragic loss.
Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting Moonlight and their mother were taken. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to … the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from then on.
Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery, and raising a beautiful daughter with her husband Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the skies as a pilot, always on the run. When Beth is found strangled in her home, and Moonlight goes missing again, Detective Reid can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.
Reid immediately suspects Beth’s husband, whose affair is a poorly kept secret. He has an airtight alibi—but he also has a motive, and the evidence seems to point to him. Kate and Reid, along with the sisters’ closest childhood friends, struggle to make sense of Beth’s death, but they only find more questions: Who else would have wanted Beth dead? What’s the significance of Moonlight?
Twenty years ago, Reid vowed to protect Beth and Kate—and he’s failed. Now solving the case is turning into an obsession . . .
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You won’t believe it!
These characters are so well written! You could have them in your neighborhood, even the bad ones and you wouldn’t know it. Could not put it down!
Loved this book! A really good mystery with great characters. Very happy I read it!
keeps you guessing as you go.
A riveting story with excellent characters and red herrings throughout. This is one of those novels where everyone is suspect. Who violently killed a pregnant wife and mother in her bed and stole the same piece of art that was formerly stolen and recovered? I like puzzles and this one kept me focusing on filling in the missing pieces.
This was a wonderful read. Held my interest and was a real page turner. What a surprise ending. Loved it.
Enjoyed very much I’m glad she tried her hand at crime writing did very good for her first time!
Excellent! Love all of Luanne Rice’s books!!
I’ve long loved Luanne Rice for her trademark elegant style and her deep understanding of familial relationships, and she brings these superpowers with her as she delves into suspense. Last Day is a true page-turner, peopled by characters I care deeply about, with an ending I never saw coming.
A dark family history. A deeply flawed marriage. The complicated tangle of the ties that bind. Luanne Rice writes with authenticity and empathy, unflinchingly exploring her characters and diving into the shadowy spaces where they hide their secrets. Like all great stories, Last Day is a compulsive, twisting mystery dwelling inside a searing portrait of what drives us, as riveting as it is human and true.
Luanne Rice is one of my favorite authors, so imagine my delight at discovering she has a new release out. I scooped up “Last Day” without a second thought and stayed up past my bedtime diving into the first few chapters.
So far…loving it. This book reads like vintage Luanne Rice.
If you’re not familiar with her work, Rice, the author of more than thirty-five novels, writes across multiple genres—mostly women’s fiction but also YA, crime/thriller, and romance.
“Last Day” covers familiar ground, blending themes of art, affluence (old and new), and family relationships in a murder mystery/romance plot set along the Connecticut Shore.
As I said, I’m only a few chapters in, but I’ve read most everything this author’s written, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend “Last Day” for readers of women’s fiction who like to shed some tears.
I knew I didn’t read Luanne Rice but I didn’t remember why? Saw this, it was free, what do I have to lose, right? Wrong.
This book is all over the place. Not a good read. Story has too much stuff in it that just doesn’t contribute to the story and is just filler. Was there a length requirement?
If you really like Luanne Rice, by all means read this book. I didn’t like it and the only thing I can say is, I did finish it.
Started out great, but to me it pittered out. It makes you wonder how well we really know our family and our friends.
Kate finds her sister, Beth, died. A painting is missing from her house. But, it’s just not any painting, it’s a painting that went missing 23 years ago. It was stolen. Kate, Beth and her mother were tied up in the cellar, and their mother died. Why has this happened again. Can the detective, that solved the case 23 years ago, solve this one?
I found Last Day by Luanne Rice on Kindle Unlimited. I had never heard of the author, but the premise of the book sounded interesting so I borrowed it. I would encourage anyone that decides to read this murder mystery to also borrow it from somewhere, instead of buying it. It is not a keeper, in my opinion.
Last Day follows Kate and Conor as they try to solve the murder of Kate’s younger sister, Beth. Conor is a police detective who also happens to have been the first officer on the scene many years before when teenagers Kate and Beth were found tied up in the basement of their family art gallery with their dead mother, Helen.
Beth is found bludgeoned and strangled in her bed by Kate and two local officers she called for help when her sister didn’t pick up numerous phone calls over the course of several days. Beth’s daughter Sam was away at a summer camp in Maine, and her super sleazy husband Peter was conveniently on a guys only sailing trip at the time of Beth’s murder…. or was he?
I found the story to be bogged down with way too many personal details about way too many characters. It bounced around to the point of view of several of these characters, including Kate, Conor, Sam, Pete, Lulu, Scotty, and Nicola. I struggled to stay interested in the story. The only thing I was sort of enjoying as I plodded through was truly having no idea who the killer was as I neared the conclusion.
When dead Beth was suddenly narrating a chapter, the wheels started to fall off, and when the killer was abruptly revealed and their reasoning not really dealt with, I was done. Thankfully, very shortly after, so was the book. I’ve heard/read good things about some of the authors other books, and it sounds like Last Day was a different genre/writing style then she usually writes, so perhaps some of her other books are worth a look, but I would not recommend this one.
Difficult to sort out my feelings about this story -Initially I was captivated by the characters-and as they became more fleshed out -I realize I really didn’t like a lot of them.There was something very contrived in the telling of this tale-Almost as if the author was trying too hard to make it work and there were just too many subplots the author could not decide-what to focus on-a generational family tragedy – -sexuality-forgiveness/vs unforgiveness-sisterly girlfriend relationships -parenting/ teenage angst-/ coping with a special needs child–life with too much passion vs.-life without connection-affluence /homelessness /creativity/ responsibility -It was one muddled ride-and when it reached the denouement-It left me flat-I wish I could say I cared -but I didn’t —
I love Luanne Rice’s work. Her characters come alive for me and I’m sad to come to the end of the book because I will miss them. This is a bittersweet book that about a tragedy in the past and how that tragedy affects the lives of two sisters. The story is set in or around Lyme CT, one of my very favorite places.
“Murder didn’t just take one life, it stole the essence, will, and ease from everyone it touched. It took their old lives and left them to make their way in a completely new and uncertain world.”
Family. Friends. Secrets. Murder. This book has it all, and then some. Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate are victims in a horrific crime that leaves their mother dead. Fast forward approximately 20 years and now Beth is found dead in an equally horrific way. First detective on the scene is Conor Reid, who was a newbie on the first case. This becomes something personal as he works the case and follows all leads.
This is a typical murder mystery with a lot of family drama and secrets thrown in. Four childhood friends consider themselves as a Compass Rose. This story delves into the complexities of this friendship, and the secrets they all hold. Characters are semi-likeable, although a few I found to be quite shallow. Story line moves at a fairly quick pace but parts seemed to be to drawn out for my liking. Where I thought the story might go, just seems to drop off and is never fully explained or revisited. I did like Beth’s point of view that was added towards the end.
Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.
Last Day by Luanne Rice was an okay read. I’ve read many by this author in the past, but nothing too recently so I thought I’d give this a try.
While the story had promise, I felt like there wasn’t enough character development and got to the point where I was skipping pages because of the endless details.
If you enjoy domestic thrillers, this might be the book for you. Give it a shot.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for an ARC at my request. All thoughts in this review are my own.