😨PTSD hits an Irish detective as he winkles out a small town's secrets

Irish Garda officer Finnegan Beck is one messed up guy! There's a killer in his small-town bailiwick who is piling up victims and Beck finds it all hits too close to home, as certain aspects of the case take him back to his traumatic childhood. Drink is his palliative crutch, but does it really help?😕

I really liked the crime spree plot and the investigation, much of which was full of action. An old man's murder is just the start of some tragic discoveries of crime in the quiet streets of Cross Beg, with living victims and dead. I found Beck's messy personal life and problems a bit of a distraction from the main event, but the story in toto was a good one and hard to put down. My first time reading one of Author Michael Scanlon's work, but it won't be the last.😊

Thanks to publisher Bookouture and NetGalley for providing a complimentary advance copy of the book.

Her Last Goodnight is the latest book in the DI Beck series by Michael Scanlon and it is another very enjoyable crime novel set in Ireland

Recommended

I discovered Michael Scanlon's Finnegan Beck series in early 2019. interestingly, I started with the second book, loved it, got excited enough to buy the first! So when I discovered Her Last Goodnight on NetGalley, I immediately knew I had to read it! The book begins with a prologue dark and creepy that hooked me right in. I found Her Last Goodnight to be his best one! Its compelling, dark and has many interesting and surprising twists.

Detective Finnegan Beck is called to a crime scene where an elderly man, Eddie is found brutally murdered. His faithful sheepdog Max lies whimpering next to Eddie's body covered in his blood. The scene immediately reminds Beck of a person close to him murdered long ago. Struggling with past demons Beck leads the case of Eddie's murder to discover an ugly secret plaguing the small town men. Soon the body count starts to rise, pushing Beck to work the clues and bring the killer to justice. When Beck finds himself in the crosshairs of the killer, will it be too late for Beck himself escape their clutches?

I have always liked Detective Finnegan Beck and this book continues to cement that feeling about him. Yes, he's obstinate and at times makes infuriatingly dumb moves, but he's intelligent, empathetic and gets the case solved. Other characters in this book too are great. I do not agree with some of Beck's life choices, so I'm not sure what draws me this character. The plot is twisted and very intelligent; it kept me turning pages into the night. Overall I loved the book and its a good addition to the series.

Thank You, NetGalley, Bookouture and Michael Scanlon for an arc!

I just love Detective Inspector Finnegan Beck !

This is the third book in the series, and having not read the other two, you can read it as a standalone.

How did I miss this series ?

Beck is flawed, loves his drink, has a past you can't quite figure out and in spite of all that he does his utmost best to find out who killed Eddie Kavanagh. He breaks the rules, he tries to teach his partner Claire , book learning isnt everything, sometimes its experience.

And now there is Max in his life.

Lots of twists and turns, keeps the pages turning quickly.

I am off to read Book One and Book Two and can't wait for Book 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read the book and meet Finn Beck.

I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Finnegan Beck. This is the third book in the series and can be read as a standalone but why not read the other two terrific books in this series?

The case that involves Eddie Kavanagh is a perplexing one. No one has a bad word to say about this man and yet, somehow, he turns up dead. Not just dead, but bludgeoned to death. He is only the first one, however, and as the death toll mounts, Beck has his work cut out for him.

You see, he is one troubled police officer, and there are aspects of the case which cause him to have flashbacks of his father's death. This, of course, is not great when you are trying to solve a complex case and he finds himself reverting to destructive behaviour from the past. He has an excellent colleague in Claire, and he has support from Max too. Oh, Max is a dog. A really special one.

A solid police procedural with lots of twists and turns. Nasty characters abound in this book. Really enjoyed it!

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

Evocative, hauntingly beautiful, Her Last Goodnight pulls you into the closed world of rural Ireland. When Eddie Kavanagh is found beaten to death on his remote farm, detective Finnegan Beck is assigned to the case. Beck’s personal history is tragic and he is failing in his fight against his alcoholism.

Violence in the small town of Cross Beg escalates and Kavanagh’s death no longer looks like a robbery gone bad. Beck and his partner Claire Somers work at unraveling a series of confusing and unrelated events revealing the evil lying just under the peaceful surface of the town. Past occurrences torment Beck and many of the residents of Cross Beg and lead to an unforeseen ending.

While Her Last Goodnight is a standalone mystery, it is one of a series of three by Michael Scanlon. Add Michael Scanlon to the ranks of Tana French and Peter May. A 5 star review.I


Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Michael Scanlon for this Advanced Review Copy.

This is the third in the Finn Beck series. He is still coming to terms with what happened in his past. He is also a very good detective, he has the ability to think outside the box and see things others cannot see. Finn is like a bloodhound and never lets go. He has a double murder to solve and a ruthless killer to catch. This author certainly knows how to hook you then reel you in. Sa really good addition to this series and recommended.
I would like to thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engrossed from start to finish. A real page turner. Well drawn plot and characters. I am looking forward to the authors next book

It's time to be reunited with DI Beck. I like him a lot. He is not that typical police officer but follows his heart even when it means breaking a few rules.

Although he is struggling with things happening to him in the past, he does stay focussed on the case he is investigating. While others do not look beyond what's in front of them and come to conclusions that are not satisfying DI Beck, he keeps on digging deeper until he unearths the roots of the problem. 

Murders have been commited, but how are they linked together and more importantly who is behind them? 

The author shows us that there is a very thin line between high intelligence and mental illness. Those culprits know exactly how to fool everybody.

I had a different suspect in mind. All kudos to the author for keeping me in the dark until the end. 4 stars.

Thank you, Michael Scanlon and Bookouture

Number 3 in the series and Beck is as wonderfully complex and flawed as before. I enjoy this series but I must admit I found number two a little hard going so was not sure how I’d find this but I needn’t have worried. Beck appears to be in a better place - or is he? Brilliant plot. Small town Ireland in all its claustrophobic glory but with modern day crimes. The subplots continue to delight as do the characters, it’s like helplessly watching a train crash - great stuff!

Her Last Goodnight is the third book in the Finn Beck series, but it can easily be read as a standalone, so don't let that stop you if you haven't read the first two. Beck is a flawed character, but a very likable one--I find myself rooting for him to not just solve the case, but to make progress on his own personal journey. While his struggles are extreme, they're still easy to relate to, and that's not an easy feat to accomplish.

In this installment, a neighborhood man is found beaten to death. As Beck investigates, he finds there are more nefarious goings-on than he'd suspected, and has to dig deep into both the present and the past to catch the killer.

This is a classic mystery in the sense that there is good old-fashioned police work investigating one lead after another in a way that builds--my very favorite type, so I found the story deeply satisfying, the sort of book I linger over and don't want to end. And I'm very invested in seeing where Beck goes from here.

Thanks to Bookouture, NetGalley, and Michael Scanlon for the opportunity to review this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Her Last Goodbye” is Michael Scanlon’s third book in the Finnegan Beck series. Detective Inspector Beck was demoted from his position as An Garda Síochána member in Dublin and relocated to the small Irish town of Cross Beg. He still doesn’t seem to fit in and yearns to return to the big city.

Things are anything but boring in Cross Beg. Beck and his partner Detective Garda Claire Somers are called out to investigate the brutal murder of Edward Kavanagh. He lives alone on an isolated farm and the clues to what happened to him are few and far between.

The best way to describe this book is the ghosts of the past coming back to haunt the characters. Finnegan Beck spends a good deal of the book dealing with the memories of his childhood that the murder of Edward Cavanagh have brought to the surface.

For Edward it was a past love that brought about his downfall. His brother Tommy spent his entire life searching for love and blaming his brother for losing the love of Emily Tuffy, who only had eyes for Edward. Where is Emily and what happened to her? Their neighbour Dermot Healy also figures prominently in the storyline. It takes several more murders for the pieces to come together for Beck and he very nearly loses his life if not for his new constant companion, Max. Max is a sheepdog that belonged to Edward Kavanagh. Beck thought that he would watch the dog until Animal Services could come for him but when Max saves not only his life but saves him from himself as well, Beck decides to keep Max.

I very much enjoyed this third installation of the Finnegan Beck series and hope that there will be more as there is still so much to tell, I feel. If more stars were available, I would be giving this one more than five.

Flawed Detective Finnegan Beck and his partner, Claire, work together to solve a string of violent murders in the town of Cross Beg, Ireland. I really enjoyed this book and it had me hooked from the very beginning. There was a lot of action in this book as well as twists and turns which kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this very exciting book in exchange for an honest review. If you love a good detective story, this is the book for you.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of Her Last Goodnight, the third novel to feature DI Finnegan Beck, set in the fictional Irish town of Cross Beg.

DI Beck is called out to the scene of Eddie Gallagher’s murder and it’s a conundrum. Eddie was a harmless, likeable old man so who would want to savagely beat him to death? And why was he all dressed up with an engagement ring in his pocket when no one has heard of a lady friend? The mystery deepens when more people are attacked.

I thoroughly enjoyed Her Last Goodnight which is an absorbing read with a good plot and a troubled protagonist. The novel is mostly told from Beck’s point of view so the reader is able to guess along with him as he works through the evidence. Personally I was clueless but it all makes sense when explained. I really liked the main plot with its well concealed perpetrator and motive. It seems well paced with plenty of developments and reveals so it held my attention from start to finish. I also liked the small details of life in rural Ireland with one in particular making me laugh out loud - no, I’m not going to describe it but it’s ingenious, if not Irish in conception.

I was less keen on the mental travails of DI Finnegan Beck. He is an alcoholic, haunted by the death of his father, probably at his mother’s hand. He is also having an affair with a married woman. This latter I couldn’t grasp at all as it has some kind of ambiguous subtext running through it and I’m too thick to get it. I just found it totally confusing. I just feel that there is too much angst and it detracts to some extent from an interesting murder plot.

Her Last Goodnight is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Her Last Goodnight is an Irish police procedural that puts a new twist on old crime fiction tropes and an enjoyable, atmospheric read. While it's the third Detective Finnegan Beck story, it was my first read of the author and series, and it works well as a standalone. Set in the small, rural Irish town of Cross Beg, the story is atmospheric and intriguing, and the author's writing style enjoyable. Finnegan Beck is a senior detective with plenty of backstory in his personal life, used to working the streets of Dublin, out of his comfort zone away from the city and the woman he is drawn to despite being all wrong for him, while fighting terrible memories from his childhood and the temptation of the Irish whiskey bottle. Investigating the brutal murder of old Eddie Kavanagh with his talented offsider Garda Claire Somers, Beck discovers chinks in stories, links to powerful players and twists back to the past. He is determined to uncover the truth, follows his instincts and disregards procedure. It may be a race to see if this quest or the whiskey bottle kills him yet.

I will leave a review on Amazon or B&N on Jan 14, 2020

I received the book from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my fair and honest review.

This was the 3rd book in a series, yet I don't feel as if I missed out on anything by not reading the first two books. I felt it was a pretty typical mystery. The storyline was well written but for me the book just dragged along and it never really pulled me in like I need a book to do so that I actually connect to the characters. Overall for me this book falls more in the 3 star range. I would suggest anyone that enjoys mysteries should read the book for themselves because everyone doesn't enjoy the same books.

This is one of those mystery thriller titles that although it kept me guessing until the very end. It wasn't anything new. The characters were subpar and the writing style wasn't to my liking. The story itself was ok. I hadn't read the first two books in this series but I didn't feel like I needed to. I think that a new title might want to be given to this as I didn't see where it tied into the story. Overall, I don't think I will try this author's titles again.

I will not be reviewing this book. it was very hard to get into. Thank you for the opportunity - it's just not a book that I want to spend time reading. I will not be reviewing this book. it was very hard to get into. Thank you for the opportunity - it's just not a book that I want to spend time reading. I will not be reviewing this book. it was very hard to get into. Thank you for the opportunity - it's just not a book that I want to spend time reading.

A spellbinding trip with the police department in rural Ireland. Detective Finnegan Beck and Garda Claire Sommers figure prominently in this excellent murder mystery. The question is - which suspect is the better ACTOR in this twisty story.

Eddie Kavanaugh is murdered - the last thing he is thinking of is a love he lost many years ago. Beck and Claire work to solve this crime. Beck - a little bit rogue and Claire - by the books.

This story twists around a number of characters who can not be discounted as to committing the murder.

A page turner!

Many Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a super read !

This is the third book in the Detective Finnegan Beck series and can be read as a stand-alone. Author Michael Scanlon does an excellent job at providing contextual information to those new to the series. His overall writing, scene setting and plot development were captivating. While the trope is familiar, Scanlon provides a moderately paced suspense with intriguing characterization that helps pull away from that familiarity. In addition, the charming Irish town setting gives the storyline another aspect of appeal. Good read. 4 stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #HerLastGoodnight which was read and reviewed voluntarily by Tarrah Marie (@wayward_readers)