Tremendous…
A New Years Eve party, a dead body and more suspects than you can shake a stick at in this wholly immersive whodunnit with a larger than life cast of characters, a plot which twists and turns at the drop of a hat and a gloriously well crafted backdrop. The characters are definitely key here and are so well rounded as to be completely credible and the sense of place perfection. The mystery at its’ heart becomes more convoluted as the tale progresses so never a dull moment arises. A tremendous start to what promises to be a superlative series.

When a body is found in the lake during the traditional swim on New Year’s Day, the first issue is which police force needs to deal with it. One side of the lake houses the Welsh village of Cwm Coed and the other, the English side has the new development ‘The Shore’. Neither side are entirely enamoured with the other. We soon learn the victim is a Shore member. Welsh police officer DC Ffion Morgan has more than one reason to be involved in this case. Her English Police partner, DC Leo Brady is struggling with issues at home and they make an unlikely team at first. But there is more to this mystery than meets the eye in this place where everyone has something to hide.

I really enjoyed this book. There are some cracking twists and reveals- some I anticipated, others made me exclaim out loud. The author is brilliant at creating characters you care about, weaving their stories skilfully so you don’t see what’s coming until she wants you to.

It’s very well paced and every chapter seems to leave you wanting more. I liked the characters of DC Morgan and DC Brady and I hope that the little teaser at the end of this book means we’ll meet again at some point!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

‘The Last Party’ had me engrossed from the opening pages. I loved Mackintosh’s previous novel, ‘Hostage’ and this is just as compelling. Not only is the murder mystery element absorbing but the relationship between DC Ffion Morgan and DC Leo Brady also really engages the reader.
Local boy made good, opera singer, Rhys Lloyd, is owner of a new development of luxury lakeside chalets in Cwm Coed in North Wales. The villagers are furious at the despoliation of a beauty spot and those living in the development are none too fond of Rhys either. When his body is found in the lake during the traditional New Year’s Day swim, few are particularly sad.
Mackintosh’s plotting skills are excellent; it’s not easy to predict who may have killed Rhys and, when the perpetrator is finally revealed, their motives are entirely plausible. However, don’t read this novel for the plot alone. The author is expert at portraying relationships between all manner of people and it become increasingly easy to believe in this struggling community and those who police it. In particular, let’s hope that Ffion and Leo are brought together in a future novel. Surely, they can’t remain on either side of the border permanently!
My thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Honesty from the outset I am a big fan of Clare’s work, I have read all her novels all of which I have enjoyed. I was delighted to receive this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review, thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Books.

As previously stated I have read all of Clare’s previous works I have always liked how each book is unique but have on going themes and have the same core elements that make you want to keep reading long into the night. The Last Party was no different.
Like all of Clare’s previous novels there are elements of police procedural, domestic noir, classic mystery within this book. All which add up to a compelling read.

The Last Party is the introduction to DC Ffion Morgan, it is New Years Day and the body of local boy done good celebrated singer Rhys Lloyd has been found floating in the lake of his luxury lakeside holiday development, Morgan has a village full of suspects, secrets to hide and discover the murder is merely the beginning. There starts a modern twist on the golden age of the very best of crime/mystery writing. Think Agatha Christie if she had a iPad.

Told in POV from the present day with Ffion and her police colleague Leo to the days/week/months leading to the murder told in POV from various characters including the victim himself Clare creates a deep bed of slow burning tension from the get go and carries this to the very end. For me the book is really two halves the first mainly hearing from the two officers that sets up the story, slowly starts to introduce suspects and hints that there is a lot more than meets the eye. The second we hear still from the officers but we also start to hear from the various suspects in the lead up to the murder, here is where it gets very classic Agatha with a rich cast suspects(of which are a modern day takes on the classic characters you expect…brilliant and clever characterisation here from the writer ), red herrings, twists and fabulous dialogue between the characters. One of the very interesting things for me was hearing about the same event from a different characters POV, in particular the victim take on things, let’s just same Lloyd isn’t quite the golden boy his public life would lead your to believe. This was a really clever device used by Clare she uses it to explain and expand the interlinked stories and moving the main the story along, truly great writing. This book is both character and story lead which is rare today but both the story and characters are strong, well developed and are interesting takes on what is very much a classic golden age of crime type story. This is all set among the backdrop of the Welsh mountains, a luxury resort and small village all of which are beautifully described and add to the overall sense of tension and mystery.

DC Ffion Morgan as a series character is fantastic she is witty, smart, a little damaged, strong, funny and very interesting, I look forward to reading more about her and seeing how she develops .

Overall this a great first outing for DC Morgan that sets up the series to continue for many books to come I for one are very much looking forward to the next party.

Fans of Cara Hunter, Lisa Jewell and of course Agatha Christie will devour this book.
A story four stars for me.

A great strong storyline. Kept me intrigued with twists and turns that made the story very good
5***** as always from this author ,

Well written with an compelling storyline and well developed characters - most of whom you get to know really well throughout the book. I really enjoyed this read and I was gripped from start to finish. A great read.

#TheLastParty #NetGalley
Awesome.
Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His lakeside holiday homes are a success, and he's generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbours. This will be the party to end all parties. But not everyone is there to celebrate. By midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake. On New Year's Day, DC Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbours, 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.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Books UK Sphere for giving me an advance copy.

I have really enjoyed the previous thrillers by Clare Mackintosh but unfortunately this one fell a little flat for me. A body is found in a lodge resort lake and everyone in the local town is a suspect. I struggled to follow the narrative a bit and it just didn't grip me.

I shrieked for joy when I was approved for Clare Mackintosh's latest crime thriller 'The Last Party' and it leapt to the top of my TBR pile immediately. I was utterly engrossed from start to finish, and didn't look up from the page for the entire time.

The book is set right round a lake on the North Wales/ Cheshire border and specifically some new luxury lodges being built for rich incomers, against the wishes of most of the local Welsh community. Historically there have always been tensions and rivalries from both sides of the border and this comes through really strongly in the book, as does the wonderful use of Welsh language scattered throughout the story.

So - at the beginning of the book, its New Year's Day and the local residents (not the lodge-owners) are going for the traditional New Year's Day dip into the freezing lake. As the bravest swimmers start to get into deeper water, the cry comes up that a body has been found in the middle of the lake. It turns out to be that of Rhys Lloyd, local boy who grew up to be a singing sensation - and he's also the developer of the luxury lodges. Initially seen by the police as the golden boy around town, it soon becomes apparent that he's got more than a few detractors in the village, as various stories come out about his career and his past. There's certainly plenty for the police to get their teeth into

The story has a rich character list and several of them get their own storylines, which are beautifully mixed up with one another, along with a meandering timeline that moves back and forth across a year or more. There are two fantastic police officers, Ffion Morgan, who grew up in the village and has connections to everyone and history that spans generations, and Leo Brady, an officer who has recently moved to the Cheshire force. The two have met very recently, in less professional circumstances....

All of the elements of the book were expertly handled by Clare Mackintosh; the setting was perfectly described and you could feel the animosity between the older residents of the village and the incoming lodge owners. I was gripped by the story, desperate to see who the killer was and what had led to Rhys' death. The twists and turns kept coming, even when I thought it was all over, oh no, here comes more news. I would wholeheartedly recommend The Last Party, and look forward to seeing more of Ffion and Leo in future books.

Clare Mackintosh is a must-read author for me, so a new police procedural series from her was very welcome news, and The Last Party was a brilliant read.

The body of Rhys Lloyd, Cwm Coed local boy turned successful opera singer turned owner of a luxury development of lakeside holiday homes, is found in the lake - Llyn Drych - on New Year's Day. Last seen at a New Year's party, apparently much the worse for drink, it's not immediately obvious how Rhys died. But it becomes apparent that more than one person has reason to want him dead....

Due to the location - the lake crosses the Welsh/English border - DC Ffion Morgan of North Wales Police and DC Leo Brady of Cheshire Constabulary have to team up on the investigation. But as it turns out, it's not the first time they've met.

Local girl Ffion, once known as Ffion Wyllt - Wild Ffion - knows everybody in the area and is linked in some way to most of them. Back living with her mother and teenage sister after the breakup of her marriage, Ffion is on the spot to investigate Rhys's death, but there's stuff she's keeping firmly under her hat.

Leo's life is not going too well - he's bullied by his unpleasant boss and his ex-wife is being difficult about contact with his son. (The mystery here is why Leo married her in the first place, as she seems a grade A you-know-what.) Like, I'm sure, every other reader, I was desperate for Leo to find his backbone and stand up for himself.

The rest of the characters - Cwm Coed locals and the (mostly) wealthy residents of The Shore are also compelling, with plenty of simmering resentments and secret passions to move the story along.

I absolutely loved the characters and relationship - they have great chemistry - of Ffion and Leo, and was 100% rooting for them to end up together.

Excellent read with a number of surprises, and I look forward to another instalment featuring these characters.

I've been a fan of Claire's writing since her first book, and hearing that this had a bit of an English/Welsh divide got my attention being an Englishwoman living in Wales.

I loved the start and the usual tradition being used as a backdrop for the murder. I did feel that the Welsh culture thing throughout was perhaps trying a little too hard. A web of characters that all have a history with each other does make for interesting reading.

My favourite part of this is the Ffion and Leo chemistry, they both work very differently as detectives, but work together well despite that.

The twist was predictable, saw it coming and didn't feel that usual page turning tension I usually do with this author. Nor was I that bought into who committed the murder.

Rhys Lloyd was a local boy from Cwm Coed in Wales who found fame and fortune as an opera singer, noe he's returned with his wife Yasmin and twin daughters to invest in and build a luxury development of exclusive lodges, imaginatively called The Shore, on the shores of Llyn Drych on his father's land. The border between Wales and England runs through the centre of the lake, so that the lodges are technically in English soil, although Rhys' father was adamant that the land was the last Welsh stronghold. On New Year's Eve his business partner Jonty Charlton and his wife Blythe host a party for the current residents of the first five lodges and invite the local population to come along in the interests of generating some goodwill. The other residents are a boxer-turned-soap-star Bobby Stafford and his influencer wife Ashleigh, a retiree called Dee Huxley, and a mother and son from a London sink estate called Clemmie and Caleb.

DC Ffion Morgan is recently separated from her husband and has fallen into the habit of anonymous one-night-stands, although given her job she always gives a false name and occupation. New Year's Eve is no different, but when she is called in on New Year's Day to investigate a corpse which has washed ashore in the middle of the village's annual New Year's Day swim, she is horrified to find that her counterpart from Cheshire Major Crimes DC Leo Brady is none other than her companion of the previous night. Totes awks!

When the body is identified as that of Rhys Lloyd it soon transpires that absolutely no-one is sorry he's dead, indeed most people living at The Shore and the locals of Cwm Coed have strong motives to kill him - but which of the suspects is the killer? How did he die? And can Ffion investigate when she knows so many of the suspects personally and has her own secrets to hide?

This novel has more twists and turns than the famously crooked Lombard Street in San Francisco and kept me gripped right to the very end, its true that in a small town everyone knows everyone else's business, but it doesn't stop people having secrets.

Loved it, can't wait for the next in this series. I haven't come across Clare Mackintosh before but I will definitely look out for her back-catalogue.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Clare Mackintosh is on top form with this cleverly plotted, engaging and addictive psychological thriller with some terrific characters I loved reading about.

An exclusive community v a local community, the death of a star who prior to that had been fading into oblivion and an eclectic cast of suspects to keep you guessing makes The Last Party a genuine page turner, entertaining for sure but also emotionally resonant.

Overall an excellent read that should be on all your August holiday packing lists.

Some fantastic "them and us" locals- versus- the- incomers tensions from the very beginning of the book, with the well to do holiday home owners inviting the local neighbours to their ostentatious gathering.
Ffion, one of the locals and also the police person embroiled in investigating the death of Rhys, holiday home owner and one time local boy made good, found floating in the lake the following morning.
The very isolated and intertwined nature of the community makes this a great setting for a murder- everyone is a suspect, everyone seems to have a motive but who is the guilty one and why and can Ffion distance herself enough to be impartial in her investigation?
a brilliant read, heavy on the tension and detective work with less focus on the gore.

Rhys Lloyd, a small town boy who becomes a star returns to his homeland in Wales to create a little bit of Heaven for those that can afford to live there. On New Year's Eve he throws a party and invites some of the locals from the town he grew up in. By New Years morning he is dead.
It is immediately obvious that his death was not by natural causes or even an accident so who responsible for his murder? Could it be one of the other people living along side him in the luxury lodges at The Shore or is it one of the locals? Almost everyone has a reason to want him dead.
As the murder has taken place right on the border, DC Ffion Morgan from the Welsh police works alongside her English counterpart DC Leo Brady to narrow the field and discover the killer.
There is quite lot of characters in the book but as is often the case in small communities, their lives are entwined and everyone knows everyone else's business. Or do they?
Thoroughly enjoyed.
Many thanks to the the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t sure if I would like this book as it is the start of a series, I didn’t like it though I loved it. You could definitely read this book as a stand alone.

Dc Fiona Morgan is an interesting character I was intrigued to find out what secrets she was hiding and when teamed with Leo the combination is brilliant. I’m excited to see how these characters develop in subsequent books.

When Rhys Lloyds body is found floating in the lake we are introduced to so many different characters all with their own reasons to kill him. My mind was made up many times on the suspect only to be changed the next minute.


The setting in North Wales was perfect, I feel it added to the story and the small town descriptions throughout allowed the reader to interact even more with the story. I must mention the ending which was not what I expected at all.

If you enjoy twisty ,entertaining thrillers then this is the book for you. Fantastic storytelling and plot development thank you netgalley and the publishers for my chance to read this book.

The Last Party by Claire Mackintosh is a fabulous read and is possibly one of her best books yet!

It's such fab news that she's started a series and I cannot wait to see what's next in line!

“The Last Party” is the first in a series that will feature Ffion Morgan, living in a small Welsh village and working as a detective. In this initial story, Ffion wakes up in a stranger’s bed on New Year’s Day and makes good her getaway without waking the man up. She returns to her mum’s house, where she lives with her younger sister, and hears about a body being found in a nearby lake. 5 holidays lodges have recently been built lakeside and a party was thrown there to welcome the villagers and see in the new year. Now one partygoer is dead in the water…..

Highly recommend to crime readers.

I love Clare Mackintosh's writing and I am a biog fan of all her books. However I think with this one I found it dragging a bit at the beginning. But after half way I really got into the book and was hooked. I just wish it had got to the meaty bit of the story a bit quicker and then I would happily give the book 5 stars.

I've read all books by this author, so am a big fan. This is another good one, but with focus on the detectives of a case. I'll be honest, for the first third of the book it was carried mostly by the detectives for me. I had little interest in the victim nor those in his life. As the story goes on you get to see how they all entwine and that does inspire a bit more interest in the characters. A typically whodunnit with plenty of potential suspects. Good twist at the end. I enjoyed Ffion and Leo's interactions.

I finished my #NetGalley copy of The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh last night (far later than I should have for about the 3rd night running!) Such a great story, I had to force myself to put it downand go to sleep! I loved how the back story intertwined with the main timeline of events, I loved how flawed and human all the characters were. Definitely recommend it.