Another excellent Hercule Poirot continuation novel by Sophie Hannah - again she uses a very distinctive setting which makes it memorable. I really enjoyed this one. The details of life in an unusual religious community on a Greek island made for a striking background for the plot. Would definitely recommend.

I had been a little dubious about the idea of Poirot written by someone other than Christie herself but this was pleasantly surprising!

Is it exactly like reading a Christie tale? No not quite but it is almost comparably charming and a nice reintroduction to the famous character.

Poirot and Catchpool go to Greece and they go to a house where forgiveness is key. But does that mean they can get away with murder? It all starts with a new year resolution... Enjoyed. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

This is the sixth installment of Sophie Hannahs "New Hercule Poirot Mysteries" and whilst I have always been reluctant to read a story using another authors characters, I am glad I gave this one a read.

Hercule and Inspector Catchpole are invited to see in the new year on the Greek island of Lamperos, guests of the "Very Good Friends", a group who believe everything should be forgiven. The plot is really interesting, the group all put their new years resolution into a hat, with Inspector Catchpole tasked with reading them each aloud for everyone to guess who wrote it. Amongst the Resolutions is a note stating one of the group will be “the last and first death of the year.” 

Obviously, someone dies and Poirot and Catchpole begin their investigation. The book is mostly written from Inspector Catchpoles point of view and starts with a enticing note list all of the groups New Years resolution stating that its possible to work out the murder just from reading them. I certainly didn't but it this note is explained at the end.

I did enjoy this but i couldn't help wondering why the author didn't create her own detective instead of using Hercule Poirot. Admittedly, their is little depth to any of the characters so his name alone certainly does a lot of heavy lifting. It was a joy to hear Poirot's little phrases once again and the reveal of him explaining how it was done to everyone at the end is very satisfying. I'd be surprised if many manage to solve this one!

I would like to convey my thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, for the chance to review this novel. All opinions are my own.

The Last Death of the Year is due to be released on 23rd October 2025.

3.5 ✨

A fun read, that brings us more Poirot, done so well by Sophie Hannah.
I say MORE Poirot, but for me, he felt a bit absent for a lot of the book.
Instead we have Catchpool, and a cast of curious characters.
Characters that are frankly, a little mad. Falling in and out of love, all mixed up in each others lives, it really was quite something.
Pearl was the highlight here. Bonkers.
Confession came a tad too easily I thought, but it didn't hamper my enjoyment of an entertaining read.
I'm really enjoying getting bonus Poirot in my life 😁

4.5 stars rounded down. I always look forward to a new Sophie Hannah “Poirot” and this once again delivered the mystery, characters and most of all, the writing style. It is a skill to be able to not only think up a good mystery on its own merit, but to then immerse yourself in another writer’s mind and write in their voice, and Sophie manages that excellently. I think these can all be ready fairly independently, rather than in series order, which is helpful for anyone wanting to dip their toe in and try… this will be released around October half term, so perfect for an autumn curl on on the sofa reading session, where you get transported to a sunny Greek island.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Another fantastic story from Sophie about the adventures of Hercules Poirot on a Greek island. Fantastically well written, a good plot with the right pace to it and some really interesting characters. Good ending too. Sophie is so good at this it’s hard to take in that it isn’t an original Agatha Christie. Thoroughly enjoyed this story and I hope there will be many more to come.

An interesting addition to Poirot's story.

Poirot and his friend, Inspector Catchpool, have been invited to spend New Year on the island of Lamperos in Greece. Here they join Nash and his 'Very Good Friends' at the house that Nash has inherited. Nash has decided that he is going to build a community of people for the betterment of the world built on the foundation that forgiveness is everything. Each of the people at the house has found there way there in slightly suspicious circumstances, so the scene is set for intrigue and mystery. On New Years Eve the friends all gather for dinner and play a game of 'Resolutions' with each writing their New Year's Resolution and them having to guess whose resolution is whose.

However, an extra piece of paper finds itself in the game, but this one carries a very explicit threat to one of the people at the dinner. Soon that person turns up dead and the local police seem keen to pin the blame on someone from outside the house. This leaves Poirot and Catchpool to investigate the crime for themselves. Soon we are embroiled in a tangled web as each of the 'Very Good Friends' seems to have had both motive and opportunity....but also alibis. And then another body turns up and the investigation takes a turn...

This is a very good addition to the Poirot body of work. While it is not Agatha Christie, Sophie Hannah is an engaging story teller and it reads very much like a Christie novel. Yes there is lots of dialogue but how else can you tell a mystery story without interviewing witnesses? All of the background information that is uncovered is relevant and the reveal is engaging - I had only worked out part of what happened.

If you are a lover of mystery books then I would recommend this as an addition to your bookshelf. If you want to dip your toe into Poirot's world then it's not Christie....but it is close.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was quite disappointed in this story. I didn’t like the long ramblings of the characters - it felt like the author was using their thoughts to work out the narrative. Agatha Christie was a much more precise writer. I ended up not caring whodunnit. I did finish it but wouldn’t rush to get the next one.

This is a classic Poirot mystery set on a Greek island. In this book we are introduced to a group of friends on New Year's Eve, when a game of resolutions turns sour and murder soon occurs. Poirot and his his detective friend Catchpool set out to discover the truth amongst many lies.

This was a good read overall, it was well written and as with most Poirot books, I didn't get the full picture until the final reveal at the end, but had clues along the way. However I found this one a little too unbelievable and the murderer and their motive just didn't seem quite right. It was like there were too many red herrings that the story got lost a little. I enjoyed the dynamic of the characters, but found some of them irritating beyond belief.

I would like to read more of this series of Poirot by Sophie Hannah, as I believe it could be really good, I just found this story a little bit lacking overall.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I really enjoy Agatha Christie books and had already read one of Sophie Hannah’s previous books. I respect how she managed to encapsulate Poirot (although the narrator is Catchpole). So i was very chuft to be offered The Last Death of the Year to read. You don’t need to have read any of Sophie’s previous Poirot books as they work as standalones - although once you have the taste for one, i expect you’ll want to read the others too.

The story is set on the Greek Island of Lamperos which sounded intriguing and is a good old fashioned golden age mystery and who done it, as you attempt to suss out who the suspect is.

Definitely worth a read, even if you haven’t read any of Agatha Christie’s Hercules Poirot books.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book through NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins which did not influence my unbiased and honest review of the book.

If you love murder mystery this is definitely a book for you.

For me it didn’t hit the spot but I know my mom would absolutely love it.

I'm a crime fiction fan but have only read one proper Agatha Christie book to date ("And then there were none") along with a short story collection called 'Marple' with 12 different short stories written by different authors in the style of Agatha Christie. Both of those were excellent, I just haven't got to further Agatha Christie books yet.

When this one came along as an ARC I therefore jumped at the chance for a fresh Poirot story and a fresh take on a well established format.

Overall I'm left a little disappointed in all honesty. There was a slight nod to And then there were none as well as recent books like the Guest List with a common sort of theme with several people virtually isolated at a remote location - this time a remote Greek island and a fresh murder occurs while Poirot is in attendance over New Year.
Cue lots of dialogue and back story for the characters/suspects as Poirot and a Scotland Yard detective, plus some help from the local Greek police officer, turn to solving who the murderer is among the limited list of suspects.

Did I guess correctly - not a chance! Even with a brief explanation at the end on how the murder could be solved from the suspects new year's resolutions alone (which was outlined at the start of the book) I remain a bit sceptical. I found it a bit too convoluted, even more so in hindsight, and the premise of the hotel and it's 'cult'/religion a bit far fetched.

I'm still eager to try further Agatha Christie books but this one only 3 stars from me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy.
I loved this! A superb piece of writing by Sophie Hannah, with a complex plot and lots of characters but I still felt I had a good sense of each and every one. If you enjoy a classic whodunit, I would thoroughly recommend this-can’t wait to read more.

I was looking forward to reading this Poirot story by Sophie Hannah. . I had enjoyed reading Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night, so thought I would enjoy this new story. . Yes, it was in the same style , but for me it just didn’t work. The characters seemed shallow, their past lives seemed complicated, and they weren’t likeable people. Frankly I found it boring. I struggled to finish it. I would like to thank. NetGalley and the publishers, Harper Collins, for an arc of this book.

As someone who is a fan of cozy crime, this is a book that is definitely my kind of story. I really liked the eerie feel of the island and the underlying knowledge that these people are not good people and have secrets.

I enjoyed the added mystery of another murder and finding out the backstories. I think the pacing was a little off at times but I think that was due to the amount of suspects and the different motives of them.

Really enjoyable murder mystery set at New Year on a Greek island. Poirot invites his policeman friend Catchpool on a trip to the island and lo and behold murder most foul takes place.
Can Poirot figure out who is responsible? You bet he can!
Enjoyable read. Recommended.

I admit that I don't know how it works that authors can write stories about characters by other authors (out of copyright?) and also admit that I wouldn't usually read one, especially a Poirot (I also wouldn't read Miss Marple or Sherlock Holmes). But it was sent to me, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I just didn't like it. I didn't like the close-but-not-quite feeling of reading Poirot that wasn't Poirot. It was a bit overdone on the 'mon ami' and other French sayings. Usually a Poirot is almost guessable, but this one hid too much until the end. Usually a Poirot has us seeing some of the suspect's activities, but this had everything told with dialogue.

The trick of the title was interesting, but thereafter the mystery itself just was not.

Sorry this wasn’t for me, lots of characters who didn’t have enough depth to be interested in. An overly complicated plot line and lots of unnecessary dialogue. It was interesting to read a Poirot and Catchpole novel written by someone other than Agatha Christie and it is very cleverly done so many readers will really enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgalley the author and publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Not for me I’m afraid. I found it to be boring, the characters had little to no depth , and I couldn’t get into it at all. In my opinion trying to write in the style of Agatha Christie is akin to trying to repaint a Rembrandt and failing miserably.