The Last Word by Gerri Lewis

The Last Word
by Gerri Lewis

ISBN-13: 9781639106318
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Released: February 6, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Obituary writer Winter Snow is no stranger to grief, and writing obituaries for the citizens of Ridgefield, Connecticut, is her way of providing comfort to those who have been in her shoes. But funerals and eulogies are meant for the dead, so when the very much alive Leocadia Arlington requests her own obituary by the end of the week, Winter’s curiosity is piqued. Even more so when she finds Mrs. Arlington dead soon after. The police think it was an accident.

Winter's sure it was murder, though, because why else have a deadline? She becomes obsessed with trying to figure out the real killer. When Winter realizes Mrs. Arlington was working on a revealing memoir that has now gone missing, Winter begins to wonder if someone had a reason to kill to keep her quiet. With the help of her foodie Uncle Richard, her wise octogenarian neighbor Horace, her best friend Scoop, and Diva, the Great Pyrenees puppy she inherited from Mrs. Arlington, Winter must uncover the killer before the next obituary written is her own.


My Review:
The Last Word is a cozy mystery. Mrs. Arlington's a writer yet felt she needed to hire someone else to write her obituary. This is just the beginning of the baffling events. Like a gal was trying to stay hidden yet went on a long walk in public along a popular route. Or Winter knows they're in a hurry but took the time to take a shower, put on makeup, and otherwise primp. Or Winter knows she shouldn't be snooping, a cop is searching the house, the house has been trashed, yet when she knocked a vase over and broke it, she took the time to clean it up.

The author also didn't do a good job of describing things. I'd have to go back to re-read things because either I had misunderstood what she described or she forgot what she'd previously said. The whole story was unrealistic. Winter and the detectives treated evidence in ways that would see it thrown out of court. For example, she stole an iPad (evidence that the police were looking for) and went through it, sending things from it to herself, then turned it over. She was constantly illegally entering property and houses. And Winter's caught 'stealing from a dead guy's pocket' and is still a suspect after she explained it was her phone and contained evidence proving her story, yet she's allowed to take her phone home without anyone looking at it.

Anyway, despite the crazy and confusing, I still managed to figure out whodunit about halfway through. There was basically only one person who could have done certain things, and we soon learned that person's motive. Another person was sure acting suspiciously and had to be involved somehow. Not too difficult to figure out.

There was some bad language. There were no sex scenes.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.