The Last Word by Gerri Lewis
Cozy mystery author Gerri Lewis provides us with a positively delightful mystery filled with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers on their toes!
The main character in The Last Word is Winter Snow. Not only does Winter have a unique name, but a very unique occupation: freelance professional obituary writer. Winter loves her job. She views the obits as human interest stories and another way to give the deceased and their families a final voice.
But Winter is totally perplexed when 8l yr. old local widow, “Lottie” Arlington, contacts her to request her own obit – and she needs it “fast”! Completely caught off guard, she reluctantly accepts her newest writing gig. After all, there must be a logical explanation to the odd request. Perhaps Lottie is setting up her own pre-planned funeral and wants to be sure to include the obit. Maybe Lottie received a death threat or maybe she had a premonition of her upcoming demise.
When Winter arrives at Lottie’s stately home, she’s greeted by her assistant/housekeeper, Brittany, and is escorted into a sitting area where Lottie proceeds to give Winter tons of information to sort through so she can write the perfect obit.
With the tight deadline looming, she goes through her notes and other info on Lottie’s deceased husband, Roth, a very well-known and wealthy philanthropist. She learns about the Arlington’s closest friends: the Hemlockers. Burton Hemlocker is a rich financier and Marietta, his trophy wife. Henry Harmless was also a dear friend who lived with the Arlingtons for several years.
But when murder comes to her town of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Winter’s business is really booming! And being in the business she’s in (coupled with her amateur sleuth reputation), the local police have a lot of questions for her and it’s making her downright nervous!
Winter finds herself doing her own investigating. She’s got her Uncle Richard, her neighbor Horace and local reporter “Scoop,” watching her back – but wonders: will that be enough? Both Winter and Scoop start receiving threats – and just like a quick snap of the fingers, the killer strikes again!
The Last Word is everything a good cozy should be. Solid and entertaining characters with a very tricky plot. Rich folks, greedy folks and two key players pulling off a “disappearing act,” will give armchair detectives a run for their money as they try to follow the money.
The Last Word by Gerri Lewis is A Deadly Deadlines Mystery. With the hot, lazy days of summer on their way, cozy mystery fans will want to add this series to their summer reading list!
A copy of this book and cover photo were provided by Crooked Lane Publishing.