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The Last Party

The twisty thriller and instant Sunday Times bestseller

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 Don't miss Clare's stunning new Ffion Morgan thriller, Other People's Houses - out now!
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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES TOP 5 BESTSELLER AND START OF A THRILLING NEW SERIES: AT MIDNIGHT, ONE OF THEM IS DEAD. BY MORNING, ALL OF THEM ARE SUSPECTS . . .
'Superb, with echoes of Agatha Christie' PATRICIA CORNWELL
'A dark delight of a murder mystery' JANICE HALLETT
'Mackintosh is just getting better and better' PETER JAMES
'A wickedly enjoyable reprise of the traditional crime novel' THE TIMES

On New Year's Eve, 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.

In a village with this many secrets, a murder is just the beginning.
A Game of Lies, the new thriller featuring DC Ffion Morgan, is available to pre-order now.

***

PRAISE FOR THE LAST PARTY:
'Whipsmart dialogue, great characters . . . Another standout for Mackintosh' LINWOOD BARCLAY

'Detectives Leo and Ffion make a storming debut' BELINDA BAUER

'Clare Mackintosh is a genius' FIONA CUMMINS

'I absolutely inhaled this insanely gripping and atmospheric thriller' ERIN KELLY

'I loved everything about The Last Party. An absolute triumph' CLAIRE DOUGLAS

'I fell in love with courageous, complicated DC Ffion Morgan' RUTH WARE

'This is the new crime series you need in your life' WILL DEAN

'Superb. Enough red herrings to keep even the most seasoned crime reader guessing' C.L. TAYLOR

'Fantastic, drily humorous and layered, a wonderful introduction to Detectives Leo and Ffion' LJ ROSS

'Expertly plotted and relentlessly gripping' LUCY CLARKE

'DC Ffion Morgan is complicated, funny and very sweary' LOUISE CANDLISH

'Twists that blindside you all the way' MARI HANNAH

'A superbly entertaining murder mystery' ALLIE REYNOLDS

'With twists to make you gasp, this is a top-notch read' FABULOUS

'I guarantee you'll never guess whodunnit' MARK EDWARDS

'Murder, mystery, a cellar-full of dark secrets, and a memorable cast of characters' VASEEM KHAN

'Brims with authenticity, perfectly rounded off with a classic Mackintosh twist' KIA ABDULLAH

'Mackintosh has created a brilliant pairing in DC Ffion Morgan and DC Leo Brady' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

'A great story, evocative setting, brilliant characters and shocking twists' CLAIRE MCGOWAN

'Superb . . . Mackintosh consistently entertains' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW

'Mackintosh has a way of taking thrillers to dazzling new heights' BP WALTER

'I loved the team of DC Ffion Morgan and DC Leo Brady' PRIMA

'Mackintosh brings a new depth to her work, without stinting on her customary twisty plotting' EXPRESS


THE LAST PARTY was a No.4 Sunday Times hardback bestseller August 2022©2022 Clare Mackintosh Ltd Crime Fiction Domestic Thrillers Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Village

Critic Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE LAST PARTY
The writing is superb. Wicked fun, devilishly clever, with echoes of Agatha Christie. This is a party you won't want to miss (PATRICIA CORNWELL)
Clare Mackintosh is just getting better and better with every book. This is a wonderfully assured and gripping read (PETER JAMES)
Detectives Leo and Ffion make a storming debut in this twisty, cleverly-layered tale of worlds colliding (BELINDA BAUER)
A wickedly enjoyable reprise of the traditional crime novel . . . A great summer read
Whipsmart dialogue, droll observation, great characters and some very nasty business make this another standout for Mackintosh (LINWOOD BARCLAY)
Brilliant, so atmospheric. I fell in love with courageous, complicated DC Ffion Morgan and I think readers will too (RUTH WARE)
I loved everything about The Last Party. Taut, pacey and so atmospheric with brilliantly-executed twists and wonderfully-written characters. DC Ffion Morgan is my new favourite detective and I'm so excited to read more. An absolute triumph (CLAIRE DOUGLAS)
I absolutely inhaled this insanely gripping and atmospheric thriller. DC Ffion Morgan and her English counterpart Leo Brady are up there with the greats (ERIN KELLY)
The Last Party is a dark delight of a murder mystery! More entertaining than any party I've ever thrown. A chilling buffet of brutal murder, laced with grudges, jealousy and revenge. Whatever you do this summer, get yourself an invite! (JANICE HALLETT)
Clare Mackintosh is a genius (FIONA CUMMINS)
DC Ffion Morgan may well be the Rebus of rural Wales. As warm as it is atmospheric and ingenious - this is the new crime series you need in your life (WILL DEAN)
Superb. A compelling murder mystery told with warmth, humour and enough red herrings to keep even the most seasoned crime reader guessing (C.L. TAYLOR)
Expertly plotted and relentlessly gripping, The Last Party is a perfectly executed murder mystery. The whip-sharp and deeply likeable Ffion leads the investigation, introducing us to a cast of brilliantly realised suspects. I loved every page (LUCY CLARKE)
I REALLY loved The Last Party . . . brimming with epic scenery - all mists and mountains and freezing lakes . . . DC Ffion Morgan feels real right from the off: funny and complicated and very sweary (LOUISE CANDLISH)
I loved The Last Party! This was a real page-turner, with compelling characters that drew me into the story. A fantastic, drily humorous and layered read that was a wonderful introduction to Detectives Leo and Ffion (LJ ROSS)
All stars
Most relevant
The storyline loved
A bit hard to understand the welsh but interesting and enjoyed it

The characters

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Will definitely be recommending this one. Looking for the next by Clare Mackintosh. Picked some of the mystery… but only by supposition… well conceived mystery!

Terrific!

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I loved this book! It kept me enthralled all the way through and had some fantastic twists and turns. It was hard to turn off! I’m looking forward to listening to the next book in the DC Morgan series, A Game of Lies.

Superb

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This was a fantastic book. It was picked by my book club and it’s my favorite, book club, book of 2024!

I loved every minute!

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Mackintosh is one of my go-to authors when I want to read a good slow-burning mystery, and even though THE LAST PARTY wasn’t my favourite by the author, it still made for an intriguing read. Extra credits go to narrator Chloe Angharad Davies, without whom I would never have known how to pronounce the Welsh names and quotes in the story – and who brought each character to life for me.

Popular singer Rhys Lloyd is dead, and half of the locals of the small Welsh community of Cwm Coed seem to have a motive for murder. With so many people hating the man, solving the crime won’t be easy, even involving two murder squads, one from England and one from Wales.

With an extensive ensemble cast, multiple timelines and suspects galore, this police procedural allowed for plenty of armchair sleuthing. Unfortunately I found Rhys, the victim, so repulsive that I almost wanted to give a medal to his killer for ridding the community of a menace (or is it politically incorrect to admit this?). I did, however, really enjoy the chemistry between the two main investigating detectives, DC Ffion Morgan and DC Leon Brady. The picturesque Welsh lakeside setting made for a wonderful backdrop, and I was longing to take a plunge into its icy waters.

With this being the first of a series, we are bound to see more of Ffion and Leo, and I am very interested to see how their relationship will develop and what other crimes they will get to solve.

Great Welsh setting

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