wow! Definitely a spine-tingling whodunnit with many twists and turns and complex characters. If you are looking for something that will make you want to call in sick to work so you can finish the book then this is the one for you! Received a copy of this book via NetGalley.

I enjoy Mary Burton's books and this one is great as always. Story is full of suspense and a good who dunit. The main character Kaitlin is looking to solve her cousin Ginas disappearance and her guilt over being to drunk to save her all those years ago. Now other people who were involved in Gina's disappearance are being murdered. Is Kaitln next? Good read.

First, I want to thank the author / Montlake Romance / Netgalley for my advanced digital copy of HER LAST WORD. My opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This is another winner from Mary Burton! At first, I wasn't crazy about the flip-flopping storyline, but then I got into it and really liked it. I loved the unreliability of several characters, as in who is telling the truth. I also love that Mary's books usually have a nice mixture of suspense and romance. This one was no different! Bring on the next one, Mary!!

Her Last Word by Mary Burton

Cold Case vs Current Case…can stirring up the past bring out a killer…and…if it does…is it the old killer, a serial killer or a new one who will become a serial killer?

This was a tidily plotted story with 30 visits to the past interspersed with happenings in the present that explored murder(s) over a decade ago along with current murders. Kaitlin, cousin to Gina, has a bee in her bonnet to find her cousin – dead or alive – and let her rest. With a podcast in mind Kaitlin interviews many, stirs up past emotions and deals with a few bugaboos of her own.

Kaitlin is all grown up, has a degree, is teaching at the university and has an agenda…will her agenda be met? AND John Adler, recently on the job again after medical leave, is there when an interlinking murder impacts many lives…including Kaitlin’s. How John decides to move forward with his current case while also looking into the past is intriguing.

There are hints, trails, bad guys present and past and a mystery to figure out that left me awake till nearly three in the morning. Need I say more?

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I recommend it? Yes
Is it believable? I think so

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake Romance for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

Mary Burton never ceases to be wonderful at what she does. I loved this book. It kept me guessing and second guessing what was going on. I can not wait to read more of her books! I would definitely recommend this book if you're looking for a fabulous mystery.

The novel had a unique feel to it .it felt like you're reading official police transcripts. I recommend it for those who like true crime t.v. shows

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is another terrifying tale from Mary Burton. When Virginia police detective John Adler discovers the connections between a recent gruesome murder and a fourteen-year-old cold case, he must solve both murders before more of the victims’ friends die.

As always with Mary Burton’s books, the characters are well crafted, the murder scenes are graphic, and the relationships between victims and suspects are complicated. Adler and his partner, Quinn, are engaging detectives and I liked that I continued to suspect almost every other character until the very end. As for the whodunnit, I almost guessed part of it – but the other part seemed to come out of nowhere.

I didn’t love the way the story flipped back and forth in time and back and forth between characters and perspectives. While the disjointed structure did add suspense, it was also crazy confusing at times. I liked the date stamp at the start of each chapter, but I couldn’t always remember previous date stamps and it took me a couple of pages of each chapter to figure out whose perspective we were getting.

I really enjoy each new Mary Burton story. I like the way they are all set in the same time and place, so we get glimpses of previous characters and a wider understanding of Virginia law enforcement. I love the way Mary Burton writes the professional women in her story – I just sometimes wish that every book wasn’t full of young female corpses.

Her Last Word was a suspenseful murder mystery that pulled at your heartstrings and keeps you hooked from start to finish. I had to read this in one sitting because there was no way I was waiting to find out what happened to Gina or the identity of her ruthless admirer. The story was intense, gripping and with plenty of twists and turns to keep you at the edge of your seat.

I had a blast reading this and will definitely be looking up more by this author. I was hooked from the very first chapter and the snippets of the killer's POV had me freakin the hell out! I love watching Criminal Minds and this kind of murder mystery was like reading one of their episodes. It was a ton of suspense with a little bit of romance, as the main focus of the story was the investigation. The sleuthing literally took about 90% of the page time before the romance even makes an appearance but the story was sooo good, that I'm not complaining.

Her Last Word is another spine-chilling romantic suspense from, Mary Burton. I received an invitation from the publisher, via Net-Galley, to read and review this book prior to publication. My opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.

This is a fast-paced story with plenty of mystery and intrigue. It kept engaged from the first page to the last. The writing is fluid, the plot well planned and the characters were interesting. Ms. Burton held her cards tight and I was surprised when I found out who was behind her cousin’s disappearance.

Kaitlin’s character quickly earns my empathy as she goes about discovering what really happened to her cousins fourteen years before. I loved her tenacity, even when it almost gets her killed.

John Adler is the typical cool detective, determined to right a wrong. He is drawn to Kaitlin and is determined to gain her trust. While the romance is not the central theme of this spell-binding thriller, it is gently woven into the story. By the end of the novel, I truly wanted them to find their happy ending.

If you are looking for a novel that is hard to put down with plenty of action and mystery, then you will enjoy Her Last Word. I recently discovered Ms. Burton’s books and will definitely look for other releases by her Happy reading!

Full of suspense and mystery, this book keeps you guessing with all the twists and turns. Who is the culprit and what really happened that night? The characters are intriguing and you don't know until the end how truthful they are. Another good read by this author.

Kaitlin Row was told to run as her cousin Gina is abducted while walking home from a graduation party. Both girls were drunk!
Wow! the story takes off from there and keeps flowing with suspense and intrigue. I received an ARC copy for review. Thank you to the publisher and Mary Burton for a amazing story.

This is a whodunit murder mystery where cases from the present and past collide and the police detectives on the case must solve both to prevent more deaths.

Fourteen years ago, four girls went out to party. Gina never came home again and her cousin Kaitlin, who witnessed her abduction, is digging into the case again, determined to bring Gina home. Now Jennifer is dead too, symbols left at the murder scene linking back to the cold case. When Erika goes missing and Position is attacked, Detective John Adler knows he is running out of time.

Told in episodic form, with transcripts from interviews interspersed with narrative chapters, there weren't too many surprises here. I figured out the culprit for the present-day murders very quickly. I also thought the killer should have been introduced earlier in the story, which would have been easy enough to do considering Kaitlin’s research.

The PoV switched between Kaitlin and Adler, which I found frustrating because sometimes I wasn’t sure whose ‘head’ I was in. I think it would have been better to keep all the narration in Adler’s PoV and all the interviews from Kaitlin’s file, which would have meant we had to discover Kaitlin’s secrets along with Adler rather than having them ‘told’ to us.

There is also an open-door sex scene between Adler and Kaitlin, which I know will turn some readers in the murder mystery genre right off it. It was only three pages and frankly, completely unnecessary. A closed-door scene would have served just as well and not alienated readers who don’t enjoy that sort of thing.

While I enjoyed the read, and the writing is very good, when you finish a book and start thinking about all the ways it could have been better, it’s definitely not going to get top marks. I really don’t think I can give it any more than three stars.

Holy hell was this book good. <i>Her Last Word</i> was just as suspenseful and captivating as I knew it would be. Mary Burton is one of my favorite romantic suspense writers and she has yet to fail me. She always delivers a story so intriguing that I can't put it down, not even for a dinner break, and this book was no different.

I honestly didn't have a clue what was going on the majority of the book, even though I had my suspicions. I loved that this is author was able to keep me in the dark and questioning everything throughout this story. Even when the answer was staring me right in the face there was so much misdirection going on I kept thinking I still didn't have the answer. This kind of story is exactly why I read this genre.

I also really enjoyed the way the story was written, with interviews Kaitlin had conducted in the past placed in between the ongoing story. I found it really intriguing to get those throughout the present day story.

Overall, if you like be kept in suspense and ready to scream for answers this is the story for you. It will have you on the edge of your seat the entire time and ignoring the real world while you're sucked into this one.

The plot is mixed with Kaitlin`s recorded interview files, which are skilfully integrated into the story. The past and the present are thus interwoven in a vivid way. The story is about guilt, punishment, obsession and closure in all its different facets and the love story is more on the fringes; however, it gives a pleasant loosening to the plot. It also was interesting to find out about the different roles of perpetrators and victims at the end of the book.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fourteen years ago Kaitlin’s cousin Gina was abducted in front of her and Kaitlin could not do anything to stop it. Ridden with guilt Kaitlin is back in town, creating a podcast so as to find what exactly happened to Gina all those years ago.Meanwhile Detective Adler is investigating a case of a local woman found dead and when it leads back to Kaitlin’s interrogation he knows that killer will stop at nothing to keep the truth from coming out.

Her last word is a romantic suspense with multiple storylines.The book is narrated in different timelines between the present story and Kaitlin’s interview notes which seems a little disjointed to me at times. Overall I still enjoyed the suspenseful plot and will look forward to reading more by Mary Burton

I would like to thank Montlake Romance & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

Review goes live on the blog on May 11 and will show up on Goodreads sometime later.

In a Flutter: Entertaining
Fluttering Thoughts:
Worldbuilding: Richmond setting.
Characters: Kaitlin is a very driven woman with a complicated and painful past. I admired her determination and loyalty to Gina.
Adler is one awesome alpha detective, focused on the case and in a tough place as far as personal life is concerned.
They had some nice chemistry and I really liked them together.
Plot: It’s all about the mystery of what happened to Gina 14 years ago. But the mystery is multilayered, a then and now structure, and it’s pretty engaging. The romance is slow burn, nice and tense.
Writing: First person and third person past tense narrative combo, multi-POV of which I’m not a fan as style, but I get the why.
Curb Appeal: Very cool cover, hooking blurb – impulsive buy material for my Romantic Suspense moods.

I recommend Her Last Word to fans of Romantic Suspense which includes detectives and murder investigations.

Mary Burton has done it again!!! Best book this year. Keep me guessing all the way though till late in the night. Could not stop reading. What a great mystery and a little romance. A must read!!!! I have been following this author for 3 year and have not been disappointed yet

Kaitlin Roe is has decided that she is going to find out who had kidnapped her cousin Gina 14 years ago. She feels guilty for running as the abducter had told her to do. She didn't have many answers for police and she was drunk on top of it all so she was on their radar. Now as she is asking questions someone wants to shut it up and she finally gets the attention of the police who had no real interest in the case since it was a cold case. Since a woman is killed they woke up and decided to look into it but she is back on their radar. Detective Adler doesn't think she has anything to do with it and is extremely interested in the Kaitlin. So who is it?

4.5 I really enjoyed this psychological thriller from Mary Burton. The plot was fantastic. Kaitlin was with her cousin Gina when she was abducted in her high school years. Kaitlin carried the guilt for not saving Gina, for running off. She comes back years later to try and find out once and for all what had taken place. In doing so more murders take place, Kaitlin doesn't have a great history with the police and things just keep spiraling ." It's this one, no it's this person, no, it was this one, wait, its who??? " My thoughts as I was reading. :) One thing kept me from giving it a "real" 5. and that was the style. I was not a fan of it, and it kept throwing me off. Thank you Montlake, thank you Netgalley and thank you Mary Burton! All opinions are my own, and I highly recommend this book.

Fourteen years ago Kaitlin Roe is the only witness to the kidnapping of her cousin Gina . Still suffering from the guilt of not saving her cousin Gina she comes back to interview everyone that was there that night but someone is not going to let that happen ! This is a perfectly crafted work of art ! A vivid riveting story that was masterfully done . A must read ! I love Mary Burton ! Thanks to #Netgalley and #MontlakeRomance for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review . #HerLastWord