This is the first book I have read by Tess Little.

I found the story to be every atmospheric with intriguing details about the characters and even the octopus, Persephone. In a way it is possible to say that the victim, Richard, treated the people in his life a bit like he treated Persephone, keeping them trapped in ways of his own making as the powerful Hollywood director he was.

While a bit slow, and some details seemed a bit too drawn out, the book was well written and I'd enjoy reading more by this author.

The Last Guest by Tess Little Had trouble connecting with any of the characters, none of them came across as likeable. Had trouble understanding why Elspeth even came to the party given her past history with Richard who was just plain obnoxious. The changes in the narration from past to present were abrupt and confusing and the pace was slow. Interesting premise, just didn't work out for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC. This is not exactly a book I would normally read. It is a mystery. RIchard is a movie director. He is mean, petty, vindictive, controlling, abusive, manipulating. And yet people think he is great. His ex wife and seven friends are invited to his 50th birthday party. In the morning, Richard is dead. This book flips back and forth between Elspeth’s life now, and what it was like while she was married to Richard. The writing is good, not exceptional. There weren’t, for me, any sentences that I just wanted to savor. This book will put you in one of two camps—love it or meh. Depending on your friends, this could be a book club selection.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Elspeth attends her ex husband's Richards birthday party with seven other guests. The next morning Richard is found dead. This book kept me intrigued from the start.

It's Richard's 50th birthday and he wants it to be memorable like one of his movie scripts which he directs.

Richard decided to invite a small group for a feast and feel-good evening which included: his x-wife, long-time friend, studio producer, actor, actress, manager, new partner and cinematographer. The table was set with Hindu place cards for each person highlighting time, ether, earth, soul, space, fire, mind and air. He asked the catering staff to bring out plates of turkey, lobster, steak, sushi, pudding and of course donuts. He remembered these delicacies that each person enjoyed with him in the past. It was a star-studded special production.

And who stole the show? His pet octopus which he named Persephone with its superb intelligence. He bragged about how this alien creature was able to slide through tiny openings to escape from the enlarged aquarium in his L.A. mansion in the middle of the night.

What could go wrong? Well, a murder where he dies. His x-wife, Elspeth, found him and assumed it was an overdose. What happened? Who did it? It was up to the detectives to figure it out.

The character of Richard seemed real with his manipulative acts and years of drug abuse. No wonder his wife left him even though she defended this man. I enjoyed the beginning and had high hopes for this plot. But half way through, it was slow which made it a challenge for me to get to the end. I loved the octopus, however.

My thanks to Tess Little, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with an expected release date of October 5, 2021.

Was It An Accident, Natural Death, Or Murder?

A Hollywood director throws a birthday party for himself, inviting an eclectic group of eight guests including his ex-wife. By the end of the evening the host is dead. As the story develops, suspicion is cast upon one person then the next, even the host’s pet octopus is a suspect. The story is told by Elspeth Bell, the ex-wife of the host, jumping back and forth between the present and her recollection of past events. There is no break or warning when it switches, which I found confusing.

This is a sad, dark journey told in great detail to the point of being somewhat boring at times. The book doesn’t have typical chapters, instead it is split into three Acts and an Epilogue, with Act I being the longest, covering over 50% of the book. I almost gave up about 30% of the way through, but by the time I reached the 70% mark I was interested in the story and wanted to learn what really happened. If you like a fast-moving stpry with lots of action this is not the book for you. But if you really like getting into the minds of the characters The Last Guest is a well-written murder mystery.

It is easy to see the intent here: a modern take on the locked room mystery. An odd collection of friends and business partners collect to celebrate the birthday of a famous director, who, shockingly, is a dick in real life.
So all the guests have a reason to not wish him well, are any of them mad enough to kill him?

In some ways this is a cliche, but it is interesting to try to suss out who is doing what and why. The highlight of the book was Persephone, by far the most interesting character of them all.

I found the ending a disappointment, so it almost felt like a setup.

This story is told from the POV of one woman who attends a small dinner party that goes terribly wrong. No one seems to remember what happened that night, but one person is dead and the eight others are all suspects.

This book felt like a an attempt at a modern-day Agatha Christie novel—but without as strong of a storyline or a shocking ending.

The book was a bit wordy with a large amount of time spent talking about octopuses (not octopi apparently), which was interesting at times but that also felt overdone.

I did enjoy trying to figure out who did it, but sadly the end was a let down for me. I also struggled to know which timeline we were reading because it isn’t clearly indicated—this made it more difficult for me to really lose myself in the story (this might not be a problem in the physical version with pages clearly separating the timelines). Buying a physical copy might be the best route if you decide to give this a read.

Rating: 3.5/5⭐️
Pub date: October 5

Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has a great plot and is interesting especially with how much we are watching celebrity's lives on TV these days. It has the right amount of intrigue and interest mixed with storyline that toggles back and forth between past and present. Elspeth attends her ex-husband's 50 birthday party with only a few attendees. Her ex-husband Richard turns up dead! There are only a few possibilities to the reason why and who may have done it. I felt that the book was a bit of a slow burner but does pick up in places as the three Acts in the book progress.

I must say that I loved the octopus, Persephone. She is built up nicely as a character in the story and quite simply an interesting one at that. This was the first book I read by Tess Little and I realized that there was a book titled The Octopus that was published last year and was the same book as The Last Guest which looks to be her first one. Hmmmmm...

One last thought: I was thinking murder mystery like the Clue game or a good old-fashioned Agatha Christie or the newer version of Ms. Christie, Ruth Ware, but it didn't quite meet that mark. When all is said and done, I like it and am anxiously awaiting new next novel. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC of this book. I always appreciate being given the opportunity to give a review.

The Last Guest makes me
Recall the first time I watched the iconic movie “Clue”. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie, The Last Guest keeps readers guessing as the plot moves along. What was difficult for me in this book was not “liking” any of the actual characters?! Even Lillie who readers should have sympathized with, came across as somewhat of a brat. The main character finally shows her strength in the end, but plays as weak throughout the book. Overall however, I would recommend this title to friends! Thank you for the advance copy!

A high profile man is found dead in his home after a rather wild party there are as many suspects as there are guests. Oh, but don't forget, there is one other. Who could it possibly be?
Interesting, deeply mysterious, and somewhat dark.
Entertaining to the very end.

Elsbeth Bell a former actress and former wife of a famous director, Richard Bryant, has flown west to attend a party thrown by her ex-husband. She does not want to go but feels she must accompany her daughter Lillie to the party and in addition use the trip to spend time with her daughter who had a role in her father's latest film. To Elsbeth's surprise and dismay there are just seven other guests and they do not include Lillie.

The seven are all friends of Bryant, invited to help him celebrate his 50th birthday. A wild and at times bizarre party follows and Elsbeth wakes up the following morning to find her ex dead. The book is designed to be cinematic, with its componant parts labeled Prologue, Act I, Act II and Epilogue, The plot unspools in a succession of quick, at times almost dizzying, cuts from on place and time to another. On its surface, it is a locked door mystery but only on its surface. Beneath that surface is the story of how Bryant has entangled himself with in the lives of all of the charachters and how those entanglements have both given them professional life at the cost of the personal poison they must swallow. Not coincidentally, a non speaking part is given to Bryant's pet Persephone, an octopus who lives in a glass tank in the middle of his house.

The dialogue is wonderfully written and the reader is kept on the edge of their seat; I finished this book in one sitting. I would however liked to have seen the resolution of the plot more defined than it was. In some respects, like the mysteries of George Simenon, the writing is more about the revelation of the charachters than the revelation of "who done it". I very much enjoyed this book.

I found this book to be very compelling. The writing itself is just luminous, the structure potent, the octopus fascinating, and the characters well developed. This isn't really a thriller, though, and I can see where some would not like the pacing or expect more twists, However, I was completely immersed from start to finish, so the fact that this novel doesn't quite fit in a genre box didn't bother me at all. And as a bonus, I did not predict the ending. If you like literary fiction with a mystery aspect, you'll love this.

Wow! I believe that’s a debut…? It was fabulous! Fascinating! It didn’t have the typical arc of mystery, suspense type stories but it had one. You actually receive the conclusion then get a bit of follow up. And I haven’t read a book that has a more intriguing present-past workmanship. This is a great read!

The Last Guest is a never-a-dull-moment mystery by Tess Little. This book is written in first person, not my favorite format. The story is told by Elspeth and at times the story goes into her memories without warning. Elspeth's daughter asked her to attend her father's birthday celebration with her, even though they're divorced. When her daughter never shows up Elspeth worries but keeps drinking. Elspeth's story is loaded with drama, puzzles, suspense and characters you like and others...not so much. The Last Guest is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Classic locked room mystery with a twist!
Elspeth Bell Bryant is a former well known actress turned recluse. She travels to LA to attend her ex husband, Richard Bryant's birthday party at the behest of their daughter. The party is quite small, and daughter Lillie never arrives. Overnight Richard dies - due to an overdose or something more sinister?

Every attendee is a suspect and ordered by the police not to speak to each other. Elspeth stays in LA to comfort her daughter who she seems more estranged from every day. As the days turn to weeks, the suspects reach out to each other - who was the murderer?

I truly enjoyed this book and not just because I love locked room mysteries. The process of solving the crime was long and drawn out over several weeks. There were multiple flashbacks to Elspeth's life with Richard and what may have cause her rush to quite "the life" and move into obscurity in NYC.. There is also, a wonderful octopus that features in the story. The book will keep you guessing until the very end! Thanks to Random House, he NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very cool idea for a closed room mystery. It was clever, well plotted and satisfying. I enjoyed it a lot.

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me a copy. It was my pleasure to write an honest review.

I did not find this book as gripping as I had hoped. None of the characters are particularly likable and the narrative switches between the past and present with no warning. It did have a twisted ending but was too slow moving to be a page turner.

I was excited to read this book, but it didn't hit the mark for me and I found it to be a boring read. It centers on Elspeth, who travels to attend her egomaniac movie director ex-husband's 50th birthday party. The next morning, the ex-husband is dead and Elspeth, as well as the other guests at the party, are all suspects. There is a bit of a side story here as well regarding what happened in Elspeth's marriage as well as her relationship with her daughter.
I felt there were just too many characters for one book. Never got to invest in anyone.
Overall, this wasn't the book for me and I hope others have a better experience. I didn't really find it suspenseful and even when I found out what really happened, I just wasn't that invested. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Missed the mark for me.

An A-list birthday party in the Hollywood Hills, attended by eight guests and a resident octopus, ends in death, or is it murder? This book was a slow build to a surprising ending. The characters are well developed over the course of the book, with each act revealing a little bit more about each. The main character’s narrative has italicized words throughout, alluding to some kind of trauma, but it takes most of the book to finally reveal what happened and when,. In Hollywood, nothing is as it appears. How well can you trust what anyone says, when each person is reliant on another’s reputation?

I thought the mother daughter relationship between Elspeth and Lillie was realistic based on the family’s history. Elspeth’s struggle to not push Lillie too hard, but to try to keep her safe made me sympathize with her situation. The ugly truths about Richard were unsurprising and took some time to be revealed, but I did find myself reading on and getting sucked in, just to find out where it was all going. I appreciated that it led Elspeth to do what she did on the final pages.

The writing style was a bit difficult for me to follow, since the book is divided into three acts, but within those acts it bounced between past and present, and words in italics were ambiguous to me at the beginning as to whether they were thoughts in Elspeth’s head, memories, or overheard snippets of conversation. I think it ended up being all of these depending on the scene. These made it tough for me to figure out what I was supposed to be gaining from the words so it slowed me down but in the end, didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine Books for allowing me to read this ARC.