thanks to Netgalley for this arc (which in no way influenced my review). This is a 3.5 read for me but I rounded up because I did enjoy it and it made me want to go back to Wales again. I loved the little Welsh phrases tossed in and yes the divide between England and Wales isn't just in our two DCIs but it a main theme (and motivator) for the crime. The main problem for me is it's a touch slow because it bounces from the past to present and through multiple main characters which is a tad much.

Rhys Lloyd is a wealthy singer on the decline, a hometown star of Cwm Coed a small Welsh village on the shores of a lake in the shadow of the dragon (Pen y Ddraig mountain). He has broken his father's trust by not keeping the lake wild and Welsh when he inherited the land and instead moved his wife and twin daughters there into the brand new McMansion town houses for the rich and famous (Mostly from England). He claims he wanted to build an artist colony but he merely built it for elitists including his business partner/money man, Jonty, a retired widow (with a past), a boxer turned actor and his influencer wife, and a mom with a son she wants to keep out of prison even if she can't afford the place.

Rhys is taken out New Year's Eve and everyone in The Shores has motive as does most of Cwm Coed between them being angry about the influx of wealthy Englishmen who won't even patronize the local shops and we slowly learn Rhys is not a good man.

Investigating the case is Ffion Morgan (Ffion Wyllt which is Welsh for Wild Ffion) and Leo who is from right across the English border and just so happens to be someone she met for some new year's eve fun which makes working together awkward. What annoyed me at first was the less than professional doings from Ffion who is the main character of this series (we learn why in the part two but until then it tarnished my view of her) Ffion lives with her Mam and much younger sister after leaving her husband Huw (a contractor for the Shores and a suspect in Rhys's murder)

Leo is also fighting personal battles both with a racist boss and trying not to lose complete access to his son (His wife is divorced and with another man and is not above lying to child protective services etc to get her way) So yeah there is SO much going on in this novel especially since this seems to be the opening of a series (whether or not we'll see Leo again is questionable as Ffion is the series titular character).

As far as a mystery goes, it does work and it was engaging. Yes maybe we didn't need 1001 points of view (there is a whole other side plot of Seren, Ffion's young sibling, hanging with the teenaged boy one step from prison and Rhys's twin daughters but there were reasons for it's hard to say if it needed to go but there were pacing issues. ) I'd definitely get the next book in the series.

I'm a fan of this author's work but have to admit I had a hard time getting into this one. The Welsh names threw me a bit and the changing timelines. The story is worth the effort of sticking with it - lots of twists and turns.

TW: Cheating, gaslighting, toxic relationships, classification, slut shaming, sexual abuse, stalking

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His vacation homes on Mirror Lake are a success, and he’s generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbors.

But by midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.

On New Year’s Day, Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbors, 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.
Release Date: August 4th, 2022
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 432
Rating: ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. The cover drew me in
2. The plot sounded like an interesting story

What I Didn't Like:
1. Reminded me too much of other books I've read
2. So many parts just seemed to drag on for no reason
3. Hated the detective's romantic past

Overall Thoughts:
I was excited to request this book from Netgalley and even more hyped that I was accepted. I wanted to love this book and there were times when I would find myself sucked back into the story only to be pushed out with no interest.

I was bored of the two detectives that had a one night stand and then proceeded to act like children when they see each other again. It's so immature as they are meeting over the death of someone and they are more worried that the other person will think they are interested in them past the one night stand. Ffion goes as far as calling her supervisor and saying she needs off the case because she knows the victim. She's denied. So she whines about how unfair it is. You can only sleep with so many people in your town before you run into them somewhere.

I also feel like there are too many characters and too many perspectives. Most of the characters got on my nerves and really added nothing to the story.

Final Thoughts:
I ended up giving this book 216 pages before I said I just didn't care enough to read it for more hours. The writing isn't bad but too many characters and the random rambling of the characters just made me lose interest. I will give the author other chances. This book just wasn't for me.

Recommend For:
• Complex storylines
• Multiple character pov's
• Who-dune-mysteries

⭐️⭐️

𝘼𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙. 𝘽𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨.

📍 Read if you like:
• Small-Towns
• Murder Mysteries
• Slow Burns
• New Year’s Eve

I finally decided to pick this book up, I buddy-read it with a friend.

I was immediately invested in this book after reading the concept. It sounded so interesting with there being a murder at a New Year’s Eve party. Also, this book has rich people vibes which I always find interesting.

Unfortunately, this was such a slow burn that I didn’t really care for it. It was way too long and it should have been shorter IMO.

We also follow these two detectives who are investigating the murder. At the beginning of the book, we find out who gets murdered. We are also aware that this person had many enemies who didn’t like them.

I personally didn’t care for these characters. I’ve never been into detective stories so I should’ve known this wouldn’t be for me, however, it sounded so interesting so I gave it a shot.

A lot of the book was boring because it was slow not much happened. It started so strong and the ending was meh. I sort of predicted part of it.

I wish the book was a bit shorter and not as slow as it was. The detectives weren’t enjoyable for me, and the overall story was underwhelming.

Book 1 in the DC Morgan series.

Featuring ~ multiple 3rd person POV, dual timeline, crime, murder, police procedural, r@pe

Ffion is our main detective on the murder case of, Rhys. I really liked her character and her and Leo's top notch investigative skills.

We have many, many POV's from the party guests that really made the story flow along nicely, but increases the suspect pool. This was fast paced with some nice twists that'll keep you on your toes until the end.

I was able to listen to the final version as well, so I went back and forth reading and listening.

Narration:
Chloe Angharad Davies ~ 13 hours and 17 minutes. She did a mostly fine job, except for her male voices, which isn't a shocker.

This was an amazing and completely engaging. I was invested from the very first chapter. The characters were complex. The plot was original.

On New Years Day the tradition of the villagers of Cwn Coed on the Welsh/English border to plunge into the icy waters of Mirror Lake (Llyn Drych). I saw this also on the Apple TV show Bad Sisters, which is INCREDIBLE! This year‘s swim is aborted as a man’s body is discovered floating face down and its chilly blackness. Who is it? Accident or murder? This leads us to New Year’s Eve and there’s a big party at the Shore home of Jonty and Blythe Charlton. There are numerous suspects and it is a case of who done it? There are some residents who are have secrets to hide including Ffion. Rhys Lloyd's singing career has dwindled hence he dives into building the new lodges for the very wealthy. DC Ffion is in charge of the Welsh side of the border where Rhys Lloyd's new holiday lodges have been erected and along with Detective Leo Brady who works on the English border for Cheshire major crime unit who is verbally bullied by his boss Detective Inspecor Simon Crouch on a daily basis but Leo does not retaliate until one day the straw that broke the camel's back scenario arises. Don't worry, even though this is going to be a series, all is revealed at the end of the book. Loved it!

A pretty standard who done it kind of story. There were a lot of suspects to keep you guessing, but at times the story dragged and it was easy to lose interest. I would still recommend though!

Another great book from one of my auto read authors. It took me a while to sort through all the characters but I was definitely invested in the story. There were so many legit suspects in the murder!

Clare Mackintosh is one of my auto buy authors ever since I read <i> I Let You Go </i/> which is one of my all-time favorite books. Now about this latest release. It was a well thought out plot that kept me engaged throughout, and there were plenty of red herrings to throw me off. I thought the main characters were well developed and had a great connection. This particular story started out a little slow, then hit a little bit of a stall mid-way, however I literally couldn’t turn the pages fast enough by the end. What a great twist and once again I am blindsided by this very talented author and loved it so much!

My thanks to #NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC of this book.

The best part of this mystery is the setting-- cozy in Wales. The characters are unlikable by design and the murder mystery is complicated.

Clare Mackintosh is one of my all time favorites and this novel was no exception! This author is able to pull you in and tell such riveting, heart pounding stories that make you forget you’re even reading a book. Her characters become so familiar to you that you feel like you know them.

initial thoughts: overall, I really enjoyed the story, setting, and (most of) the characters.

at times though, this book seemed to drag and a few of the characters didn’t add anything to the story.

will I pick up the next book due to the dreamy location of remote Wales and to see what happens with Leo & Fifion? Yes!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

You can usually count on this author to provide a great thriller. This book missed the mark for me, I found it very slow and hard to get into. I liked the main character, Ffion, but found that I disconnected from the soptry and just never quite got on board with it. It was a pretty quick read though.

amazing book, this is the book that just keeps giving more twists than a helter skelter, loved all the extra stories within the crime story, fully recommend

I thought THE LAST PARTY was really well done. A great blend of small town mystery and police procedural. I thought the setting and the connections between all of the characters were intriguing. As each chapter revealed more through different POVs and a past/present timeline, I kept reconsidering who I thought committed the murder, and I was still wrong!
I really enjoyed Ffion and Leo’s characters and their dynamic. I hope we see more of Leo in the next book!!
The only reason this wasn’t a full five stars for me was it felt a little slow at points, but I still will be recommending this and adding a copy to my shelves.
Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for the digital copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Party did not disappoint. I was captivated from the start. Unexpected and thrilling, exactly the elements I need in a good thriller. It was a little slow at times, but I didn't predict the ending, which is also a win.

The was my second Clare Mackintosh book. Such a good thriller! Big fan of this author! I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

I love a good small town murder mystery and this one was a gem. Set in Wales in a small lakeside village, this book had a wonderful sense of place. The author even included many Welsh phrases and some social politics between Wales and England.

Almost every character in the story was a suspect, except for the detectives Leo and Ffion. The chapters were dedicated to each of the people involved and went by the timeline leading up to the day of the murder.

The story did move a bit slow at times, but I find that is often the case when the story revolves around a police investigation. What kept my attention were the little twists along the way, that developed into a whopper of an ending.

One can assume this is the first in a series, so I will definitely be looking out for the next story the author publishes.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to offer my honest review and recommend to other readers.

The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh is a fantastic suspenseful book that I really enjoyed.

This is the first book in the DC Morgan series and I am very excited that we will get to read more of this character.

This is a murdery mystery with multiple points of view.

I read a lot of mysteries and feel like a good sleuth, but I absolutely had no idea who was the perpetrator.

This was such a great book I can't wait for more in this series.