This was a good story however it got slow at times and I lost interest. It did have interesting characters and a nice background.

A blizzard is about to engulf the eastern seashore in New England, but the posh Ocean House Hotel with it's beautiful suites, fireplaces and holiday decor seems immune. Famous artist Maddie Morrison has taken a suite there to give herself and her daughter Ceecee time to recover from a rough divorce. By the time her sister Hadley arrives Maddie is found murdered in a growing bank of snow and 6 year old Ceecee is missing.
Luanne Rice has written a lot of great books - this one is worth your time.

Thanks to NetGalley, and Thomas Mercer for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Maddie and Hadley are very close sisters even living across the country from each other. Just when Maddie moves back to Rhode Island, to the scenic seaside Ocean House hotel containing so many childhood memories, she is murdered. Her little girl, CeCe, was nearby and has now disappeared, presumed taken, ransom? Maddie was involved in a contentious divorce with an intolerably conceited actor. A few repeating characters from previous books reappear in the investigation. It was nice to see new developments in their personal lives, but it is easy to read as a standalone, not a series. There is also a repeated art theme which I enjoyed. There is an abundance of suspects with disparate reasons to want Maddie out of the way. But where is CeCe? The search and hope for her safety had me a nervous wreck. I especially enjoyed the atmosphere and location. It was another engaging mystery and I’m happy to have discovered this author to add to my must-read list.
Thanks to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy of “Last Night” by Luanne Rice, Published by Thomas & Mercer. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without compensation.

I would say this was an average mystery. I think there were a few too many characters to keep track of and a couple times I had to remind myself who was who. The scene being in New England was beautiful to imagine, probably my favorite part of the novel. I was bored reading it and several points wanted to put it down until the last 4th of the book, that is when it became interesting to me and I did enjoy the end. I didn't hate it, just found it extremely average.

Last Night by Luanne Rice is complex and intricately plotted, and every character has their own unique qualities, so it’s easy to get caught up in the plot and impossible to put this book down until you’re done.

When Maddie is murdered and her young daughter, CeCe, goes missing, it causes a panic amongst the family, friends and acquaintances of the victim. There are far too many people who could be responsible for Maddie’s death as she’s a famous, wealthy artist and it’s seemingly impossible to get to the truth. It will take the investigative powers of the police, the memories of the family and the artwork itself to solve this crime.

I loved the way Ms. Rice made the setting of The Ocean House almost a character in the book. The atmospheric feel of being right there was perfection. I’m going to give this book 5 stars and I’m forever grateful to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the advanced copy. This will hit the shelves on February 1, 2024. All opinions are my own.

Although you can read Luanne Rice’s Last Night without reading the previous two novels featuring Conor Reid, it doesn’t hurt to have read Last Day and The Shadow Box. All three books involve artists, murder, and the resulting fallout in families.

It’s actually a vacation for Detective Conor Reid from the Major Crime Squad for the Connecticut State Police. He and his girlfriend, Kate Woodward, are going to stay at the posh Rhode Island hotel, Ocean House, and Conor plans to propose. Their plans are disrupted by a blizzard and a murder.

Renowned artist Maddie Morrison and her six-year-old daughter, CeCe, are living at the hotel, where they fled during a contentious divorce. Just before the blizzard hit, they left the hotel. When Maddie’s sister, Hadley Cooke, arrives at the hotel, she’s disturbed that her sister and niece left the hotel. She’s upset, and when she goes looking for her sister, Conor and Kate follow. Hadley’s the one who finds her sister’s murdered body in the snow, but Conor is right behind her. None of them know what might have happened to the missing CeCe.

Although Conor is sidelined from the official investigation, the investigating officer from Rhode Island does keep him in the loop. And, Conor’s brother, Tom Reid, is a Coast Guard commander who has a few clues of his own. It’s an investigation that circles around Maddie’s history as an artist, her past loves, and the local community in Rhode Island.

Once again, Rice involves family secrets and art. Some readers might not care for the child in danger aspect, but CeCe proves to be a determined little girl in Last Night. Readers of the first two Conor Reid books will be interested.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer Publisher for providing me a copy of this book for my honest review.
The book is set in Rhode Island, a small town that has a big old beautiful yellow Hotel Ocean House. MADDIE Morrison, is a famous painter and lives there with her daughter CeCe. She just went thru a terrible divorce in CA and was glad to start a new life far away.

However, there is a big blizzard and Maddie ends up murdered in the blizzard. Her sister Hadley along with detective Conor Reid with his girlfriend Kate, and Joe from the local police begin an investigation right there.
Well it is extremely interesting how the plot develops and how many suspects they find. But, family has secrets and love affairs, betrayals, revenge and jealousy.

Maddie became famous and her paintings were worth money. She was betrayed by a group of people who each wanted a piece of what was hers.
I really enjoyed this murder mystery. The characters were believable and more importantly for me, I was able to follow the story along inspite of the amount of characters to the end. I enjoyed the twists and turns. If you like family drama and murder give it a read.

I've really enjoyed reading the previous few novels by Luanne Rice featuring the Conor and Kate, a couple who found each other during a horrific crime and now solve others - he a detective and she an art gallery owner. I had looked forward the next installment in this series which came about in Last Night, the story of an artist murdered during a blizzard.
As always, the writing was fluid and interesting and setting was gorgeously described -- what not to love about this region? The drawback for me was that I utterly disliked the murder victim. While everyone else thought of her as brilliant and charming, so talented and on and on... all I saw was a woman who had it all and surrounded herself with very questionable people, had too much wealth, lived a ridiculous lifestyle and got herself killed in the process. She gave no thought her child she left behind or the one she was pregnant with that made me dislike her. In fact, aside from Kate and Conor, the only characters I did like were the child, CeCe and the actually murderer.

Excellent thriller! I read it on one sitting and would highly recommend this creptastic, unputdownable read by bestselling author Luanne Rice.

This story had a hold on my attention from the very start. Even the way it begins makes you want to find out more.

Maddie and her young daughter Cece have relocated to the Ocean House Hotel in Rhode Island as the next step in her never ending divorce process. Maddie's sister Hadley is coming to meet them there, and while they wait for her arrival, a snowstorm descends.

Maddie tells Cece she has a secret meeting and they head out together. Then she encourages Cece to stay hidden while she meets this person, as a result of which Cece unintentionally witnesses her mother's murder.

Maddie's sister arrives to find that neither of them are at the hotel, and after the dead body is discovered, the police get involved and there is a frantic search for the missing Cece.

A detective and his girlfriend, also hotel guests, get involved due to the circumstances, and there is a strange parallel between the detective's girlfriend's experience of losing her sister and Hadley's loss wrt Maddie.

I like Rice's stories in general and this is no exception. Although there are some flaws in the narrative - too many characters, uneven pacing - the story kept me reading because I wanted to know who Maddie was meeting in the snowstorm and why she was killed. It also made me want to find out more about the detective's girlfriend and her sister. All in all, an absorbing read.

When Maddie Morrison is found dead the only witness is her missing daughter Cece. Conor and Tom Reid along with Kate from Last Day are there to help the investigation. The chapters from Cece’s point of view sprinkled in are a little boring and I love Luanne Rice books but the first half or so of this book was a struggle to get through.

3.5 rounding up. This was nothing spectacular but I enjoyed the story and the characters so it gets rounded up. I haven’t read the previous book in the series but it isn’t really necessary and it’s fine as a stand-alone.

The story follows Hadley whose sister is found murdered and six year old niece is now missing. It so happens there’s a cop vacationing in the same place and so with his help Hadley investigates what happened to her sister.

Missing kids are a hard read for me but know that this doesn’t get too bad. The missing part ends faster than the murder investigation and I was grateful for that. None of the characters jump off the page but the mystery was interesting and I didn’t see the ending coming so props for that.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Maddie is excited for her sisters visit. Her sister is surprised to find her sister and niece not home. She starts getting worried when the snow keeps coming down. When her niece goes missing. She doesn't know who she can turn to. This book grabbed my attention from the start.

I love this book! I’m from the area so being able to really picture the scenes as they were played out was an extra boost for me. Don’t worry though, Luanns attention to detail you will be able to picture this beautiful hotel too. This was filled with twists and turns and had you guessing til the end. Just when you think you had it all figured out, nope guess again. I love a book when I can’t see the end coming! Special thanks to the publisher for my net galley of this one!

I’ve never read anything by Luanne Rice, but this was so good, I must read her other books!

I usually try to avoid books that involve children, but this one wasn’t too bad for me to handle. I also read this book in the middle of a heat wave, so the blizzard aspect had me wishing it was winter.

The only issues I were that I thought there were too many characters to keep track of. But that’s just me.

The book captured my attention from the beginning, and the twists were great. I did have to suspend reality and logic for a few points in the book, but that never bothers me.

I have always loved Luanne Rice and her writing, and this book follows suit! I think it hits home, literally, because I can picture all of this background and setting having grown up in Southeastern CT/RI area.

I was a little worried because I sometimes have a hard time with missing kid storylines, but was pleasantly surprised as to how Luanne went about the subject and quickly resolved it to leave just the murder storyline to solve towards the end.

I did not expect the ending AT ALL! Just when you expect everyone to be friendly and you think you have it figured out from the beginning, BAM you don’t!

While this is a standalone book, I definitely love the evolving story of Kate and Conor and can’t wait to see what more is in store!

Thank you to Luanne herself for my first in person ARC and thank you to NetGalley for the kindle version as well! Y’all are going to love this book!

Unfortunately I stopped at 25% and did not finish this book. The writing felt choppy and too many descriptions of things that did nothing for the story. I just couldn't get into it.

This starts out with a bang, literally, and definitely draws you into the story immediately. I really enjoyed that the setting was the beautiful Ocean House and surrounding area. This was a well constructed murder mystery and it moved along nicely until mid way when it started to feel a little like filler. But the beginning and the end were fabulous and inventive. I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley and appreciate the opportunity to read this book. This did not influence my opinion.

I've read a number of Luanne Rice books and this one didn't disappoint! I loved the story of Maddie and Cece, and the intertwining of Connor and Kate. The mystery was a bit confusing at parts, but it definitely kept me reading way past my bedtime. Then I just had to find out if there were earlier books and they were promptly put on my TBR list. Quite an enjoyable book and can't wait to read more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

I have read most, if not all, of Ms. Rice's works. This one just didn't grab me; it felt bogged down in parts. It was a good story, and it was nice to catch up with some of the characters from Last Day. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.