Mystery writer Felicity Kelley is murdered just as she is about to reach the pinnacle of her success; her most recent book is to be made into a film. Her last phone call which went unanswered was to Detective Amanda Steele. The mystery deepens when it seems her death is a copy cat of the MO of the serial killer in her book. Feeling guilty about not calling Felicity back, Amanda, along with partner Trent, relentlessly pursue the killer. Was it a jilter lover, a jealous colleague, a stalker, a serial killer? And what does it have to do with the murder of an intern in the publishing business fifteen years?

This is yet another of Arnold’s fast paced, engrossing police procedurals. I read it in one day, long into the night, because I could not put it down. Arnold knows how to capture and maintain her readers’ interest. I love the repeating characters, especially Amanda who, despite an earlier tragedy in her life, is a strong, capable, independent female and I find the camaraderie between her and Trent quite entertaining.

This is the ninth in the Prince William County (VA) Detective Amanda Steele series. Although I have read quite a few of them and have enjoyed seeing the repeating characters and relationships change and grow, I think this would work well as a standalone. The author does a nice job of filling in background information, including Amanda’s past history and references to some other cases she has worked.

This is book #9 in the Amanda Steele series. Each book has been an excellent story of police procedurals and the dedication of Det Steele. They can be read as stand alones as each follows through on one major crime from discovery to solution but you'd miss some great books and miss sections of the over arcing stories as the characters develop.

Det Steele is called to the scene of a crime that to her horror, contains clues that include her past in the crime scene. She will work clues both backwards and forward to solve what could easily become a serial killer's work.

Amanda and Trent are embroiled in another complicated case, this time sporting a familiar face. I was sucked in from the beginning. There were plenty of surprises to keep me guessing. Which I did, and was so wrong! We also get more of Amanda's personal life. I like the way she's growing and learning balance. I am disappointed that her romantic partner is who it is. I'm team Trent all the way.. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Amanda has returned from vacation and is not used to downtime. So, when she returns the voice mail from an author only to find that Felicity has been murdered, Amanda decides to cut her vacation short to work the case along with her partner. And although parts of the murder scene are the same as in Felicity's hit book, they have to question whether that is meant to throw them off the track of the killer. There are plenty of twists and turns as they work to solve her murder, especially when they find there might be a connection to a 15-year-old murder.

4.25⭐

Detective Amanda Steele is back. In another twisty police procedural. Which sees Amanda cut her vacation short when she learns mystery writer Felicity Kelley has been murdered and her last contact was a message left on Amanda's phone.

And so Amanda feeling guilty for missing the call is desperate to get herself and partner Trent assigned the case and after sweet talking her boss he agrees to let them run it.

But the scene is an odd one and it gets odder too. When Amanda and Trent learn Felicity was killed just like a character in her best selling novel 'The Romeo Killer'

And as the pair start to dig into Felicity's life and look for anyone who had a grudge against her another body is found again mimicking perfectly a scene from her novel.

But this time Amanda and Trent have a clue to go on. 

And now the race is on for them to find a smart and calculating killer before its too late.

And with great pacing, the perfect amount of twists and a killer I wasn't expecting. This was an enjoyable and engaging addition to the series, and I'd happily recommend it to all.

When Detective Amanda Steele is called to the brutal murder scene of successful local author Felicity Kelley, her blood runs cold. Because Amanda not only knew the victim, but was the last person Felicity called moments before she was murdered. Desperately searching the crime scene for clues, Amanda is shocked when she discovers a Queen of Hearts playing card, suggesting the murder could be an imitation of a scene from Felicity’s bestselling crime novel. Terrified that she is dealing with a crazed fan who could strike again, Amanda’s worst fears are confirmed when another innocent woman is viciously murdered, with the same chilling calling card left behind.
The ninth outing for Amanda & it’s easily read on its own, once again Amanda & her partner Trent are in a hurry to catch the villain & prevent more murders. A well written, fast paced novel, which was entertaining & drew me in from the start & held my interest all the way through. There’s a good mix of intrigue with its twists & turns as well as the relationships between the characters. I look forward to more in the series
My review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

It’s always nice to catch up with Amanda and her partner Trent. In Her Last Words we find them involved in the mysterious murder of a local author. Not only did Amanda know the victim, she was the last person to receive a call from the victim.
Another fast paced, solid installment in the Detective Amanda Steele series.
Perfect series for anyone that enjoys reading police procedurals. Though I do encourage you to read the series from the beginning. Knowing the backstory to the characters is important.
Definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Amanda has come a long way since the grief of her loss from eight years earlier. However, she still struggles with immense guilt and self doubt when her job absorbs so much of her time away from Zoe and Logan. I’m not convinced either arrangement will endure, so I’ll keep reading.
The mystery was good. I had a hunch about the identity of the killer. I was correct in the general area just not able to zoom in directly until Almost the end.
Arnold alludes to the subtle tension between Trent and Amanda due to their kiss from many moons ago.
Personally, I’d like to see Amanda end up with Trent. Logan is a nice guy but he and Amanda’s relationship seems a bit forced. I’m all Team Trent!!
At least Amanda got to go in a vacation this time!

Book 9 of the Detective Amanda Steele series and this author definitely knows how to write an exciting police procedural. This time a famous author is found murdered in her house and the methods used imitate exactly that used in her latest but currently unpublished novel. You are pretty much guaranteed an exciting and twisty plot with this author and this is no exception.

Briefly, Steele and her partner Trent are called to the scene of the murder. Not only does she recognise the deceased she received a telephone call from her shortly before her death. Another body with the same MO is then found and Steele and the team discover a link to a 15 year old unsolved murder.

With a number of suspects this is a difficult case. I kept changing my mind about what was happening and who the killer was. This is a fast paced and exciting read with plenty of twists and turns. And just when you think they have failed the last bit falls into place et voila! Case solved. A great read.

You'll be hooked from the first page! The author quickly intigues the reader with a new case for Detective Amanda Steel to sink her teeth into that hits a little close to home. I enjoyed the context of the mystery, and while I felt this was a tad weaker story that normal for this series and failed to hold my attention quite as stringently, I thoroughly enjoyed the hook of the whodunnit. I always leave looking forward to more Amanda!

I recommend this book as well as the entire series to anyone who enjoys a series with a strong female lead who puts her heart and soul into solving the crime in her town while having meaningful relationships and drama mixed into the dialogue of each book.

This is a great crime thriller.
Amanda is called when a local author is found dead in her home and it seems she was the last person the victim called.
The author wrote crime fiction and it soon materialises that the card found on her body is the same as in her last book.
With investigations underway Amanda and Trent come across a cold case from 15 years ago and it seems the two murders are connected.
This is a gripping crime thriller.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I received this fast-paced mystery, detective series from the publisher Bookouture via Netgalley for free to give my honest review. Thank you for the eARC!

I am excited about finding a new series I can dive into. Also, I enjoyed that the author wrote the book, so it doesn’t require you to read the entire series to understand what is happening. This is a standalone addition to the series, but I will also be reading the prior books! The author did a splendid job of not revealing the murderer too soon, leaving the reader guessing who did it.

Carolyn Arnold has mastered writing a police procedural mystery down to a science. The books in this series just seem to get better and better with each installment. Detective Amanda Steele is called to the scene of brutal homicide. She is shocked to her core to find out the victim is a wildly successful and popular author, Felicity Kelley. What makes this scene even more bizarre is the scene itself. The scene mimics scenes from her most recent serial killer novel down to the Queen of Hearts card stuffed down her throat. The case is made even more personal as Amanda realizes the last call Felicity made was to leave a voicemail for Amanda. The question for Steele and company is for them to figure out whether this is a personal kill because of a deranged fan or enemy, or is someone making fiction come true. The tempo and sense of urgency picks up steam when another body is found. This one is even more disturbing because everything about this scene, down to the clothes on the victim's back, are straight from the pages of the novel written by Felicity Kelley. When another chilling clue is found from a previous case, the tension and suspense are amped up considerably.

The suspects start piling up as the investigation gets deeper. I was not sure who or what to believe. Detective Amanda Steele is one of my favorite fictional characters. Her sense of duty as a detective often plays against her sense of duty as a mother and partner. Amanda Steele shows the real life side of being a detective and spending so much time simply doing her job. She may take personal time, but she is always on call, if needed. She is fearless and her sense of justice points in the right direction. All of the characters in this book and this series are interesting. The plotline is frantic as they try to find a killer who is smart and calculating. I could not sleep until I finished it. I know when I start a Carolyn Arnold book that I will not be satisfied until I finish it, as she is a winsome storyteller who knows how to pull the reader into the story. If you are a puzzle lover, you will enjoy this book as the book concludes and everything neatly falls into place to complete the puzzle.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Her Last Words’, book nine in the Detective Amanda Steele series written by Carolyn Arnold, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

On her way home from Florida after celebrating the 8th birthday of her adopted daughter Zoe, Detective Amanda Steele misses a phone call from celebrated mystery writer Felicity Kelley. She hears the message Felicity left her and the following day Amanda and her partner Trent Stenson call at her home in time to meet the detectives from Prince William County Police Department who’ve found Felicity’s body. Amanda and Trent take over the investigation which leads them into the world of publishing and Felicity’s latest novel ‘The Romeo Killer’.

‘Her Last Words’ has had me totally gripped from the first page to the last, unable to stop reading for fear of missing an important clue as to the killer’s identity, involved in the drama, suspense and every twist and turn of the story. I’ve enjoyed reading more of Amanda and Zoe and her life outside of the police department, and her strong working relationship with Trent Stenson. This has been a fantastic thriller written by an author whose books I always enjoy and I can wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone who enjoys a book fraught with tension and excitement.

Her Last Words is book 9 in the Detective Amanda Steele series by Carolyn Arnold.
Arnold does a good job of weaving a believable story, and those who are familiar with the series will be able to relate to the characters who are well-developed. I found myself massively invested in the protagonists life and problems, both work and personal.
These books are phenomenal. If you love police procedurals, you're going to want to start this series from book one.
This is a great, thrilling read full of twists and turns that I didn’t expect

I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

I received an ARC through "netGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

The story begins with Felicity, an author, trying to get a hold of Amanda, but gets no answer. She finally leaves a message asking Amanda to call her. The next day after Amanda, Zoe and Logan returned from Orlando, Amanda goes through her calls and discovers a message from Felicity. When she returns the call, she winds uo talking to Fred, a homicide detective where she works. She learns that Felicity has been killed and tell Fred that she is on her way over. Amanda along with her partner Trent arrive at the scene and when Fred balks, she tells Freed that she is taking over the case and her Sargeant, Malone, agrees. As Amanda looks around, she notices that things are different from the last time she was at Felicity's house. There were papers all over, but now everything was quite tidy. She also noticed that there had been a fire in the fireplace and it seemed that something was burned.

As Amanda and Trent start their investigation, they ultimately dlearned that she was working on another novel and once they were finally able to learn the plot, they were convinced that the possibility of an earlier murder was related to this killing. Felicity's killing had all of the earmarks of a scene in Felicity's latest novel. Later, another killing happened which also displayed the same as the novel depicted.

Follow along in the story as Amanda and Trent chase the information they discover and begin to close in on the killer. Discover who the killer was and what was the last piece of the puzzle that provided Amanda whit the suspect.

The ending is well done and this is definitely a book that you must read.

I feel that I need to start this review off with a confession - this is the first one of the books in the series that I have read, and this one is number 9!! What a great book to start with though! To answer if you have to read them all before this one then the answer is no, however I do feel that I may have missed some of Amanda's back story - it doesn't matter I don't think - more that it just intrigues me!

I loved the storyline with our over-worked detective coming back off her holiday early due to a murder that had a personal connection. It just seemed to be paced brilliantly, however I found the more the storyline evolved - the more I needed to read. I like the fact that we get to see a little into Amanda's relationship with her work partner as well as into her home and family life.

I think that the storyline was very clever in how it was written and at one point I thought that we were going to run out of time and not find our murderer but it all became clear and loved the ending. I think that I have just accidentally added another 8 books to my TBR pile after finishing this!

Her Last Words by Carolyn Arnold is the 9th book in her fantastic Detective Amanda Steele series. I am a big fan of Arnold, having read most of her books, and I love this series, which continues with another great addition. Her Last Words was a fantastic read, with me unable to put the book down.

Amanda Steele, our heroine, is a homicide detective in Dumfries, Virginia Police Department. Amanda returns home from a vacation with her boyfriend Logan and adopted daughter, Zoe: when she sees a voice message from a famous writer, Felicity Kelley. The following morning, Amanda receives word that Felicity Kelley was found murdered. Since she and Trent were on an old case revolving Felicity’ sister, they both headed to the crime scene, and were given control of finding the case. Felicity was stabbed with a knife in her heart, as well as a Queen of Hearts playing card in her throat, which turns out to be a clue from Felicity’s newest bestselling crime novel.

In a short time, Amanda begins to connect the murders from a cold case 15 years ago, which Felicity was researching for her next novel. Amanda and Trent interview all the people involved with a publishing house, as well as investigating the dead woman from 15 years ago, to tie in the missing pieces. When another woman is murdered, with the same Queen of Hearts playing card, her and Trent suspect that someone is trying to throw them off the case.

I loved how Amanda is able to allow herself to take a weekend off to be with her daughter and Logan, to spend some quiet fun peaceful time away from the case. This was a very good change. Her and Trent make great partners, always helping each other.

What follows is an exciting, suspenseful, intriguing, tense mystery, that kept me unable to put the book down, as this was a fantastic thriller. From the start, you become engrossed into the story. The last third of the book was fast-paced, intense, exciting thriller, with many twists along the way. To say too much more would be spoilers.

Her Last Words was another fantastic crime thriller that held our breath throughout. This once again is an excellent police procedural, great characters, gripping storyline, and surprise twists along the way. Her Last Words was once again so very well written by Carolyn Arnold, which is the norm for this author; as I am loving this series. If you like mystery thrillers, police procedural, then you need to be reading this series.

Detective Amanda Steele misses a phone call from an author she met on a previous case. The next day when she returns that call Amanda learns the author was murdered the night before. Guilt ways heavy on Amanda for not being able to take that call and she is determined that she and her partner will find the killer. While investigating the murder the detectives end up connecting it to a fifteen year old cold case and another new one. Now there are three cases to solve....and are they all connected...

Felicity is a thriller author whose last phone call was to Detective Amanda Steele - however, Amanda didn't answer and so she doesn't know what Felicity wanted. When Felicity turns up dead, Amanda is wracked with guilt and she is determined to find the killer.

Amanda is happy in her personal life with her adopted daughter, Zoe, and her partner Logan. However, there isn't a heck of a lot of time to spend with them as Amanda and her work partner Trent work around the clock to solve the case.

Another good book from this author, although I thought it got a bit meandering at times and if it had been a little shorter, I would have been even happier. I still like this character though and am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

4 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.