I'm a long time reader (and fan) of Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series but have found myself enjoying these somewhat loosely connected Harbinder Kaur novels even more than that series. I'm not sure if these are even meant to be a "series" in the traditional sense, but since Harbiner shows up here at some critical moments, it feels like it's part of that larger universe. This features three characters from The Postscript Murders, once again involved in a murder all tied up in the world of literature. Natalka (still working as a carer) and Edwin (still a retiree) have started a private detective agency and are hired by two sisters whose mother, a fairly successful author, has recently died. Though it was ruled to be of natural causes, her daughters suspect their mother's much younger husband, who has inherited her home and money. Natalka and Edwin find connections between the deceased woman and several other authors, all of whom have spent time at a specific writer's retreat that's not too far away from them. Edwin and Benedict (Natalka's partner who still runs a coffee shack but has secretly written a few mysteries) go semi-undercover at the writer's retreat to investigate, and the body count increases, the local police (and later Harbinder Kaur) get involved, and the story twists and turns. I really enjoyed this, and it was nice to go back to Shoreham and see how things are for Natalka, Benedict, and Edwin post-COVID (and for Natalka and her mother during the ongoing war in Ukraine). Something about Elly Griffith's writing just pretty much always works for me, and I'm a sucker for mysteries set in the world of writing/publishing, so this was a fun ride.

The Last Word is listed under Ruth Galloway mysteries. At the beginning I was trying to see how this pertained to Ruth Galloway. I was disappointed as I have read this series from the beginning and looked forward to reading another adventure in this series. Putting that aside, I really enjoyed this book. The story takes place in the town of Shoreham-by Sea UK. There are three characters that make up the main characters. Benedict. (Benny) who was a monk and is now owner of a coffee shop called The Shack which is located near a beach; Edwin Fitzgerald partner in K & F Agency, which does investigations and Natalka Kolisnyk who is the other partner and Benedict's girlfriend. She also owns a care business. Her mother, Valentyna lives with her and Benedict. Her brother, Dmytro lives in Scotland. The three lived in Ukraine and escaped.

Charlie Walker (Chip) a veteran broadcaster and BBC producer who set-up Counterpoint Production Company died. Malcolm Collins wrote the obit for Charles. He also died. Melody Chambers, author of romance novels recently died. She is married to her second husband Alan Franklin a pharmacist. Melody's daughters Minim (Minnie) and Harmony come to the agency and ask them to investigate her husband. They believe that he killed her, He is 15 years younger. Everything was left to him including the dog. They show Natalka a notebook their mother wrote in. It says that Alan is going to kill her. They showed it to the police. Richard Frazer, a vicar came to Benedict about a priest Don Parsons that lived a double life. He wa s also Donna Parsons, a romance novelist. He was asked to leave the church recently died. Richard thinks that he was murdered. What's Natalka to look into it. Natalka and Edwin agreed to look into both requests. They call good friend, DI Harbinder Kaur to do some research for them.

Edwin and Natalka go and speak to Alan. He told them that Melody's children did not like him and he knew they were accusing him of killing their mother. She was also a friend of Malcolm Collins and was very upset when he died. Edwin finds info that both Don and Melody knew each other. They both did emails about their pets and both went on a writer's retreat lead by writer, Leonard Norris at Battle House. Edwin looks up Battle House and finds testimonials from Melody Chambers, Donna Parsons and Malcolm Collins.

Natalka brings two friends of Melody to the Shack and tells Benedict that Melody seemed very happy with her husband but did complain about her daughters always wanting money and having her babysit.

Harbinder got a case where an elderly woman named Eileen O'Rourke, was found on her kitchen floor dead of a heart attack. She was the author of the book, My Name is Jack. Her daughter, Felicity Briggs comes and speaks to DS Kim Manning saying she believes her mother was murdered. Harbinger goes to speak to her. Felicity has moved into her mother's house. After telling her what she believes she gives Harbinger one of her mother's books. When she gets back to the station and shows Kim the book. Kim gets upset when seeing the cover. Harbinger takes the book to her office. Reads the back and in very small print is a quote from Melody saying "Well-written and empathetic".

Edwin looks up Battle House and sees that there will be another session with only 8 people. Leonard Norris and Imogen Blythe will be their tutors. He talks Benedict into coming with him. Upon their arrival they meet the other authors.

This is where the story takes off which has too much to put on paper so I will leave it to the reader to enjoy with all the twists and turns to the exciting and unexpected ending.

The books ends with the wedding of Natalka and Benedict, I hope this becomes a series as I enjoyed the adventure.

Thank you NetGalley and Mariner Books for this ARC,

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"Why would anyone kill a writer?"

3.65 stars

The Last Word is a slow-burn mystery about a group of authors targeted for murder.

Private Inspectors, who happen to be inspiring authors, infiltrate a writer’s retreat to investigate murders linked to the group. They soon find themselves entangled in another murder, culminating in a surprising twist.

Natalka, Benedict, and Edwin, who appear in The Postscript Murders, are the main characters and stars of this book. You don’t have to have read The Postscript Murders to enjoy this one. Harbinder Kaur is also featured but plays a minor role. All of their POVs are shared, with Edwin’s being my favorite. He is such a lovely character.

The characters’ personal lives are as significant as the mystery. Natalka is struggling with the impact of the war on Ukraine. Benedict and Natalka are a couple going strong, but he is grappling with a bit of an inferiority complex, and Edwin might have found a new love.

The mystery is intriguing, and the setting of the writer's retreat is dark and eerie, but the excrutiagly slow pace made it challenging to immerse myself in the story. Despite the witty literary references and all the right ingredients, I had trouble connecting to the characters. However, when everything clicked, I was fully on board and enjoyed the twisty ending.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Mariner Books.

What starts out as a small private investigating gig quickly turns into a full blown murder mystery. Funny banter between friends gives this story a modern day sherlock holmes feel. Tie in family drama with enjoyable prose and it makes for a great read!
The only thing that lacked for me here was speed of unfolding. This is more of a personal preference. Character building was done very well.

Elly Griffiths is one of my favorite mystery writers. Edwin, Benedict and Natalka are a team of private investigators, hired to investigate two suspicious deaths. More begin piling up-all of them authors. Almost all have attended at writers' retreat at Battle Hall. The link to these murders becomes clear. DI Harbinder reappears to lend a hand to her PI friends. The charcters are very well drawn-Edwin, the oldest private he claims; Benedict, the former monk who runs a coffee bar; and Natalka, his very hot Ukrainian girl friend. A great read!

The Last Word features characters we met in Postscript Murder - eighty year old Edwin who dresses stylishly, reads the Guardian and does Wordle, Benedict, a former monk now operating a coffee shop(he makes perfect flat whites for Edwin), and Benedict's partner, Natalka who is from the Ukraine.and runs a care agency. After the trio's involvement in solving a murder in Postscript Murders Edwin and Natalka formed a detective agency.
While reading the obituaries Edwin sees that writer, Melody Chambers has died. Soon after, he and Natalka are contacted by Chamber's daughters asking them to investigate the death. Eventually Edwin and Benedict(under duress) attend a writers retreat with authors who knew Chambers. When one of the attendees is found dead Edwin starts looking for clues and finds some interesting connections to other deaths.
At one point after attending a book group with some of the writers, Natalka says to Edwin "For God's sake, don't give me anymore names. There are quite enough in the book." That summarizes my reaction . There are way too many characters and if not for Edwin's lists of suspects that appear occasionally, I would have given up halfway through! In addition, the murders and their motives and solution are a bit murky. The main characters are well drawn but most of the others leave no impression. It's almost as though Griffiths wrote this one on a rainy weekend to fill the gap after ending the Galloway series. Harbinder plays a small role in this one and I look forward to another one in which she's featured. Thanks to Netgalley and Mariner Books for the ARC.

The Last Word is considered part of the Harbinder Kaur series but it comes across as more of a standalone as Harbinder is more of a side character. Instead, the book focuses on Natalka, Edwin and Benedict, who featured in The Postscript Murders, the first book of the series.
Natalka and Edwin have a PI agency and are thrilled to finally get a case that’s not spying on a cheating husband. Two daughters want to prove their mother was murdered, specifically by their mother’s younger second husband. The mother was a successful author. Then, they’re asked to look into the suspicious death of another writer, which gets Natalka and Edwin thinking the deaths might be related, especially as another writer has also recently died. Edwin and Benedict take off for a writer’s retreat that all the writers had coincidentally attended at various times. This part of the plot was a bit convoluted, relies on a lot of coincidences and didn’t quite hang together for me. Griffiths even seems to recognize how many coincidences she’s using. “ “Coincidence is only another word for fate”, says Benedict. “I read that somewhere.””
The three characters are all fully developed with wonderful personalities. These were people I’d like to know. In fact, that is a key element of all Griffiths’ books, creating characters that feel so real I’d like to be friends with them. The chapters swing between the various POVs, which keeps the book moving at a steady pace.
Once again Griffiths has written a story filled with small elements of humor and the perfectly crafted phrase.
My thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of this. Ok.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Griffiths continues an ARC with characters from The Postscript Letters, which I have not read, but certainly will. Not quite amateur, but also not polished detectives investigate a strange death of a writer. Her death is connected to a series of other suspicious ones by the fact that each person attended the same writers retreat. Griffiths writes with her usual spunk and sense of humor. In fact, if you like the series The Thursday Murder Club, you'll enjoy this.

When Melody, a writer, dies of supposedly natural causes, her two daughters hire private investigators Natalka and Edwin to look into the much-younger husband they think murdered her. Natalka and Edwin soon figure out that other local writers have died recently--all suddenly but seemingly naturally--and discover some connections between the recently deceased. Natalka's boyfriend Benedict goes undercover with Edwin at a writing retreat and eventually figure out what is going on. Meanwhile, Natalka and her mother, recently arrived from Ukraine, worry about her brother who has volunteered to leave the UK and go back to fight with the Ukranian army. The story is told in shifting first-person perspective between the main three characters and Harbinder. Griffiths tells the story through her characters thoughts and their interactions with other people and I like seeing some of the same events through multiple perspectives. While the denouement is a bit rushed after the leisurely pace of the rest of the book, I still really enjoyed it.

This is a companion to Griffith's Postscript Murders and makes several references to the events of that book, but it can stand alone and is accessible to new readers. I really enjoyed revisiting Shoreham by the Sea and catching up with Natalka, Benedict, and especially Edwin. and hope Griffiths writes more stories about them. I did wish Harbinder was featured a bit more heavily in this story, but I always enjoy her popping up. I like the way the author uses the Harbinder character in her stand-alone novels; sometimes she's the main investigator, and other times she's more peripheral to the story.

Not my favorite Elly Griffiths, but plenty here to like, with a nice mystery, our favorite investigative team, a cameo from Harbinder, and a very happy ending.

I’m so happy to see Griffiths broaden the Harbinder Kaur series to focus this one on Benedict, Edwin & Natalka, the amateur detectives we met in the previous book. Here, Harbinder takes a back seat to the trio who are engaged to investigate the death of a writer and turn up a very mysterious sequence of deaths. I very much enjoyed the development of these three characters and their progression in each others lives. Griffiths writing is, as usual, spot on and engaging. I did find the conclusion and wrap up of the bigger mystery a little frenetic and confusing, but a re-read of the last couple chapters helped cement my understanding of the action.

Griffiths’ fans will enjoy.

I really enjoy all the characters in this series of Griffiths' - some echoes of the Thursday Murder Club, even.

This is the fourth in what I would call the Harbinder Kaur series, but the focus is mostly on Natalka, Edwin, and Benedict - characters from The Postscript Murders. Natalka and Edwin enjoyed crime solving so much they decided to start their own agency. A couple of deaths appear unrelated, and might not even be murders, but are tangentially linked to a recently deceased obituary writer and a secluded writing retreat group. Edwin and Benedict attend a retreat, somewhat undercover, only to witness another death; and the case expands to a London murder Harbinder has been working. The investigation takes lots of twists and includes plenty of suspects, with an exciting conclusion. This trio is both smart and endearing, it’s no wonder Harbinder can’t resist them. The character development throughout the book gives us hope that we’ve not seen the last of them. I’m grateful to HarperCollins and NetGalley for access to this advance reader copy.

I have read author Elly Griffiths before, but mostly stand-alones, and I didn't realize this new title, "The Last Word" was number 4 of another series. That's totally on me, my bad! That said, I think this one flows very well for a sequel and the detective was in the background, so I was able to easily follow this murder mystery - with someone bumping off authors in England. I really enjoyed this one and found it well-plotted with delightful characters & settings - so now I'll will need to check-out "The Post-Script Murders" and others from the author's back-list! My sincere thanks to the publisher & Net Galley for the complimentary DRC, my pleasure to review it.

Another winner from Elly Griffiths in the cozy mystery genre. The combination of intergeneration cooperation, interesting suspects, the description of wanna be authors and ungrateful children make for an entertaining tale. My only quibble is the geopolitical comments that seem in my eye superfluous to the story.

Another excellent mystery from Elly Griffiths. The plot in this book wandered a little but, as always, the wonderful characters made it a very enjoyable read.

A cozy murder mystery that keeps you reading and guessing! What more could you ask for?! I love a detective novel and this one was definitely extremely readable.

So glad that I got to read this early. I love when she has a new book out. Nice to read about familiar characters. The mystery was interesting and not easily guessed. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Once again Elly Griffith had written a winner. In her newest mystery Natalka and Edwin are called in because they think their mother has been murdered by her husband. Along with Benedict, Natalia’s partner and Edwin’s friend, they set out to investigate. Along the way they find more suspicious deaths and they seem to point to a writers retreat. This book has many twists and turns and keeps the reader engaged with both the plot and characters. Highly recommend!

This is billed as number four of the Harbinder Kaur series, but this is really the story of private detectives Natalka Kalisnyk, from the Ukraine and 84 year old Edwin Fitzgerald who are investigating the death of several writers. To do so Edwin and Natalka’s boyfriend go undercover at a writer’s retreat. Harbinder, a police detective, does appear in a small role, but this is really the K and F show.

I was unaware of this series so I hadn’t read any of the previous books but got along fine with this book. Natalka’s mother has come to stay with her and her brother is fighting in Ukraine’s war with Russia a current events addition that I liked quite a bit. The mystery was interesting and I enjoyed the book, just as I have enjoyed most things I’ve read from Griffiths, the author of the Ruth Galloway series.