The Last Word

Words turn deadly with an unlikely detective duo on the case of a murdered obituary writer in this literary mystery from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway series. Perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.

Natalka and Edwin are perfect if improbably partners in a detective agency. At eighty-four, Edwin regularly claims that he’s the oldest detective in England. He is a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka, Ukrainian-born and more than fifty years his junior, is a math whizz, who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated. She loves a murder, as she’s fond of saying, and none have come the agency’s way. That is until local obituary writer Dan Haynes dies.

Edwin, who is a connoisseur of obituaries, decides to investigate, only to discover a worrying series of unexpected deaths. Are the clues in the articles themselves?

When, in the course of his investigations, Edwin disappears, Natalka goes to his rescue, hampered by local police officer Neil Winstone and helped by DI Harbinder Kaur. The search takes this unconventional team to London and then back to the south coast, to a surprising guilty party who is frighteningly sinister—and decidedly bookish.