Book Review: The Last Party (DC Morgan #1) by Clare Mackintosh

- June 02, 2025

Hello, Fellow Bookworms and Book Dragons,

The Last Party is book one in a new series by Clare Mackintosh, published in 2022 by Sourcebooks. In this twisty story of betrayal and murder, we are introduced to Welsh detective Fion Morgan.

When a body is found in a lake near Fion's house on New Year's Day, she is partnered with English detective Leo Brady to solve the case. But their complicated past together will either hinder or speed up the investigation. The victim is a wealthy developer, Rhys Lloyd. And he was surrounded by plenty of locals who would have loved to see him dead. With scandals, double-crosses, and a bitter wife, Lloyd had multiple targets on him.

As Fion and Leo close in on the killer, they may be the next victims if they are not careful.

The Last Party was a fast and suspenseful novel. Fion and her village of Cwn Coed were fun to learn about, and the locale gave the book a distinctive backdrop for this murder mystery. The suspect list was long, and no one was safe from suspicion. As Fion and Leo travel into the past of Lloyd's New Year's Eve party, it becomes clear that they may be dealing with a resourceful killer one step ahead. But when the finale arrived, I was not prepared for what they found.

I read this in part with the audiobook narrated by Chloe Angharad Davies. She was an integral part of reading this novel. With plenty of Welsh words popping up, Davies was there to pronounce them all flawlessly. I am happy to see she is narrating the second book. Her voice is easy to listen to.

I gave The Last Party 4 out of 5 stars. It gave me a locale and characters I loved and look forward to seeing in the next two books.

Let me know what you are reading in the comments below.

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