I may have found another new-to-me author worth following. Welsh author Clare Mackintosh has been around and writing crime novels for years but I don’t think she’s had a lot of play over here, or maybe I just haven’t noticed her name come up in the bookish places I visit. Whatever,  it’s long and tangled and juicy – but I suppose I could describe it as a police procedural murder mystery set in a soap opera.  

The Last Party
By Claire Mackintosh 
11/2022 (432 pp) 
Read by  Chloe Angharad Davies: 13h 17m
Rating: A+ / procedural crime 
D.C. Morgan series #1 

 It’s New Year’s Day and a body has been found in Mirror Lake which serves as a border between Northern Wales and England. Every winter visitors come or the New Year’s Eve parties while the locals come for the traditional icy swim on New Year’s morning.  This year, as usual, Rhys Lloyd, has his usual houseful of guests cavorting at his upscale vacation resort – The Shores. The next day it’s his body which is found by locals when they go for their first, annual icy dip.  Lloyd was a hateful man as well as a rich opera singer, with a vacation home near the new development, The Shores, at the lake near where he grew up.  

Detective Inspector Ffion Morgan and her partner Leo Brady each have a bunch of suspects including themselves. And each suspect has his own raggedy bag of secrets and ripe grievances.  The major players even have their own self-serving point of view.  It gets confusing, but very fun.   

The narrative’s structure alternates between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day going a bit further back and a bit further forward. And as the reader moves through this they get an excellent opportunity to evaluate motives and behaviors of many interrelated characters ages 12 to 80, 

It would definitely be wise to keep a pencil or notepad handy because with this many characters it can get overwhelming. I had to write down the names and a descriptive word or two as they were introduced.

Rhys Lloyd – singer, land developer, and murder victim 
Yasmin Lloyd –  Rhys’ wife –  stalking him 
2 young daughters – twins
(Felicia and Tabitha – row with Rhys) 

Jonty Charlton,  Rhys’ assistant 
Jonty’s wife    
Hester, Jonty’s daughter 
Woody, Jonty’s son

Ffion Morgan, detective, was divorced from Huw Ellis   
Her mother –  Ellen
Saren – Ffion’s younger sister, about age 16.   
Huw Ellis – Ffion’s  ex husband  

DCI Leo Brady – Different patrol area from Ffion 

Young son – 
Ali – Leo’s mouthy ex-wife who has custody of son 

Crouch – Detective Supervisor of Ffion 
Gwen –  researcher at police station

Ceri – young local mail delivery woman- 

Glynnith Lloyd  works with Ceri now. 

Bobby Stafford – bare-knuckle boxer and Rhys’ neighbor 
Ashleigh –  Stafford’s  wife.  An influencer who puts the local news on her show
Dee 72-year old mother of Ashleigh ? 
Tabby – Rhys’ daughter 
Felicia – twins 

Mila – local girl, waitress for the party –  tryst with Rhys    
Steffan – neighbor with a grievance 
Clemment Northcott,  single now whit a teenage son. She enjoyed the party – risk?   Went for a dip in the early morning  but got away before she was noticed. 
Caleb – her son – used to live in London, has a hard time with appropriate friends
They’re making payments on home and say that no one liked Rhys. 

Diedre Huxley  – lodge #2 –  beautifully dressed, silver hair, “well-preserved,”  
Doesn’t really answer questions –  
 **************

There are some great lines –  “I was told there were only two of you coming,  it’s a morgue, not a seance!”    “ Ffion’s car breaks down regularly and leaps like Julian Assange.”  Actually, there were a few places which produced a lovely solid belly-laugh from me.    

Still, there are too many characters and the timeline is nonlinear so it feels a bit choppy. I had trouble keeping track of who was whom and when the events were taking place.  The mystery isn’t really that hard to solve if you pay attention, the twists are intriguing. but maybe a bit obvious. Ffion and Leo’s characters and the setting add a layer of depth to this novel. This was a solid start to the series but I have a feeling the “series” may consist of 2 books.  I look forward to seeing Ffion, and hopefully Leo, again in the next book.