This first book in the Deadly Deadlines cozy series has an interesting premise, a sleuth who is an obituary writer. There's also plenty of interesting characters with potential for future books.

The plot seemed a bit convoluted but, nonetheless, this was an excellent series debut which holds great promise. I'm hoping for many more Deadly Deadlines books in the future.

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.) ( )

The Last Word by Gerri Lewis has a main character with a unique occupation. Winter Snow is a freelance obituary writer. I did find it a little odd that the victim, Mrs. Arlington, a writer, hired someone else to write her obituary (maybe she thought it would be morbid). The main character was underdeveloped and a tad cliched (another clumsy protagonist). More information is provided about Diva, the victim’s dog, than about Winter. Diva easily outshines Winter. I liked Winter’s Uncle Richard as well as her neighbor, Horace. I did not understand why Winter would go driving across town with a hurricane bearing down on the town. Winter said she needed to get the information from Leocadia Arlington in order to write the obituary, but this is a digital age. I know it was needed for the mystery, but it did not make sense. There are numerous contradictions in the book (they should have been caught in editing). The mystery is straightforward. Winter did several things that had me rolling my eyes. Her antics would not be appreciated by real cops (and, in a court of law, her meddling would allow a killer to go free). I know it is fiction, but Winter did things that were illegal and inane. The crime can easily be solved. There are overly detailed descriptions (do we really need to all the details of a room) as well as repetitive bits of information (I got it the first time). The story does contain mild bad language. The best part of The Last Word is Diva, the clever and playful Great Pyrenees. Her antics made me smile. ( )

The Last Word is the first book in the A Deadly Deadlines Mystery by Gerri Lewis.

Winter Snow is a free-lance obituary writer. Winter receives a call from Mrs. Arlington, a local philanthropist, asking Winter to write her obituary. Mrs. Arlington(Lottie) informs Winter that she should not bother coming to see her if she can’t finish the obituary by Friday. Winter has to drive through a tropical storm to reach Lottie’s home to gather information on Lottie’s life. Shortly after arriving, the storm knocked out power at Lottie’s home. Even though the generators have started, Winter wants Lottie to go home with her. Lottie refuses, saying that she has to work on her memoir. The next day, Winter returns to Lotties to check on her and obtain additional information on her life. When there is no response to her knocking, Winter finds the door unlocked. She enters and finds Lottie’s near-lifeless body at the foot of the stairs. The police come to investigate, and Officer Kip Michaels seems to want to check out Winter’s story, while Officer Tom Bellini is more concerned with proving her guilty of murder.

Winter will start to investigate who might have killed Mrs. Arlington. Winter soon learns that Lottie has included facts that these people would like to keep secret in her memoirs. She must discover who might have the most to lose when the memoirs become known.

The story is well-written and plotted and reads at a nice pace. The characters are well-developed and very believable.

I will be watching for the next book in this interesting series. ( )

Winter Snow is trying to build her career as an obituary writer when she receives a call from the very much alive Leocadia Arlington, local philanthropist, asking her to write her obituary before the week ends. Winter is willing and curious and goes to visit her despite stormy weather brewing.

She invites Leocadia and her puppy Diva, a Great Pyrenes, to go home with her to weather the storm since she has a generator at her lakeside home. Mrs. Arlington declines. However, when Winter gets home, she phones to try to convince her, but Mrs. Arlington doesn't answer.

Winter ventures up the next day to find a locked house, an upset caretaker, and a barking puppy. After managing to get inside, she finds Mrs. Arlington sprawled at the base of a flight of stairs but still breathing. Calling 911 brings not only an ambulance but the police who check out the house. For some reason, one of the police officers suspects Winter of having something to do with Mrs. Arlington's fall.

When Mrs. Arlington dies, Winter decides to find out what happened and begins to look into more of her life than she had given Winter when she wanted an obituary written. Meanwhile, another local luminary contacts Winter to write an obituary for her very recently deceased husband and seems to know a lot she shouldn't know about Mrs. Arlington's death. Her husband and Mrs. Arlington were friends.

This was a nice cozy mystery that introduces a main character with an unusual profession. I liked Winter's determination to find out what really happened to one of her clients. I also like her budding romance with the rookie policeman Kip. And Diva is a great character too and holds a substantial clue to the events Winter is trying to understand. ( )

The first in a cozy mystery series, this novel includes one of the most potentially intriguing MCs a reader typically will find in this genre: an obituary writer. At first, the story takes a few chapters to achieve an appropriate speed, but if you can hold the course til then, you'll be pleasantly surprised. The pace and the plot pick up nicely and this cozy ends up quite satisfying. For cozy fans.

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