Clare Mackintosh says one New Year's morning a few years ago she was about to participate in a holiday group swim in the peaceful, mist-shrouded North Wales lake on which she lives when she had a thought: What if a body came floating by? That was the genesis of The Last Party, the first (of three) murder mysteries starring Ffion Morgan.
The body is that of Rhys Lloyd, a Com Coed native son who's had a successful musical career and who, with a business partner, developed the first five units of The Shore, one of which in which he lives with his wife and twin teen-age daughters.
The detectives charged with solving the murder are DC Ffion Morgan, who, separated, lives with her mother and sister in Com Coed, and DC Leo Brady, divorced, works out of the Cheshire Major Crimes Unit. I mention their marital status because it plays a minor role in both lives.
The two meet officially at the coroner's office to inspect the body at the beginning of the book and realize they have just spent New Year's night together in bed, both having given fake names and phone numbers—one of the most delightful and enjoyable introductions to a mystery I've read.
The book has two timelines: everything that happened before the murder of Rhys—a thoroughly despicable person—and everything that happens after. What sets The Last Party apart from many mysteries is that events in the first timeline happen in reverse chronological order and involve the points of view of several different characters. Macintosh says that after writing it in a conventional chronological sequence she structured the book this way to make it more interesting and to give her an opportunity to drop in clues and revelations at the most opportune and effective spots.
Some readers I know find The Last Party's structure and number of characters difficult or irritating or both. I thought it was one of the most stimulating and interesting mysteries I've read recently.
No comments:
Post a Comment