Et cetera : What We're Reading: Last Night

Review of 'Last Night' by Luanne Rice

What a beginning! The victim dies in the first three and a half pages; Maddie, we hardly knew ye!

I was taken by surprise by the blurb on the inside cover, which read: 'A fierce blizzard is burying the eastern seaboard, but on the icy Rhode Island shore renowned artist Maddie Morrison finds warm sanctuary...(H)ours later, her body is found buried under a blanket of snow..." I didn't realize that there was snowfall on a beach! Of course, I knew there was wind and ice on the ocean, but never considered a blizzard!

Maddie is an extremely well-known artist, famous for a logo made from one of her earliest works. A short-lived marriage to another young artist ended in failure. Later, Maddie marries Bernard Lafond, a washed-up actor from bygone years; director, serial lover and collector of ex-wives are some of his legendary accomplishments. The current acrimonious divorce makes Lafond only one in a long list of suspects in Maddie's murder. Another somewhat unlikely candidate is Maddie's own sister, Hadley. She has always loved Maddie's 6-year-old daughter, CeCe, like her own - what would she do to have her? And CeCe is missing! Why would a killer take a child?

Although the book begins almost abruptly with a mysterious meeting and a death, the hero of the story is Conor Reid, Detective, who is stealing a few days of down time with his girlfriend, to whom he intends to propose. His presence at the legendary Ocean House is coincidental, yet hie is soon at the center of the action, not only helping to catch Maddie's killer, but also investigating forgery, art theft, smuggling and gang activity. Of course, the path to a solution is never easy, so the sleuths must follow a tortuous path to the successful conclusion, but I am proud to say I was ahead of the game, and had suspicions of both the killer(s) and the motives ahead of the professionals. Try this one - it's a good one! Relax and read!

Love,

Connie