Last Writes (A Ghostwriter Mystery Book 3) by C.A. Larmer

Last Writes (A Ghostwriter Mystery Book 3) Reviews

• 
  Phrynne

  I really liked the title of this one and it was extremely appropriate for a story where writers keep getting murdered. Roxy, the main character, is a ghost writer by profession and she is determined to discover the identity of the murderer.
  
  I do enjoy this series but in this one the guilty party was just a bit too obvious. I spent several chapters wondering why no one in the story noticed how he was the perfect fit. Maybe I read too many mysteries! Anyway Roxy nearly dies again in the course of exposing him and getting him arrested. She lives a very exciting life.
  
  I was very satisfied with the reappearance of Max and look forward to more of him and Roxy in book four.
• 
  Brenda

  Roxy Parker was spending the evening in the company of her agent, Oliver Horowitz at the premier of David Lone’s movie – taken from his best-selling novel. She quite enjoyed the movie and was struck by the magnetism of David. He was an investigative reporter with a big newspaper and had a strong following. The movie following the successful book was sure to make him more popular. When David and Oliver approached Roxy with the aim to her writing David’s biography she had some misgivings, but after an initial hesitancy, she agreed.
  
  But when a local, highly successful science fiction writer was found dead, then within a couple of days, a gardening writer and good friend of Oliver’s was also found dead, and in a violent manner, all thoughts of David’s biography left Roxy’s mind. For it seemed the police were fixated on Oliver as their “person of interest” and Roxy knew without doubt that he didn’t have it in him to murder anyone. David and Roxy were trying to unearth clues about the murder when another writer was found dead. They knew the race was on; with a serial killer on the loose, the police’s focus on Oliver – Roxy knew the murderer was still out there. She was determined to stop another writer dying…
  
  Last Writes is #3 in the Ghostwriter Mystery series by Aussie author C.A. Larmer and another great instalment! Even though I had worked out "whodunit" early in the book, I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Roxy again, her on again/off again hunk of a boyfriend, Max and Roxy’s friend and cop Gilda Maltin. They make a great team along with the other minor and new characters, with fun, entertainment, mystery and intrigue to take the reader along for the ride. Highly recommended.
  
• 
  Karen

  This was another good mystery but I had an idea of who the killer was before the end of the first chapter. It was still extremely well written and may not be so obvious to others.
  
  Roxy's manager has one of his old clients turns up dead and though it is thought to be a suicide it soon is being looked at as murder because of another of his clients. David Lone is also a client of Oliver who has done very well for himself with a best seller and movie deal. While Roxy is still angry with Max she starts to have feelings for David, mainly because of his fascination with death and success. Bad Roxy, being so shallow.
  
  But the real problem is that after the first death more occur and it starts to look like poor Oliver is the prime suspect in all the deaths. Roxy does not need to be asked, though she is, to help her old friend find a way out of his predicament. She does not believe he is guilty even if David Lone has managed to place suspicion squarely on his shoulders.
  
  Definitely worth reading!
• 
  Kristi | Hidden Staircase |

  Another fun Roxy Parker! This one I guessed the killer fairly early on, which is unusual for me. But, she still kept me guessing. I still wasn't quite sure if I was right until the end. A fun mystery, and I continue to enjoy the character development for Roxy and the other regular characters.
• 
  Kat Lebo

  LAST WRITES, a Ghostwriter Mystery
  by C.A. Larmer
  
  I've become quite the fan of this series by Australian author C.A. Larmer. Full of quirky (to me, a reader from the U.S.) Australian idioms, it's become a game with me to see if I can figure out the meaning of the slang terms without having to look them up. This time around there were a couple that stopped me -- lairy for one. It evidently means flashily dressed, showy. I did have to look that one up. Bodgie was another I had to look up. At first I thought it might be a typo, and that the word dodgy might be what was meant. When I looked it up I found that it can be used to mean inferior, which fit perfectly with the context where it was seen. Also looked up were chook (slang for chicken when used as an insult to mean something foolish)and tosser (idiot or fool -- but from a term for masturbation). I feel like I get an education in the wonderful complexities of the English language with each book! None of these really stopped my progress in the book. I simply noted them and looked them up later.
  
  In this episode, Roxy Parker gets an opportunity to write the authorized/unauthorized biography of a popular true crime writer who is represented by her literary agent, Oliver. The author, David Lone, is a handsome man who seems very interested in not only Roxy's writing skills, but Roxy herself. But before she can get started on the book, another of Oliver's writers dies under what could be mysterious circumstances. Lone, hoping to capitalize on the event, writes an article for the newspaper where he is employed suggesting that the death was murder. He jumps into the investigation with both feet and, before long, it seems he might be on to something when yet another of Oliver's writers is killed, followed closely by yet a third writer who is represented by Oliver. All the evidence seems to point to Oliver as the killer and it is up to Roxy to sort out the facts and prove Oliver innocent. But can she? And if Oliver isn't the killer, who is?
  
  Wonderful plot, great pacing, and a great cast of characters make this book a joy to read. Proofing/editing was good, although I did find a couple of things that bothered me (those will come later). I loved that Larmer really made Roxy dig into herself on this one, trying to sort out her feelings for Max, trying to figure out the author, Lone, she was supposed to be writing about, and struggling with her loyalty to her friend/agent, Oliver, in the face of mounting evidence against him. If I liked Roxy before, I really really liked her after this episode. I loved that Larmer generously sprinkled hints and clues, many of which could be interpreted in more than one way, throughout the storyline. I liked that the reader has more than one person to suspect, and more than one reason to suspect each.
  
  So, what didn't I like? Unfortunately, I did have a few things about which I wasn't so pleased.
  
  At 944 (Kindle Fire first generation), Roxy is trying to relax with a glass of wine which she drinks from a "Morrocon tumbler." I think this should have been Morrocan. I did try to find "Morrocon tumbler" in an internet search, but everything that came up corrected the spelling, so unless there's a manufacturer who didn't show up in a simple search, this was a typo that should have been picked up.
  
  At 1536, Max's sister, Caroline is described as wearing a "royal blue dress clashing with bright yellow beads..." which is described as "bold and garish and should not have worked." Really? Blue and yellow are both primary colors. They can't clash. They are in fact bold together, but garish? Certainly bright. Again, this could be a difference in language or even in just preferences from country to country.
  
  This one was a biggie for me: gypsy-styled earrings. This is found at 2260. The word gypsy is a pejorative used for people of the Roma cultures. Although many non-Roma use the term and feel it is not derogatory, most Romany do feel it is used to disparage them. At the very least, the word should have been capitalized. One would not refer to turkish coffee -- it would be Turkish coffee. Yep. Big one for me and it lost the book a star.
  
  I also wasn't pleased to see Larmer use a cheesy "a" before words to indicate the Italian accent of Tina's father:
  
  "At last, a somebody understands!" he'd said in his thick Italian accent,... (found at about 2619) and this at about 2641: "oh, no, no, no. This is not a really for me. ... My memories of my Christina, they are in a here." He thumped his chest with a closed fist. "And in a here." He tapped his head with one calloused finger.
  
  I'm not sure this, found at about 3837, is actually incorrect, but it set off my grammar alarm: They clearly didn't appreciate digital interruptions at this restaurant--although, apparently, screaming kids and flying toys was perfectly acceptable...
  
  Again, to me, it should have been: ...apparently, screaming kids and flying toys were perfectly acceptable... I'll let some grammarian out there decide that. It was just jarring to my senses.
  
  I had one more, but it's a spoiler -- so there will be a spoiler alert after the ending of my comments. Proceed with caution!
  
  So, although I really, really like this novel and although I really really like Larmer's Roxy Parker, there were just too many things that I felt should have been picked up in proofing/editing for me to give the book 5 stars. Others may not be as bothered by these things. I readily admit that I can be nit-picky and that I am especially nit-picky if I like the author and the author's work. Believe me, it won't keep me from reading the next novel in the series, "Dying Words," which is next up on my Kindle carousel.
  
  
  SPOILER ALERT: This last one will give away a big part of the climax of the novel, so read no further if you plan to read this book!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  At 4330 on my Kindle:
  
  "No thanks to Mr. Lone."
  
  Ah, no, it would be ALL thanks to Mr Lone, who actually did plant the evidence that caused the police to believe Oliver was a suspect in the killings.
• 
  Heather Doughty

  This book series is super fun and easy to read. I enjoy the writing, the characters, and the shenanigans. The books can be stand alone, or you can read them in order.
• 
  Sandra Lopez

  This book sounded better than the last book, which was a real snoozer. I had hoped it would be better and it was!
  
  Someone is killing off best-selling authors. Oooh, intrigue! “Murder is one consistency you can count on.” (LOC 307)
  
  Roxy’s obsession with death makes her a good sleuth. The murders were interesting and compelling. You just had to find out who was killing off all these writers.
  
  I also liked how this book brought back a lot of the old characters from Book 1, like Oliver, the surly agent, and Max, the adoring long-lost friend. If these characters had been in the second book, it might’ve been better, almost average even. But this book was the best one yet! In fact, this probably should’ve led off the Ghostwriter series.
  
  Another fascinating aspect was the love triangle between Roxy, David, and Max. Who should she choose? I like them both. Of course, the greatest twist was when Oliver is the prime suspect in these murders. How will Roxy solve this one? And will she solve it before becoming the next victim?
  
  
  The best one ever!
• 
  moxieBK

  This is the third book in the Ghostwriter Mysteries series.
  
  I really have enjoyed this series so far. The female protagonist is smart, gritty, creative, and not romantically involved (well, not too much to be distracting anyway.) I appreciate an author that can do that with their characters. This is an uncommon element in female protagonist cosy mysteries.
  
  Ms. Lamar has well develop characters here; her writing is tight and the plot is clearly defined. The story feels a touch too long, but it does read fairly fast, so I can't quibble about that too much.
  
  The third book is typically where these series go off the rails, but it doesn't seem like that happened here. The title remain clever, and the subjects and secondary characters are enjoyable.
  
  Well done.
  
  Three stars.
• 
  Kay (Brigidsmomma) Compton

  I enjoyed this one, although I kind of figured out whodunit right away. Not the author's fault, just a sensitivity on my part, I think. We'll see if the next in the series does the same thing with me... Still, the story was captivating and kept me biting my nails to see how it would all work out. There were some really tense moments there, where I wasn't certain who the killer was, but my first inkling proved correct, and I liked how it ended...
• 
  Shauna Ratliff

  Another Winner
  
  Larmer continues to entertain with her unflappable ghostwrite, Roxy. The mysteries are becoming more complex and intriguing. Roxy herself seems to be doing the same with each new book.