The Last Word

An obituary writer finds one of her neighbors dead before her time in this debut cozy mystery perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Eva Gates.

Obituary writer Winter Snow is no stranger to grief, and writing obituaries for the citizens of Ridgefield, Connecticut, is her way of providing comfort to those who have been in her shoes. But funerals and eulogies are meant for the dead, so when the very much alive Leocadia Arlington requests her own obituary by the end of the week, Winter’s curiosity is piqued. Even more so when she finds Mrs. Arlington dead soon after. Officer Kip Michaels and his relentless partner Tom Bellini make it clear that Winter is under suspicion for the death.

Drafting an obituary for someone who hadn’t died yet certainly looks bad, but Winter knows that it wasn’t her, and she becomes obsessed with trying to figure out the real killer. She dives headfirst into the investigation to give Mrs. Arlington and herself some peace. When Winter realizes Mrs. Arlington was working on a revealing memoir that has now gone missing, Winter begins to wonder if the death wasn’t exactly random-accident or otherwise.

With the help of her foodie Uncle Richard, her wise octogenarian neighbor Horace, her best friend Scoop, and Diva, the Great Pyrenees puppy she inherited from Mrs. Arlington, Winter must uncover the killer before the next obituary written is her own.

Gerri Lewis started her career as a freelance writer and has published over 1,400 features, news stories, obituaries, and columns. Along with writing her novels, she continues to write magazine features for O68 Magazine. Her cover features appear regularly and her HOW WE MET column was a popular staple of the magazine for many years. Her accolades include feature-writing awards from the New England Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists, among others. Beyond journalism, Gerri works as a public information officer for the Ridgefield Office of Emergency Management. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Gerri lives with her husband in Ridgefield, Connecticut and the setting for her obituary writer mystery, The Last Word.