Last Look by Mariah Stewart is a murder mystery.  Well, to be accurate we have TWO murder mysteries to solve - both with the same victim! 

Yes, you read that right, our victim, Shannon Randall has been murdered twice.  Sort of...

Twenty-four years ago, Shannon disappeared from the All-American perfect family.  She is presumed murdered, and quite a bit of evidence points to a no-good kid from the wrong side of the tracks.  Even though her body was never found, the jury finds the kid guilty, and he is executed several years later.

Present day: Shannon's body is found.  The dilemma?  She's only been dead for a few hours.  It seems that someone messed up big time twenty-four years ago, and an innocent man was put to death.

Agent Dorsey Collins wants answers.  For a whole lot of reasons.  But, mostly, since her father, Matt, was the FBI agent credited with the quick arrest and conviction all those years ago, she really wants to know exactly what went wrong in that investigation.  Also, where has Shannon been this whole time, and finally, who killed her this time around?

I enjoyed this story very much.  First of all, there's the sheer horror of the entire situation.  Imagine how the young man's family feels knowing their son died for a crime he didn't commit.  There's also Shannon's family to think about - they were under the impression that their child/sister was dead all these years.  Now they find out she was actually alive, but now she's really dead before they have a chance to find out what really happened to her.  And, let's not discount how Matt must feel, knowing he was completely wrong all those years ago.  What a horrible situation for all concerned!

I also liked the way Stewart developed her characters.  We feel we get to understand the emotions of all of the players.  Especially Agent Collins, who has issues from her own past to deal with, on top of all that's going on in her present life.

As Collins works to find answers, she's met with the usual assortment of obstacles along the way.  People who omit important details, and people who lie outright.  Not to mention those who care more about vilifying the players from the original investigation, than finding out the real answers.  Yes, Collins has her work cut out for her.

As for us, the readers, we really have no idea who did what to whom, and why, until the very end of the story.  Stewart does a good job holding our interest, but keeping us pretty much in the dark about what really happened, until she's good and ready to let us in at the very end.

My only real complaint about Last Look is the ending.  It was rushed, and came together through some major assumptions made by the protagonists.  They laid these assumptions out on the table and suddenly everyone started talking, as if the agents had proven their case so they might as well confess all.  I'm not sure this would really happen in real life. 

Still, despite a slightly disappointing ending, this is a very intriguing murder mystery.  Take a look, at Last Look.


Last Words

Recommended: Yes