“Behind closed doors –
even doors surrounded by roses –
all sorts of things could happen.”

Rose Kynaston – a journalist who has survived imprisonment in Somalia and worse, has now moved to the Shropshire village where her husband Dylan grew up. She feels that finally they have a safe place in which to bring up their young son, Aled.

Little does she know that Hurtwood (an aptly named village) hold decades old family secrets that will threaten her family’s reputation, safety, and even their very lives…

“When the mighty fall, everyone jumps on their back and feels a little taller.”

Ellie Trevelyan – in her fifties, Ellie is a twenty-five year veteran of her local police in a Shropshire village. With the police office under threat of closure, Ellie feels her enforced retirement looming. Single, Ellie cares for her father when not working. A retired police detective, he now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

“The human capacity to keep secrets is limited only
by the size of the available hiding place.”

An engaging plot and likeable characters made “The Last to Know” an enjoyable and intriguing mystery novel.

The atmospheric setting, a manor house sitting atop Grim’s Holm (translates as Devil’s Island), an iron age hill fort and leper colony, engendered a creepy vibe that added panache to the already alluring mystery plot.

Three cold cases converge and all have links to Hurtwood House and the Kynaston family. The author skillfully tied the three cold cases together in an entertaining and believable way. The steady pace of the novel kept me avidly turning pages, though in my opinion the author relied rather heavily on the use of similes which pervaded the novel throughout.

All in all, an absorbing and atmospheric mystery novel which I can heartily recommend.

This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley and Anne Cater for Random Things Tours. 

ISBN: 9781542006538 –  ASIN: B081T2CFG8  –  317 pages

After spending a decade as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, Jo Furniss gave up the glamour of night shifts to become a freelance writer and serial expatriate. Originally from the United Kingdom, she spent seven years in Singapore and also lived in Switzerland and Cameroon.

As a journalist, Jo worked for numerous online outlets and magazines, including Monocle and the Economist. She has edited books for a Nobel laureate and the palace of the Sultan of Brunei. She has a Distinction in MA Professional Writing from Falmouth University.

Jo’s debut novel, All the Little Children, was an Amazon Charts bestseller.

Follow Jo Furniss on Twitter or visit her website.