Books: "Last Day" by Luanne Rice

Last Day 
By Luanne Rice
Thomas & Mercer; hardcover, $24.95; paperback, $15.95; ebook, $3.99; available today, Saturday, February 1

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-four novels that have been translated into twenty-four languages. In 2002, Connecticut College awarded Rice an honorary degree, and she also received an honorary doctorate from Saint Joseph College. In June 2014, she received the Connecticut Governor's arts Award for excellence as a literary artist.


Rice's latest book is Last Day, a riveting story of a seaside community shaken by a violent crime and a tragic loss.

Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister, Kate, suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting Moonlight and their mother were taken.

The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from that moment forward. 

Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery, as well as raising a beautiful daughter with her husband, Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the air as a pilot, always on the run.

When Beth is found strangled in her home, and Moonlight is missing again, Detective Reid can't help but feel how he did back then investigating what happened to her mother. 

Reid immediately suspects Beth's husband, whose affair is a poorly kept secret. He has an airtight alibi, but he also has motive, with evidence pointing to him. 

Kate and Reid, along with the sisters' closest childhood friends,  struggle to make sense of Beth's death, but they only find more questions. Who would have wanted Beth dead, and what is the significance of Moonlight?

As much as this is a tale of two sisters, it also is a tale of a detective who vowed to protect them twenty years before, and failed. Now, solving this case is his obsession.