The Last Party, by Claire Mackintosh

After a wild New Year’s Eve party a man is found dead in a lake on the border of England and North Wales. Was it accident, suicide or murder? Welsh detective Ffion Morgan and English copper Leo Brady find no shortage of motives or suspects for murder, but their complicated personal lives threaten to impede their investigations. An awkward structure zips back and forth in time between present day, the party and the weeks and months leading up to the party. The present day narrative switches between the perspective of the two detectives, while the flashbacks illuminate the points of view of an enormous variety of characters, including the dead man. The confusion this causes is only exacerbated by all accounts being written in present tense. The setting, with its border tensions, is really interesting, as is the interaction between the two detectives. But there are so many characters, with so many issues, it’s hard to keep track of what is going on. Everyone’s life is a soap opera, to the point of ridiculousness but apparently kept secret even in a small Welsh village. Billed as the first DC Morgan mystery, it’s hard to see how Ffion could remain a police officer after the, literally incredible, events of this book. Perhaps the Welsh borders are set to become the new Midsummer.