The Last Girl To Die - Helen Fields

 

 'In search of a new life, seventeen-year-old Adriana Clark’s family moves to the ancient, ocean-battered Isle of Mull, far off the coast of Scotland. Then she goes missing. Faced with hostile locals and indifferent police, her desperate parents turn to private investigator Sadie Levesque.

Sadie is the best at what she does. But when she finds Adriana’s body in a cliffside cave, a seaweed crown carefully arranged on her head, she knows she’s dealing with something she’s never encountered before.

The deeper she digs into the island’s secrets, the closer danger creeps – and the more urgent her quest to find the killer grows. Because what if Adriana is not the last girl to die?'

 I don't know why but I seem to be really drawn to Scottish crime fiction. And when it moves from the usual spots (Edinburgh, Glasgow etc) even more so. There's something about those isolated areas that make things feel just that bit more off. TLGTD is set on the island of Mull and the 'offness' is certainly strong here.

 Our heroine in this standalone (for now at least) is Canadian PI Sadie Levesque who specialises in finding missing teens. She is brought in by the parents of 17 year old Adriana Clark in the hopes that she will be able to do what it seems the local police cannot be bothered to and find their daughter. Unfortunately, as you'd expect from the title, the search doesn't end well.

 The family of the missing (ok, dead) girl are American and only recently arrived on the island. The locals are standoffish at best and weirdly odd at worst so adding a Canadian PI to the mix doesn't make for good relationships between them and the islanders but I'll tell you what, it makes for a good, twisty tale. I had several guesses as to the final outcome but I'm glad to say I was wrong and the end caught me out.

 I would highly recommend this novel (and the author - I enjoyed this so much I'm going on the hunt for her other novels straight away)

4.5/5*

Thanks to Avon Books for the review copy and Midas PR for inviting me onto the tour. All views are my own and not influenced in any way. Also, big ❤️ to the people of Mull - I hope I haven't insulted or upset any of you in any way. My comments are only on the characters in the novel and I am sure you are all lovely people.

 The Last Girl To Die is published in the UK on September 1st 2022.