Customer Reviews

Her Last Letter

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Set in the Colorado mountain town of Glenwood Springs, close to Aspen. Gwyn Sanders is an artist and photographer. Years ago her sister, Kelly, had been killed by a hit-and-run driver. Police surmised she had been a random victim of a drunk driver. However, the killer had taken the time to drive her truck (which later proved to be the vehicle which struck her down) back to the house, pull it into the garage, and close the door. No one knows what really happened that fateful night. Gwyn and her remaining sister, Linda Lehman, have had no closure.

Gwyn finds a letter, long hidden by Kelly, revealing that she was sexually involved with her sister's boyfriend and was scared for her life. Gwyn and Linda have since married their boyfriends. It is obvious that either of their husbands could be guilty of Kelly's murder. Everyone knew of the fortune the sisters had received when their parents had died and neither sister dated the men long before wedding them. Only now does Gwyn realize that she and Linda honestly had little knowledge of either man's background. Danger surrounds Gwyn as she begins a search for the truth of what actually happened on the night of Kelly's death.

**** This mystery had me guessing and second guessing throughout the entire story. I came to actually care for Gwyn. I totally understood her fear of perhaps learning that the man she married may have had a hand in the death of her sister, Kelly. The author also includes Linda's reaction of not caring and not wanting to find out what happened since it was all in the past anyhow. The two sisters may have different reactions about Kelly's death, but the two still show the sibling bond that most have in the real world. I found it to be very realistic. The story slows down a bit too much (for my taste) toward the middle, however, the author fills these spots with information that readers may use to test their wits. Great reading, especially for a rainy day when you are trapped indoors. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I was browsing for a book to read on my Kindle, and came across a listing for this book. The premise was intriguing, the reviews were good, and the price was right.

I love to read, and will read almost anything. But I could not finish this book. I hate to say anything negative, because I'm sure the author put a lot of love and work into this novel. But it is just poorly written. I felt that I was being told things about the characters, as opposed to being shown who they were, and a lot of what I was being told was just superfluous detail.

A good book draws you into the story. In this book, I was so conscious of the writing I had a hard time attending to the story. And the letter of the title seemed so wildly implausible that I found myself not really caring who killed its writer. I tried to give this book the ol' college try, but actually deleted it from my Kindle partway through. I knew if I kept it on there I would feel guilty for not finishing it, and I just didn't want to finish it.

I found myself enjoying finding the time to steal moments away and read several chapters of this book at a time.( I am extremely busy & barely have time to pick up a book often enough)
I found myself trying hard to be disciplined and not flip to the last few chapters & just see ahead of time exactly "whodunit". (which I didn't cheat...I read page by page)
Nancy Johnson as an author nailed that technique of making a reader want to keep going & going and want to find out the ending.
The only fault I found in this book was that as quickly as you know who did the crime the book is over.
No real combustible or AHA moment.
I would have liked to have seen the killer have more dialogue at the end.
Oh well. Nancy is the author & this was her baby.
I will loan this book out and see what others say about it, and whether they agree with the other reviewers or more with me.
I would definately read another book by Nancy Johnson. I give it a A-/B+.

It had love triangles, plot twists, and excitement. Was it the best novel ever written? No, but that's not why you buy a book like this. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down and I kept trying to guess who the killer was the whole time. That's what made this a good read. Here's why I didn't give it a higher rating: I didn't understand some of the elements of the plot. The sister Kelly who died hid her secrets in journals, notes,secret codes, & even stuffed animals. What grown woman does that? It made Kelly seem like she was 12. I know that Gwyn described her sister as strange, but juvenile seems to be a more apt description. It made me wonder the age of the audience this author was writing for. I also felt like the situation w/Gywn's husband is never really answered--at least not to my satisfaction. And speaking of which, some parts of the story really didn't further the plot. For example, Gwyn and Trevor embark on a ski vacation with Trevor's "boss." The author spent an inordinate amount of time describing the ski trip, yet it really didn't have much to do with the rest of the story. Overall though, for sheer entertainment I found it worth my time.

Highly recommended. Well-written and suspenseful. Johnson succeeds in balancing plot and characters, no easy feat. This story is full of people so real you feel as if you could call them on the phone and chat with them. At the same time, she seamlessly develops a very suspenseful tale for them, enmeshing them in intrigue and sometimes danger. You really feel for the main character, Gwyn, who is grieving for a dead sister. When a clue to her sister's murder pops up, Gwyn embarks upon a search for the truth that calls much of her own life into question. Can her friends be trusted? Her surviving sister? Her own husband? Did he marry her for her inheritance? There are plenty of viable suspects, and it was entertaining to follow Gwyn as she pursued -- and tried to survive -- her quest. I also enjoyed the vivid details that enrich the story, from Gwyn's art to the exciting skiing scenes. I'm looking forward to reading more of Johnson's novels.

It's funny to me to see the phrase "well written" come up in some of these reviews, because all I kept thinking was how terribly written it was. There were entire sections that were so detailed it almost hurt to read them. Several pages detailed nothing but the independently wealthy, vanity painter of a heroine getting lost on her way to set up her booth at the local mall. To top it off, the entire section of the novel had nothing to do with ANYTHING. The plot was decent and could've made for a quick, fun read. Unfortunately the terrible writing made getting to the end a chore. It was like reading through the stories I wrote with my friends in high school. Not worth it.

This was my first book purchase for my new kindle. Not sure if it would be good I decided the price was right as a trial read. I couldn't put it down! I kept thinking it was one person then the other. I definitely got a bargain price and loved the story! I have a feeling that Johnson's next book will cost more and I will be waiting to get it.

This was an excellently written who done it with quite a twist. It was well written and kept you guessing until the last minute. I read some of the reviews before purchasing this book and they almost deterred me from getting this book but I am glad that I did. Honestly people...are you serious???? You are upset that in this 96,000 word book she used 200 of them to semi-describe one time she made love with her husband? Come on people. This book was excellent and I couldn't put it down. The story line was artfully and tastefully done. Not too dull yet not overly exciting. Once it was over I went searching to see if there were other titles by this author.

I loved this book. Couldn't figure out who did it until it was revealed. This author is definitely gifted. Can't wait to read another one of her books.

For several months after I got my Kindle, I relied on positive average ratings to buy inexpensive Kindle Singles and books like this one. I discovered very few good authors this way (I enjoyed "4 years from home" for example) and realized that I was wasting a lot of time with "easy reading". A bit of easy reading is OK, but the buying experience on the Kindle Shop is so easy that I got carried away. I found that many of the positive ratings were based on "price/performance" in the style of: "wasn't great, but read well for 99 cents". This book is a good example. It's not bad. The plot is intriguing. But it's not great writing. The characters and the writing are bland. I now read in more detail the positive AND the negative reviews before purchasing/downloading a book. I mostly end up turning to free great classics or paying more for better books. I'm sorry to pick on this particular one, as it is not the worst example, but I've wanted to share this experience for some time as I'd be interested to know if other readers share it.