Her Last Mistake (DI Gina Harte #6) by Carla Kovach
Genre: Crime fiction, Suspense, Police procedural, Thriller
Read: 14th October 2020
Published: 11th May 2020
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Dressed in a sage green bridesmaid dress, and smiling for pictures, Holly is the happiest she’s ever been. Hours later, Holly is dead.
People love to hate Holly Long. Smart, beautiful and a woman who men find it hard to say no to, she’s the town’s most gossiped about resident.
Now Holly’s body lies in her hotel room, strangled at her best friend’s wedding party. And the gossip has stopped, because nobody wants to look like they did it.
When police search Holly’s immaculate apartment, amongst her stylish furnishings and expensive jewellery, they discover a different side to Holly. Orderly and precise, she wasn’t the chaotic party girl everyone thought her to be. In fact, Holly was a planner, and her next plan was to come out and tell her biggest secret – something she had been hiding for months, something that had the potential to ruin the lives of more than one wedding guest.
There are plenty of people who might have wanted to kill Holly, but only one who has finally made good on their promise.
An unputdownable crime thriller with an ending you will never see coming, this is the latest gripping novel from bestselling author Carla Kovach. If you like Angela Marsons, Cara Hunter and Clare Mackintosh, you’ll love Her Last Mistake.
MY REVIEW:
I have read many police procedurals over the years and I have to say that Carla Kovach's DI Gina Harte series is one of the best. Although I came late to the series with the third book "Her Pretty Bones", I was immediately drawn to the unique style of writing and the completely likable characters Kovach had expertly drawn. Her prose has a friendly camaraderie about it as well as being suspenseful. I still intend to go back and read the first two at some point, but until then I will continue with the series where ever it takes me.
From the opening prologue, HER LAST MISTAKE starts off with an impressive ardour that continues throughout the course of the book. Holly Long is 25 and in a toxic relationship with someone who remains unknown till the story's climax. When she discovers she is pregnant, she is excited by the prospect that finally he will have to commit to her...whilst at the same time fearing his reaction. But rather than celebrating what would usually be a joyous occasion, her significant other uses the opportunity to abuse her and remind her who holds the power in their relationship. But now with a child to think about, Holly refuses to be treated with such disrespect and orders him out of her flat. He leaves but not before uttering a final threat. A month later, Holly starts the day as bridesmaid to her best friend Kerry's wedding and ends up suffocated to death in her hotel room.
It's no secret that Gina Harte has had a rocky relationship with her daughter Hannah. So when Hannah comes to stay with her daughter Gracie, Gina is finally enjoying some time off to spend with them. Curled up watching one of Hannah's childhood favourite films "The Neverending Story", mother and daughter are enjoying some quality time together. That is until Gina's phone rings...with a call to Cleevesford Manor and the site of Holly's murder and as no one else is available, as a senior ranking officer Gina must attend the scene. Tensions are already rife between mother and daughter, but Hannah takes this as another personal afront and storms from the room like a moody teenager in a huff.
At Cleevesford Manor, where the wedding reception took place, Gina finds the guests gathered in shock and crime scene cordoning off the hotel room. She and her team question each and every guest in turn, taking their statements, to try and get a handle on what had happened to Holly. She is aggrieved to recognise Samuel Avery, the sleazy owner and bartender at the Angel's Arms with whom she has had more than one run-in with, apparently hired to run the bar but more like flirting with the female guests was her opinion. With investigations likely to take her long into the night, Gina tries to juggle her relationship with Hannah as well as doing her job.
But when Hannah sends an abrupt text to insinuate that since Gina cares more for her job than them she and Gracie have left her house and have checked into a B&B...where at least she knows where she stands...Gina wants to reach out to her daughter but knows she must also focus on the case and get justice for Holly. Then to make matters worse, Samuel Avery has turned his attentions on her daughter and Hannah, with a rebellion usually seen in adolescents, ignores all her mother's warnings about him. Gina realises she can do nothing, as Hannah is an adult and more than capable of making her own decisions (whether they are right or wrong) so Gina resigns herself to leaving Hannah to Samuel's sleazy clutches while she goes back to investigating the case.
Then when it is revealed that Holly was pregnant, Gina starts to question whether the father of the baby could be the murderer or if they are two separate instances. But as she delves further into Holly's life and comes across possible suspects, Gina is haunted once again with memories of her own dark past, finding the manner of Holly's death particularly triggering for her. And then, a second bridesmaid is found drowned in her bathtub...the two deaths different but with eerily similar traits. Could this be the work of one or two murderers?
There is so much more to this book than the teaser I have given here with jealousy, betrayal, friendships to name a few. It was so good to revisit Gina and her team again - DS Jacob Driscoll, DC Paula Wyre and DC Harry O'Connor...though less focus was on Mrs O's baking in this book than in previous ones. It was also good to see PCs Kapoor and Smith again lending a hand. PC Kapoor has become such an invaluable assistance both now and in the past that I'm surprised she hasn't been promoted to Gina's team already. And then of course there is the unspoken sexual chemistry between Gina and her boss, DCI Chris Briggs. We know they share a past and we know they are both attracted to one another. I, for one, would wish they'd just say "to hell with it" and just get one with it. Admittedly, it wasn't as irritating as it had been in some of the earlier books. At least in this one Briggs was more of a help than a hindrance. And not to mention that he also shares her secret that she revealed to him at the end of the last book (which I had forgot about). The two are obviously close and are practically married in many ways I wish they would just hurry up and do something about it.
The bone of contention that has run through practically every book I've read in the series is that of Hannah, and not so much of Gina's relationship with her but more of Hannah's behaviour and constant tanties when her mother has to actually do her job. She carries on as if there is a choice to be made - her or the job - and that Gina chooses the job every time. She behaves like a spoilt moody teenager without a sparing thought for her mother and her feelings. Hannah's a mother now; surely she could begin to understand Gina's predicament at times. Or is she just too spoilt to see beyond her own helplessness? Honestly, Hannah is so whiny and selfish who thinks Gina's entire world must revolve around her and Gracie alone. And when she's put out by Gina having to work, she dangles Gracie as some kind of threat to get her mother to bend to her whim. Hannah is the only thing I don't like about the series and wish she would just grow up and stop blaming her mother for everything.
Compelling from the first page, HER LAST MISTAKE is the sixth installment of this brilliant series and, just like all the previous books, each one stands alone and can be read as such. There is enough backstory given in each book to keep the reader up to date without having missed anything. There are no spoilers relating to the cases in previous books either. Each book does have the recurring theme of misogyny and violence towards women but these themes are relevant to Gina's own personal history which is mentioned in each book. And yet they are different in every case enough to stop them from becoming monotonous.
As for the mystery, it was indeed very clever. For once it had me fooled. I was thinking one way and was almost right but was shocked to discover that it wasn't as I thought. I did, however, figure it out just before everything fell into place but by then Kovach had already hoodwinked me throughout. I was truly puzzled by this one.
The balance between procedural and thriller is brilliant making HER LAST MISTAKE a fantastic addition to an already exciting series. The pace is utterly addictive throughout with many twists and a few red herrings along the way to keep you guessing.
An engaging read from beginning to end, I have no hesitation in recommending HER LAST MISTAKE.
I would like to thank #CarlaKovach, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #HerLastMistake in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Carla Kovach was born in the United Kingdom in Birmingham and now lives in Redditch, Worcestershire.
Carla has been writing for a long time. She’s been practicing ever since she was a child and through her teenage years. As a young adult, she was inspired to write by the theatre and the power that it has to bring the written word to life. It was then that she decided to start writing for the stage. Some of the stage plays that she has written have gone on to be produced and put on close to Worcestershire.
Carla first started off writing by attempting her first novel. The book was titled 'Flame' and was a ghost tale written for young adults. The book was published in 2013 and the supernatural drama was well received among readers and critics. That first book kicked off a writing bug in Kovach and she kept on writing novels. Her second novel to come out was a psychological thriller novel titled 'To Let' in 2014. That same year she would have her third novel released, 'Whispers Beneath the Pines', an engaging crime thriller novel set in Turkey. Pines would be one of her more popular works until the release of her Gina Harte series. She also wrote a novella described as a romantic holiday comedy titled 'Meet Me at Marmaris Castle'.
Carla then found a hit with her DI Gina Harte series and the debut of her novel 'The Next Girl' published by Bookouture. The series proved instantly popular with readers leading to several more novels in the series being written and published. The sequel, 'Her Final Hour' was followed by the third book 'Her Pretty Bones' then 'The Liar’s House', Her Dark Heart', and the sixth and seventh book were published in 2020 and are titled 'Her Last Mistake' and 'Their Silent Graves'.
Each of the books in the Gina Harte series can be read on their own as a stand alone novel or sequentially from the first book onward. If you have been looking for something new to check out that’s full of mystery, then be sure to look into this compelling series for yourself!
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