Arbie and Val are back! This time he is invited to visit a new swanky hotel which owners hope to be mentioned in the next instalment of The Gentleman's Guide to Ghost-Hunting and she arrives at the same place as one of the guests. Val is pleased she will be able to help him to stop dilly dallying and get on with his work and Arbie is dismayed he is expected to put some effort into something. And when the gruesome death occurs, it is Arbie who once again is forced to help to discover what happened. Full of delightfully modern bright young people and pleasantly old-fashioned dialogue this is a crime novel set in the interwar period, which is one of my favourite historical times. A lot of time is taken by setting up the scene and the murder does not occur until later in the book, but I enjoyed Arbie and Val’s plot line, and her determination to become his assistant. The only problem is that I did not enjoy the ending as much as I thought I would, because during the grand reveal scene Arbie did not really solve the mystery in full – he just explained who the culprit was but the details had to be added by others. Nonetheless I will be reading the next instalment of the series, I just hope Arbie brushes up his investigative skills.
PS. I listened to most of the book and unfortunately the narrator was NOT my favourite, mostly because he attempted to read all dialogues in different voices and some of them were just … So over the top…

My thanks to NetGalley and HQ publishers for a copy of “ The Last Word Is Death “ for an honest review .

I really enjoyed the first adventure with amateur sleuths/ ghost hunters Albie and Val and this second book was equally good .There were well written , amusing characters to choose from whodunnit and it kept me entertained and guessing right up to the end.Hopefully there will be more to come from the series soon.

I love Faith Martin's books and this one hooked me just the same, I read it very quickly and felt like the mystery was well done, fun and exciting overall.

An Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery with the aloof and reluctant Archie and his childhood friend and willing co-investigator Val.

It's 1925 and a newly opened country hotel invites Arbie to visit hoping for a glowing review in his latest travel guide. At the same time a wedding party arrives and before long chaos ensues after a shocking murder.

Before the first murder is solved, another guest is killed and it's Arbie with his powers of deduction who will solve both.

I really enjoyed this murder mystery even though it's not my favourite genre. I can see the relationship between Val and Arbie developing if the series continues and I'd definitely be keen to read more of their back story.

This is book two in a series, which does work as a standalone. I haven't read book one, but I would have preferred to have read the first before this one, as it does assume you know the characters.

Arbie is staying at Dashwood House, when a guest is found dead. The guest was part of a group visiting for an engagement party, that also includes Arbie's friend Val. The pair have history with crime solving, so they decide to investigate. Can they work out who killed and why?

I really liked Arbie and Val, I thought Arbie's bumbling ways were offset perfectly by Val. There were definite hints of Agatha Christie stories, I shall certainly look for more in this series.

The second book in the Val And Arbie Mysteries takes place at a luxury hotel in an upcoming coastal resort in the 1920s. Arbie's success with his first ghost-hunting travel guide allows him to stay at the resort and research the headless horse-riding ghost that haunts nearby. Arbie is hoping for plenty of relaxation and the bare minimum of work, but the appearance of his neighbour, vicar's daughter, Val and an untimely death means that he has to become an unwilling sleuth again. I enjoyed his historical cosy mystery and found it an engaging read. I like the dynamic between the amateur sleuths, the detailed characterisation and the setting, which make the reader invest in all the characters and the clever mystery.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

The body is found in the writing room, the victim part of a set visiting the seaside town for an engagement party, which happens to include Arbie’s old friend, Val. Familiar with Val and Arbie’s previous experience in solving puzzling crimes, the bride asks the pair to investigate. They quickly discover that the victim had no shortage of enemies, and many of the guests are up to no good.
The second outing for Val & Arbie & another well written cosy mystery. I do like both Arbie & Val & the dynamics of their relationship but do feel they aren’t equals – hopefully this will change as the series progresses. I enjoyed the book with its twists, turns & red herrings, there’s also a dash of humour. A light cosy mystery which I read in two sittings
I voluntarily read and reviewed a special copy of this book; all thoughts and opinions are my own

Arbie is invited to Dashwood House in Galton-next-the-sea for research for his next book. The village allegedly has a ghost and the hotel is in it's first season. When he arrives he is told that a party celebrating an engagement party will arrive in a day or two, as it turns out, his friend Val is in the party and she starts to chivvy him up to do some work.
When a guest at the hotel is found murdered, it takes a lot of effort on his part to find out what happened.
A good whodunnit, set in the 1920s.

THE LAST WORD IS DEATH is another cosy, charming murder mystery about a work-shy lad and his determined friend.

The comfortable dynamic between the leading duo is where Faith Martin really shines. She creates a detective pair that have plenty of quirks and chemistry and you want to keep reading for them as much as the mystery. Will Val bully Arbie into ever finishing his book or will he continue to avoid work at all costs? (The fact that I like a character who is unashamedly lazy is quite impressive.) They rub along well with plenty of gentle amusement so that you invest in them, which is key to sustaining a mystery series.

I really enjoyed the little diversion from the murder to ghost hunting. Val bullies Arbie into going to find the local ghost and it ends up being the perfect anecdote for his book - and also backfires spectacularly on him. It's a fun like side quest that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The mystery itself is an interesting one. While the dead girl is not exactly liked, the possible motives turned up are pretty weak. It's other people that seem to have the stronger enemies. So why her? It was an nice angle to the murder mystery and leaves it as a bit of a head scratcher,

I would argue the title of THE LAST WORD IS DEATH is not as clever as MURDER BY CANDLELIGHT, but that was a pretty hard act to follow. I do hope there are more of these to come!

Arbie and Val are back for a second installment of cosy crime, set in the 1920's.

I love cosy crime, so I was chuffed when I got a copy of the Last Word is Death. I've read a few Agatha Christie so like the tone of these type of mysteries. I hadn't read the first book in this series but that didn't matter. It was easy to get into the book without having the background.

Unfortunately, the voice of Arbie seemed too trite. It felt very Jeeves and Wooster 'Tally Ho' but not in a good way. I couldn't get over the narration so had to put it down. DNF at 5%.

I'm sure it will be a great read for some, just not for me.

This was the first book in this series, but it was relatively easy to pick up on the relationships between the characters and storyline. I liked the fact that the murder method in the story was a bit different from the usual. This added an extra element of intrigue to the plot. I didn’t guess who the murderer was in the story until late on, proving that the novel did a good job of providing misdirection. There were a lot of characters in the novel, and at times, I thought neither Arbie (our amateur sleuth) nor the inspector led the investigation until the end when Arbie conducted a Poirot style reveal.

There was a nod to the 1920s era in the fashions and attitudes. Arbie, in particular, stood out as an upper-class gentleman type, although Val came across as a bit of a prop for his theories. The ghost element could have been included in the main plot. Overall, an enjoyable novel once you get used to the narration style.

In this second novel, loveable Arbie Arbuthnot and Val, the daughter of a vicar, find themselves at the same hotel when a murder occurs.
Arbie is staying at Dashwood House, doing research for his next book in his best selling series, The Gentleman’s Guide to Ghost hunting, and Val is there for the engagement party of her best friend Beatrice, Val has been invited to be a bridesmaid.
The wedding party is entitled with hyphenated surnames ,extremely privileged, and most of the members have secrets based upon old scores to be settled, blackmail and plain old hatred.
The method of death is unusual. Arbie is reluctantly pressurised into searching for clues, and helping the police investigate the murder. Val has her eyes set upon being the assistant to Arbie to get her away from the small and boring village life she is subjected to.
All is resolved very satisfactory. There are clues present, but watch out for the red herrings, I went completely down the wrong path yet again.!
A very enjoyable murder mystery done in the Golden Age style, very Agatha Christie, but Arbie reminds me of a young Campion.
Val and Arbie make quite the team of investigators, and I do hope for further adventures.
My thanks to Netgalley and HQ Books, the publishers for my ARC, given freely in return for my honest review. Five stars from me.
I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK upon publication.

It was such a pleasure to catch up with Arbie and Val at a posh hotel in the seaside town of Galton-next-the Sea. Arbie has been asked by Captain and Mrs Penderghast to write a review of the hotel and the mystery of Red-Dog and his steed, Stalwart.! What Arbie doesn't know is that Val will be turning up as a member of an engagement party for her friend, Beatrice. The scene is set with the engagement party and other hotel guests when a body is discovered in the hotel. Arbie is chevied along by Val to do some amateur sleuthing and investigate the mysterious death. All the sub plots tie up wit a dramatic reveal that I didn't see coming. It has the hallmarks of an Agatha Christie mystery.

This book doesn't quite live up to the nostalgic vibes that the first book had. However it was still a cosy crime novel. The names in the book sounded a little bit similar to each other which made it hard to keep up. Also nothing really happens in the first half of the book. Where I was hoping for more character development which there wasn't. The tense atmosphere from the previous book was also lacking. Despite these things it was still a good book, interesting characters, but I just wished it would have held my attention more.

2.5-3 stars

I really enjoyed the previous book in this series - Murder By Candlelight; it had everything I wanted from a cosy crime novel, but it had something else. There was this nostalgic about it, reminding me of the crime novels of Agatha Christie. And so I was really excited to read the sequel.

Sadly this one did not live up to its predecessor in my opinion.

My immediate issue with it was I couldn't keep up with the characters. There's a lot of them and quite early one. I only read the first book recently and yet I couldn't' remember if they were new characters or old, and I felt a bit lost. I think because a lot of them have quite similar stereotypical "posh" names, they ended up blurring together.

Nothing really happens for the first half of the book. This isn't always a bad thing necessarily, as it gives the author time to build up characters, build up tension and suspects and whatnot. But it didn't seem to me that the time had been spent well. It was just...it was just there. Nothing was happening, I didn't feel the development of characters or particularly tense. I was finding myself wanting to skip further along to see if it got going.

I hadn't read any of her books prior to Candlelight, and so I had no preconceived ideas, but I absolutely loved that and then she instantly became a writer to watch. But this sequel felt flat. Like she had used everything in the first book and so there was nothing left for this one.

It wasn't a bad book per se. It's still an interesting premise with some interesting characters (although the main characters of Arbie and Val are a little all over the shop), and it still has that nostalgic feeling. But it didn't hold my attention and it won't be one that stays with me much.

A second outing for Albie and Val and the prospect of book 2 in the ghost hunting/ review of local hotels.

This is a good story with a continuation of the development of the characters of the two main protagonists, however I felt that the story was not as strong as the previous book. I did enjoy some of the new characters but I felt that the chemistry between them was not as strong and I was waiting for the main plot or ghostly occurrence to happen.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Word is Death is the second book in this new series by Faith Martin. Arbie and Val, childhood friends and now adult partners in sleuthing, are back. This time they're staying in a hotel where the former is supposedly working on his new book, when Val arrives to celebrate her friend's engagement. When murder is done, the bride-to-be asks Val and Arbie to try to find out what happened. It's an engaging story, fairly undemanding but very enjoyable. And, thankfully, there's no feeling of competition between the amateur and professional investigators.

The second Arbie mystery is just as good as the first. It is like a vintage Agatha Christie book with all the typical characters that you would expect.
The clues are all there but it takes Arbie to work them all out and share his thoughts in the usual manner - all the suspects gathered in one room. A delightful read!

A cozy murder mystery set by the seaside in the 1920’s. Arbor has travelled to a recently opened hotel to write a chapter for his second book combining ghost stories with their holiday locations. When a young woman is mysteriously electrocuted, Arbis and his friend Val set out to solve the mystery.

This is the second book in the series but I read this one without reading the first and I didn’t need any prior knowledge. Set in the roaring twenties and evoking the easy lifestyle of the wealthy at this time I found the book a fun and engrossing read. Nothing too grisly and all wrapped up nicely at the end.

It's September 1925 somewhere on the English coast. Arbuthnot (Arbie) Swift is feeling pretty good. He's supposed to be working on the last chapter of his second book, a sequel to the surprise bestseller, The Gentleman's Guide to Ghost-Hunting, but Arbie isn't really keen on doing any work. In fact, the thing he works hardest at is avoiding the work he's supposed to be doing and he thinks his current situation is the perfect opportunity to do a lot of that. He's been given an all-expenses paid stay at a newly refurbished seaside hotel. The owners are hoping that he'll give them a good write-up, which would be good for business. Things are pretty quiet when he arrives with just a few guests already there, but he's told that things will be very busy starting in the next day or two. A young woman is getting married and her wealthy father has invited family members and members of the wedding party to spend a weekend at the hotel on him. Imagine Arbie's surprise when he is busy not writing and is suddenly confronted by Val, the vicar's daughter and his friend since childhood from his home village, who is one of the wedding party.

Val is a no-nonsense kind of person and Arbie knows that it will now be much harder for him to avoid working on that last chapter, since Val can be quite a taskmaster. However, he soon has more than that to worry about when another one of the wedding party ends up dead in the writing room and the bride-to-be asks Arbie and Val to investigate.

I enjoyed this book. There is humor sprinkled throughout. The discussion of the supposed ghost and the attempt to see it are amusing and add a quirky twist to the story. The mystery was done in a clever way and the crime was committed in a way that was unique--at least in my experience reading cozy mysteries. All in all, this is a light, enjoyable read for people who like cozy mysteries set in small English villages in times past.