THE LAST KILL, the tenth novel in Robert W. Stephens’ A Murder on Maul series is the featured selection for this month’s Book Blast. This very readable series features Edgar Allan “Poe” Rutherford, an independently wealthy resident of Maui who spends his time solving murders on the island as an amateur sleuth.
Plot Details
Lights. Camera. Murder. When lies become reality, can Poe find the truth before a killer strikes again?
As Maui’s best private investigator, Edgar Allan “Poe” Rutherford understands the importance of keeping a low profile. That becomes impossible when a new reality TV show comes to the island, which features an eccentric handful of divorcees looking for love. But when one of the women is poisoned to death, the show’s production comes to a grinding halt.
At the same time, a few miles down the beach, a divorce attorney is stabbed multiple times while she sits on a lounge chair and watches the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. The methods of murder, as well as the victims, couldn’t be more different, yet Poe has a sneaking suspicion they’re somehow related.
As Poe dives deep into the backgrounds of the show’s cast and crew, as well as the attorney, he learns that nothing’s real in reality TV and everyone has a dark secret.
The Review
I’ve been hooked on Robert W. Stephens’ A Murder on Maui series since reading the first novel, Aloha Means Goodbye, and haven’t missed one since. The thing I found immediately engaging about the series is Stephens’ conversational writing style. Reading one of his books feels almost like you’re sitting across from the author while he tells you the story.
The Last Kill, the tenth novel in the series has all the elements I’ve come to expect from Stephens — an entertaining plot that keeps you guessing, a sprinkling of humor, and interesting colorful characters that you either immediately feel empathy for or love to hate. Another thing I like about Stephens’ writing is he gives you plenty of details about the setting leaving you feeling almost like you’re on Maui feeling the warm sunshine on your face and enjoying the kiss of the gentle trade winds on your skin. Since Hawaii is one of my most favorite places on the planet, I really enjoy books using the islands as a setting.
I consider this series to be in the cozy mystery category since the protagonist, Edgar Allan “Poe” Rutherford is an amateur detective who either informally investigates cases or works with the Maui police as an unofficial consultant. While cozy mysteries aren’t my usual forte when it comes to crime fiction, I have truly enjoyed reading this series. The Last Kill was no exception. As always seems to happen to me with these novels, I couldn’t put it down until I’d read it from start to finish. The Last Kill earns a five-star Book Blast rating which means I loved it, buy it today.
If you love murder mysteries with plots twists that bend and sway like a palm tree on a windy Hawaiian beach, you’ll love Robert W Stephens’ The Last Kill. No worries if you haven’t read the first nine books in the series yet. These are all standalone novels where you can start at any point in the series and won’t lose anything in the translation. As of the date of this publication, for a limited time you can grab your Kindle copy of The Last Kill for just 99 cents.
Publication Date: February 18, 2019
Eleven 22 Entertainment LLC
eBook; 357 Pages
Genre: Mysteries/Private Investigator Mysteries
Visit Robert’s website to get a FREE copy of Aloha Means Goodbye, the first book in the series.
Robert W. Stephens is a writer and filmmaker. After graduate school, he worked for a variety of video production companies as a production assistant and grip on commercials, infomercials, and documentaries. Eventually, he moved up to writing, producing and directing for many Fortune 500 companies, advertising agencies, and government organizations.
Over the years, though, he began to feel the desire to get back to telling his own stories through both novels and independent films. To date, Stephens has published 10 novels, including the Murder for Maui mystery series, the Alex Penfield novels, and the standalone dark thrillers Nature of Evil and The Drayton Diaries. His first film, House of Fallen, is a Gothic thriller about the hunt for fallen angels, and it received distribution in 2011.