Debra Webb has written a number of series. She kicks off the Finley O’Sullivan one with The Last Lie Told.
Charlie Holmes is in a Tennessee prison, but he still stirs up a hornet’s next when he tells a defense attorney he didn’t kill Lance Legard of Nashville’s Legard Records, although he confessed five years earlier. He insists he was cleaning up a mess for a woman, Legard’s own daughter. Sophia Legard asks Jack Finnegan to represent her identical twin daughters, one of whom might have killed Sophia’s husband.
But, it’s Finley O’Sullivan, a former district attorney, who is caught up in the messy investigation. Finley’s currently suspended from practicing law, but that doesn’t mean she can’t do investigative work for Jack. After Finley’s husband was murdered, and she went through months of therapy, she had a breakdown in court, and was suspended for a year. As Finley digs into the background of the Legards, as well as Holmes’ story, she finds nothing but lies. The charismatic Holmes sends Finley frequent messages through his devoted followers, but Charlie’s hints only reveal part of the mystery.
And, Jack Finnegan is keeping secrets from Finley as well. But, then, everyone seems to know more than Finley does about this case, and about her own late husband.
Webb leaves some strings and mysteries unresolved in The Last Lie Told. The story is confusing at times, and the twin sisters don’t make the storyline easier to follow. In fact, they’re part of the problem with the entire book. I may try the next in the series, though, because it’s the mystery about Finley’s husband that I find interesting, more than the messy Legard case.
The Last Lie Told by Debra Webb. Thomas & Mercer, 2022. ISBN 9781542035439 (paperback), 316p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley to review for a journal.
