From Amazon:

Captain Patti O'Shay, a by-the-books cop, is assigned to the case. But with the evidence lost to time and the elements, the heinous incident goes unsolved. The perpetrator, known only as "The Handyman," remains at large.

Two years later Patti is still haunted by her own personal tragedy—her husband and fellow police captain was murdered in the post-storm chaos. But when a female victim missing her right hand is unearthed, Patti prepares to return to The Handyman investigation. She is unprepared, however, for what she finds at the crime scene—the victim's bones beside her husband's police badge. Casting aside all the rules, Patti is fearless in her quest to find the truth…because if she isn't, she could become The Handyman's last known victim.

My Thoughts:

The book had a very good story line for the most part. There were some things that I thought was unreasonable...like all this family working under their Aunt Patti and her being allowed to investigate her husbands murder who had also worked in the police department with her. I just didn't find this believable but overall I would have to say it was a bit long but a worhwhile read. ( )

One would think based on the way thriller writers write about them that every fourth person in the United States is a serial killer. To say that this sub-genre is overdone would be a massive understatement. Most of the ones I have read are not very good, and Last Known Victim is worse than most. Set in New Orleans, post-Katrina, the serial killer du jour is known as The Handyman. If that’s not a generic serial killer name, then I don’t know what is. Unfortunately the author put as much imagination and inventiveness to the naming of the killer as the rest of the novel. Every weak trope that is used in this sub-genre can be found here to the unbelievably unrealistic nature of the killer. I won’t spoil it, but when I found out who the killer was, I wanted to wretch. The killer was so obvious and so stereotypical that it was almost like this author was spoofing serial killer novels. Unfortunately, this isn’t a spoof. It’s just a bad novel. I would suggest staying away.
Carl Alves – author of Blood Street ( )

Another book I did not read during this month/year. What possessed me to read it I'm not sure except that i had nothing else on my personal shelf at home (that was unread) except this. Oh, and it was raining that day... I truly don't remember what my reaction was to the style of writing, as I don't actively try and guess who the evil person is. Hard as this may be to believe I actually don't care what happens, and that is why I rarely read mysteries. 2.5/5 just because that is exactly a 50% rating. ( )

This is the first Erica Spindler book that I have read. I found it was a fast paced book. It was an easy read and the author continued the suspense throughout the book. There were quite a few character to keep track of and I have a feeling if I had read previous books that the characters would have meant more to me. Overall this book has me interested in more Erica Spindler books as quick and entertaining reads. ( )

I am a huge fan of Erica Spindler. If I recall right, the first book I read of hers was Fortune. I enjoyed it so much, I went to purchase every book she’d written to date. I’ve always found her to be very consistent with the quality of her writing.I was very excited about the release of her latest book, Last Known Victim. However, after reading it, I was a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very good book, but it just didn’t have the impact on me that some of Spindler’s other books did. I haven’t really figured out why, yet. It could have been the ending. When the killer was revealed, I wasn’t shocked. I just kinda thought, “Oh, ok.” It could have been the characters. The characters in Last Known Victim were brought back from See Jane Die and Killer Takes All.Anyway, I’ll have to think on it some more. For now, I’ll just sit back and wait, patiently for Erica’s next book. ( )