The Last Death of the Year by Sophie Hannah Narrator: Julian Rhind-Tutt
Series: New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #6
Published by Harper Audio on October 28, 2025
Source: Purchased
Genres: Mystery
Length: 8 hrs 30 mins
Pages: 288
Format: Audiobook
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New Year’s Eve, 1932. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool arrive on the tiny Greek island of Lamperos to celebrate the holiday with what turns out to be a rather odd community of locals living in a dilapidated house. A dark sense of foreboding overshadows the beautiful island getaway when the guests play a New Year’s Resolutions game after dinner and one written resolution gleefully threatens to perform “the last and first death of the year.”
Hours later, one of the home’s residents is found dead on the terrace.
In light of the shocking murder, Poirot reveals to Catchpool the real reason he’s brought him to the island—the life of another community member has been threatened. Now both men resolve to ensure that the first murder will be the last.
Hercule Poirot has brought Edward Catchpole to the House of Perpetual Welcome on a Greek Island for New Year’s Eve, 1933. They are staying as the guests of Nash, the wealthy young man whose parents own the estate. Nash espouses the idea of radical forgiveness and has formed a small community that lives out that ideal, with the stated intent of changing the world. Of course, if he’s invited Poirot, we know all is not well. When an after dinner game of guessing each other’s New Year’s resolutions shows someone is definitely contemplating committing murder, probably before the night is out, celebrations are put on hold.
I don’t really have a lot to say about this one. Poirot is not exactly Poirot, but he’s fine and I’ve read others in this “New Poirot” series, so knew what to expect. I actually like Catchpole, even if he’s a step or two behind Poirot. The folks who live at the house are an odd bunch and none of them are particularly likeable. When someone is killed, as expected, they all become potential suspects.
The conversations around forgiveness of yourself and/or others were interesting. Where does justice fit in? Do you need to know what you’re forgiving someone for if forgiveness is unconditional? And how far are you willing to go to find the ability to forgive someone?
We’ve got a couple twists and turns and a truly incompetent local detective – none of the people living at the house could have done it because they’re all his very good friends. When Poirot finally wraps up the case and tells us whodunnit and why, I didn’t quite buy the motive(s). It’s all a bit complicated and over the top.
About Sophie Hannah
Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times, New York Times and Amazon Kindle UK No. 1 bestselling writer of crime fiction, published in forty-nine languages and fifty-one territories. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. She writes contemporary psychological thrillers and, at the request of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, the new series of Hercule Poirot novels.
In 2023, Sophie won the Crime Writers Association’s Dagger in the Library Award for her body of work, and in 2013 her thriller The Carrier won the Crime Thriller of the Year Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards. Sophie is also a poet and has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A Level and degree level across the UK.
In 2018, she created the How to Hold a Grudge podcast, based on her self-help book of the same name. More recently, she has published two other self-help books: Happiness: A Mystery, and her latest, The Double Best Method, which was an Amazon UK Top Ten best-seller and is a guide to making brilliant decisions and avoiding second-guessing and regret.
Sophie is the founder and coach at Dream Author Coaching, a coaching programme for writers and anyone who wants to write. She lives with her husband, children and dog in Cambridge, where she is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College.
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