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The Last Time I Saw Her Alive

An atmospheric summer suspense novel set in the heart of the Cotswolds

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The Last Time I Saw Her Alive

By: Kate Riordan
Narrated by: Alexandra Boulton
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Brought to you by Penguin.

THE ATMOSPHERIC, SUSPENSEFUL THRILLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE LIARS, PERFECT FOR FANS OF LUCY FOLEY'S THE MIDNIGHT FEAST

It’s been years since Rain last went home.

To many, growing up onthe Tanglewood estate, nestled in a beautiful corner of the Cotswolds countryside, seemed like a dream.

But for Rain, memories of her childhood there are forever tainted by what she saw that summer. The wild party. The body…

Now estranged from her mother, and all ties to Tanglewood, Rain thought she’d moved on.

Yet when another dead body is found in the Tanglewood grounds, she knows she must face up to her past.

Rain has long held suspicions that what happened that summer wasn’t an accident. It was murder.

And now's her chance to prove it.
‘Sinister and sun-soaked. This is a perfectly crafted mystery that I flew through in days’ Caz Frear

© Kate Riordan 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Crime Thrillers Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Exciting
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Critic reviews

Beautifully written and dripping in atmosphere, The Last Time I Saw Her Alive is an evocative and compelling suspense novel. The perfect summer read (Lucy Clarke)
Taut, twisting, and gorgeously dark, this is Kate Riordan at her finest (Anna Bailey)
The Last Time I Saw Her Alive is haunting, atmospheric, and beautifully detailed. A growing unease pervades, taut and menacing, as the idyll slowly folds beneath the weight of its dark secrets (Mary Watson)
A tense, slow-burn thriller
Both a twisty thriller teeming with family secrets and a gorgeously written exploration of childhood ghosts, truths that won’t stay hidden and the many shapes haunting can take, The Last Time I Saw Her Alive is Kate Riordan at her finest. With all the haunting beauty of Midsommar and the intoxicating mystery of The God of the Woods, this story will creep under your skin and into your heart, right to the breathtaking conclusion. Wonderful (Emma Stonex)
Atmospheric and impossible to put down
Simmering with atmosphere and tension (Jane Fallon)
Utterly beguiling, Kate Riordan's murder mystery has all the elements I love in a novel: a shadowy setting, long-buried secrets and a wonderfully dark thread of suspense that pulls you through the pages to the heart-stopping conclusion. This is the book I shall be recommending all summer long (Hannah Richell)
A brilliantly atmospheric and compelling Cotswolds-set mystery. I became quickly entangled in Tanglewood’s secrets and remained engrossed until the final page. Kate Riordan is so darn good (Anna Mazzola)
The Last Time I Saw Her Alive is, simply, sensational; both fiendishly compelling and jaw-droppingly beautiful. Kate Riordan has a unique and wonderful talent for complex characters, almost unbearable suspense and wildly evocative, haunting settings. I was blown away by this novel (Rosie Walsh)
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