SPOILER!!! Is this the Last Word? I hope not.

[Beach]

I hear there is one more Spellman book (in Rae's voice) and I hope that is true because Lutz left Izzy in a horrible place at the end of this book IMO.

As I see it, in LW Izzy is faced with Henry's happiness as opposed to Izzy being betrayed by Damien. She has to face her failure to run the PI company and failure to solve some pretty simple crimes. Her father has possibly terminal cancer. Her mentor (and faithful friend) jumps off a bridge. The best Lutz can do is give Izzy a grown up apartment and free counseling from her Psychiatrist/romantic interest. Surely this is not the "messy, untidy" ending Lutz plans for Izzy...?

[Priyanka]

not fair!! izzy and henry were perfect!! I dont like the max guy!! I know that izzy doesn't want a kid n henry does but i had to wait 4 books to henry n isabel finally get together only to break it off 1 book later and henry getting his girlfriend pregnant and damien cheating izzy!! I am sooooo sad!! no devastated! I have imagined so many scenarios where henry dumps this annie bloom coz she lied or cheated or whatever and gets back to izzy but all hoes shattered when he gets married...there is really no coming back...

[Priyanka]

I reaally want a 7th book...and i want some closure...this is not happening...this is fiction but I can't concentrate on life with such a depressing ending to my favorite series!

[Lee]

I went to a Lisa Lutz book signing when she was on her first publisher's tour.

She was every bit as unabashed and fresh-mouthed as her main character, Isabel. In short, she was one of the most enjoyable book signings I've been to.

So much so, that I went to her reading for a subsequent book. It may have been her 2nd. She was there with another author who also did a reading and a signing. It was for his first book. Actually, neither read....they spoke off the cuff and answered questions and then signed. They were so smooth and polished, I thought they might be an item. And they hysterical together.

This other author's name is Josh Bazell. I bought his book, Beat the Reaper, and it turned out to be one of the 5 best books I read that year. He also had a little Lutz style going with that *footnote thing. Very funny.

It also turns out Bazell was no "one hit wonder." His second book, Wild Thing was equally as good, as funny, and as well-written. I highly recommend him.

While I'm on the Lisa Lutz theme and recommending, I ran across a debut author a few weeks ago named Ingrid Thoft. Her first book is titled, Loyalty. I bought it on spec because I liked the premise. The main character, a young woman named Fina, is a licensed private investigator working for her officious father's law firm. Three of the other lawyers in the firm are her three brothers, who are interesting and all very different from each other. Fina is the black sheep of the family because she didn't finish law school like the rest of her family and became a lowly PI. I bought the book because it sounded like an interesting riff on Lisa Lutz.

This book was also excellent, but if you are expecting a Spellman-like humor and family relationship. Whereas Izzy is playfully rancorous with her family, Fina is far more serious in her familial peevishness. One of the things that makes this novel so good is that the author, in real life, completed the certificate program in private investigation at the University of Washington. As a result, her PI procedural detail is first rate and a bit different than what you have read in any other PI novel. I highly recommend this book as well.

I get no commissions from these recommendations....drat!

[sublimosa]

I'm not sure I want a book 7, and most certainly not in Rae's voice. My problem with the Last Word is not that it didn't have a neatly tied up happy ending, but as mentioned, left Izzy with so little on the positive side. The only thing she has going is Max (yes, I did like him). The luxury apartment? Meh. It would have meant something, perhaps, if he had given it to her while he was still alive. I could deal with Henry and Izzy not working out, while I loved them together, they weren't perfect for each other in my book and it wouldn't have been true to character for Izzy to suddenly become interested in kids. Unforgivable to have Henry say "If only you could be more normal" and more unforgivable for Annie to "make him happier than my sister did" and worst insult yet for Rae to deliver the information.
Slayter committing suicide was a real kick in the gut.
I just finished the book a few days ago so maybe given time my perspective will change.
In typing this response it has just occurred to me that it doesn't make sense for Annie to make Henry happier than Izzy AND for it to be so important to Henry to remain friends with Izzy. Oh, another positive for Izzy is the reappearance of Petra in her life, but Petra's no Henry!
Part of me feels like a petulant child who hasn't gotten her own way for feeling like this, but the other part of me is still lying on the ground, flailing my arms and legs and screaming, "I want, I want, I want!"