October 2024

As she did with THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, Laura Dave hits all the right notes with THE NIGHT WE LOST HIM. In it, family patriarch Liam Noone is found dead at the bottom of a cliff near the craftsman home on the California coast that he loved. He was a hotel magnate who developed properties that were both high-end and eco-friendly. While Liam’s death is first ruled an accident, one of his sons thinks that there was nothing accidental about it. He enlists the help of his half-sister, who very reluctantly joins him. Their investigation leads them deeper and deeper into their father’s life --- and the people closest to him. As Sam and Nora explore what happened, they have as tentative a relationship as Hannah and Bailey did in THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME.

I loved this book on so many levels. I found myself thinking a lot about interior and exterior design as I read it; the locations that Liam and Nora developed sound amazing. I enjoy staying in hotels where I click with the design and the ambiance. For a recent trip, I pondered which condo we would be staying in for five nights as if we were buying it. For 14 Christmases, we rented a house on the Outer Banks because it had the right feel. So I appreciated hearing about the design and setting for the places they worked on.

I also love what Laura did with her characters, conquering their own challenges while also unraveling a mystery. There is a love story woven through the book. Actually more than one. There is a love story that lives over time. There is one that needs time to mature enough to work. And there is one that must be undone for another to happen.

If you want to hear the spoiler-free interview that I did with Laura about THE NIGHT WE LOST HIM, you can watch the video or listen to the podcast.