Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Last Line by Robert Dugoni
Narrator: Robert Dugoni
Published by Brilliance Audio on October 21, 2021
Genres: Mystery
Length: 1 hours, 22 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
His old life in the rearview, Del Castigliano has left Wisconsin to work homicide for the Seattle PD. Breaking him in is veteran detective Moss Gunderson, and he’s handing Del a big catch: the bodies of two unidentified men fished from Lake Union. It’s a major opportunity for the new detective, and Del runs with it, chasing every lead—to every dead end. Despite the help of another section rookie, Vic Fazzio, Del is going nowhere fast. Until one shotgun theory looks to be dead right: the victims are casualties of a drug smuggling operation. But critical information is missing—or purposely hidden. It’s forcing Del into a crisis of character and duty that not even the people he trusts can help him resolve.
This novella is related to supporting characters in the Tracy Crosswhite series. Del and Faz are mainstays on her team and in her life. The Last Line is set back in time to when Del first arrived in Seattle from Madison WI as a new homicide detective.
Del is excited to be offered to lead on the homicide case, even though Gunderson wants everything run through him. But by consulting Faz when he hits dead ends, he makes a great new friend.   He learns quickly that things aren’t adding up. He’s caught in a web of corruption without enough evidence to prove he isn’t part of it.
The Last Line is very short but a good, additional background on two favorite characters. They are intelligent, hard-working and honest cops, that have to make difficult choices without clear cut evidence. I enjoyed seeing the beginning of this friendship.
Narration:
I always find it interesting when the author narrates their own story. I think they have the best knowledge of the character’s emotions. Since literally all the characters here were male, it fit well for the voices. I was listened a bit more slowly at 1.25x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
Robert Dugoni Q & A:
From books to movies to television, police procedurals are incredibly popular with audiences. What do you think is the appeal of these stories?Â
I think the appeal is readers and viewers have good guys to root for and bad guys to root against. Readers also like a good mystery. They like to see if they can solve the crime, determine the bad guy and figure out what he did and how he did it, just like the detectives. It keeps them engaged in and part of the story.
Do you recall the first detective story you ever read or perhaps you have a favorite? What was it about this type of story that made you want to write in the genre?Â
Years ago, I remember reading Michael Connelly’s The Poet. I don’t know if it was the first detective story I read, probably not, but it was visceral and stuck with me. I do recall reading All The President’s Men when I was in high school, and though Woodward and Bernstein were not detectives, per se, they very much functioned like detectives in that story—finding clues, trying to piece together those clues, and then solve the puzzle. In many ways, that’s what a good detective story is all about: solving a puzzle. I think that is one of the appeals to writers, as well as readers and viewers.
Del Castigliano, the police detective in your newest release The Last Line, has worked in narcotics, arson, sexual assaults, robbery, and now homicide. He has definitely seen the worst that humans have to offer. What keeps him sane and on the job?
For most police officers I’ve spoken with, they do the job knowing that they are keeping people safe—maybe people they know or even love. It’s a tough job and burnout can be a problem. Most detectives have to be mentally tough and can be frequently rotated to help minimize burn out. It’s one of the reasons detectives and uniformed officers, I believe, are underappreciated. It’s a tough job.
Throughout The Last Line, readers get to see Del at his worst—he faces loss, failure, insecurity, loneliness…yet we also respect him. He is honest, hardworking, and clever. How do you see him? If you were to sit down to have a beer with him, what would you talk about?
In The Last Line, I see Del as a guy trying to find his way after life has thrown him a curveball. If we sat down for a beer, I’d ask him if, looking back, he has any regrets, or if time has helped him put life in perspective and he realizes that what he went through as a young man actually helped him to get to a better place in his life.
The Last Line ends in a way that will have readers wanting more. Do you have any future plans for Del and the larger cast?
Very much so. Del is a central character in the Tracy Crosswhite series, and in Tracy #9, What She Found, the story of Del’s first case from The Last Line comes back to Tracy, who is now working a cold case and trying to figure out what happened 24 years ago.
For fans of your bestselling Tracy Crosswhite series, will they feel at home with Del as the lead protagonist? For readers who haven’t discovered Tracy yet, will they be able to dip right in?
Absolutely. The Last Line is a standalone story that predates Tracy arriving at Seattle PD. I’ve had so many readers ask me for more of Del and Faz! Writing The Last Line was an opportunity to dig into how they got started and what shaped them. I have a thought now about Tracy #10 being a cold case that Del and Faz investigated 25 years earlier and telling the story from both time periods leading up to Tracy solving the crime in the present.
What do you have coming up next?
The third book in the Charles Jenkins espionage series, The Silent Sisters, will be published, February 22, 2022, followed by Tracy #9, What She Found, which will be out August 23, 2022. Beyond that, readers can look for a new standalone legal thriller introducing criminal defense attorney Keera Duggan. I’m excited about that novel and working hard to get it finished soon.
Excerpt:
He drove from Capitol Hill with the defroster on high and worked his way around the southern edge of Lake Union, noting marinas and water-based businesses. He pulled into a parking lot where Moss stood beside a black Buick LeSabre, sipping coffee and towering over a patrol officer. Moss was almost as big as Del, who stood six foot five and weighed 250 pounds.
Del pulled up the collar of his coat against the howling wind as he approached the two men. He recognized the green logo on Moss’s Starbucks coffee cup, the company name taken from Captain Ahab’s first mate on the Pequod, the whaling ship Moby Dick sent to the bottom of the ocean. The logo, a green siren, tempted sailors to jump overboard and drown. Neither was a good omen.
“Look what the cat dragged out. Did we wake you, Elmo?”
“Funny.” Del had heard iterations of Elmo since his teens, when the beloved puppet first appeared on Sesame Street. Moss introduced Del to Mike Nuccitelli, the patrol sergeant. “How’d you get here so quick?” Del asked Moss. He understood Moss lived in West Seattle, twenty minutes farther from the marina than Del’s apartment.
“I didn’t take time to do my hair.” Moss rubbed the bristles of a crew cut. “I’m like my name. You know. A rolling stone.”
Del knew. More than once, Moss had told him his parents bequeathed him the moniker because as a child he never remained still. Vic Fazzio had said it was more likely Moss gave himself the nickname. His Norwegian first name was Asbjorn.
“Halloway here?” Del asked.
“At this hour of the morning?” Moss scoffed. “Stayaway doesn’t come out this early on a cold morning unless he thinks the brass might show up and he can shine their badges with his nose.”
“What do we got?” Del asked.
“Two grown men. Looks like they drowned,” Nuccitelli said. “We’re waiting for the ME.”
“What more do we know about the victims; anything?” Del asked.
Nuccitelli raised the fur collar of his duty jacket against the wind. “Hispanic is my guess, though the bodies are pretty bloated and their skin the color of soot. I’m guessing roughly late twenties to early thirties, but again . . .”
“They didn’t have any ID?” Del asked.
“Not on them,” Nuccitelli said.
“That strike you as odd—they didn’t have ID?”
Nuccitelli smiled.“Not my job.That’s your job.”
“How far out is the ME?” Moss looked and sounded disinterested.
Nuccitelli checked his watch.“Should be here in ten.”
“We’ll take it from here.”
Tour Giveaway:
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- C21-Fall
I knew you’d love this💜
Yes. I love the whole series and have been buying the audios.
Congrats on your audio new release, Robert, sounds like a great book!
I love the series and this is a great development of supporting characters.
This sounds like it would be pretty good.
It is good. But it’s like dipping in a toe rather than having the whole swim. I loved it because I’ve read the whole series. It’s going to connect to the series in books to be published. The series is one of my absolute favorites and I have bought them all on audio even.
I don’t think that I have read this author yet. It is interesting that the author narrates this story. I do need to give him a try at some point.
This series is amazing! One of my absolute favorites and I’ve been buying them all on audio. They are in KU. I like both of his series I have read. I always find it interesting and special when the author is the narrator.
Oh it’s nice to have a good novella like that!
It’s a nice taste of the author and the series but just a tiny view compared to the amazing work the series is.
The interview is so interesting. I always like to hear what authors think.
Yes I enjoyed it a lot.
I’ve seen Robert Dugoni’s books around but never read him. Great review and interview! I enjoyed his insights on the appeal of mystery books and into police work.
He’s one of my absolute favorites that can be found on KU. But I’d be reading even if he wasn’t, I just found him that way I think.