The Last Refuge, Chris Knopf
The Last Refuge, Chris Knopf
List: $20.95 | Sale: $14.66
Club: $10.47

The Last Refuge
A Tale of Money and Murder in the Hamptons

Author: Chris Knopf

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Unabridged: 11 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/01/2006

Synopsis

Sam Acquillo is a middleaged corporate dropout living in a ramshackle cottage in Southamptons North Sea, content to sit on his porch, drink vodka, and stare at the bay. But when the old lady next door ends up dead, Sam is the only one who wonders why. While a procession of quirky characters intrudes on Sams misanthropic ways, he begins uncovering secrets no one could have imagined.

About Chris Knopf

Chris Knopf’s mystery novels have received exceptional awards and accolades, with critics likening his character Sam Aquillo to Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, and Robert B. Parker’s Spenser, while repeatedly comparing Knopf’s work to that of Elmore Leonard, John D. MacDonald, and Ross Macdonald. Two Time was one of thirteen mysteries listed as recommended summer reading in the New York Times Book Review, and Publishers Weekly chose it as one of the “Best 100 Books for 2006.” Head Wounds won the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Mystery. Dead Anyway was listed on the 2012 Best Fiction lists of both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. Knopf is a sailor, cabinetmaker, and advertising executive in Connecticut. He and his wife Mary also spend considerable time at their Long Island home in Southampton.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sandi on November 29, 2015

For the most part I really enjoyed this debut book. The plotting was fairly well done, the setting and sense of place were quite good, and the main character was intriguing enough. I did have a few problems with the pacing and while the main character's backstory was interesting I felt it could have......more

Goodreads review by William on April 25, 2021

I was looking for something different and I found this by searching the narrator Rudnicki. I enjoyed this because the flow was good; the characters not over developed; and and excellent use of vocabulary. So why two stars? This is one of my only forums to complain about the "monkey see, monkey do" m......more

Goodreads review by Sheila on August 30, 2018

An good little mystery that could've been either shorter or more focused on the main plot. While the main character's back-story is interesting, the author went about presenting it in such a way as to interrupt the flow of the story. It seems to have been thrown in at random and at points at which t......more

Goodreads review by CarolineFromConcord on May 26, 2016

I really like this writer's plots, pacing, characters and setting descriptions, but, oh, the copyediting in this, his first, novel! What a mess. Hayden for Haydn, then for than, Cotswold's for Cotswolds, Maxwell Parrish for Maxfield Parrish, it's for its ... And yet the the writing in general is so......more

Goodreads review by Kemper on June 20, 2022

Sam Acquilla is a cynical man in his early fifties who wants as little to do with the rest of the world as possible so he’s built up a quiet life that mainly consists of drinking alone. I think I’ve got a lawsuit against this author for using me as a character. Sam was once a fairly successful enginee......more

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