What would you do if your daughter was marrying into a wealthy, slightly eccentric family? Find out what Brook and Sarah would do as they discuss Jason Rekulak’s 2024 release The Last One at the Wedding. Note: This episode gets into detail about the book and its plot. Please read the book first if you want to avoid spoilers.
Discussed and mentioned
The Last One at the Wedding (2024) Jason Rekulak
For more information
Instagram: @cluedinmystery
Contact us: hello@cluedinmystery.com
Music: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers – www.silvermansound.com
Sign up for our newsletter: https://cluedinmystery.com/clued-in-chronicle/
Join the Clued in Cartel for as little as $12 USD/year: https://cluedinmystery.com/clued-in-cartel/
Transcript
This transcript is generated by a computer and there may be some mis-spellings and strange punctuation. We try to catch these before posting, but some things slip through.
| Sarah | Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I’m Sarah. |
| Brook | And I’m Brook, and we both love mystery. |
| Sarah | Hi, Brook. |
| Brook | Hi, Sarah. I’m so glad that it’s time for another What Would You Do episode. It’s one of my favorite kind of shows. |
| Sarah | Me too. I love how we take such a deep dive into a book, and you know talk about character motivation, but also just talk about the book generally. So today we are going to discuss The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak. |
| Sarah | And I will begin with a overview of the book. um As I mentioned, we are going to get into some details. So, if you haven’t read the book yet, you might want to do that first and then come back and listen to the episode because there will be some spoilers and there will also likely be some reference to self-harm. |
| Sarah | The book opens with Frank Szatowski receiving a call from his estranged daughter, inviting him to her inviting him to her wedding. He agrees and asks to see her and meet her fiancé before the big day. |
| Sarah | Maggie invites her dad to the apartment she shares with Aidan Gardner. Although Frank doesn’t get a good read on Aidan and suspects that he might be into something illegal after finding something hidden in their bathroom, Frank is happy that Maggie appears to have her life on track. |
| Sarah | She is, after all, marrying the son of the CEO of a successful technology company, the same one where Maggie has just received a promotion. Shortly before Frank is due to leave for the multi-day event at the fiancé’s family compound, he receives an anonymous photo suggesting that Aidan was involved in the disappearance of a woman around the time that Aidan and Maggie got together. |
| Sarah | Maggie calms her dad’s fears and he heads to the wedding with his sister Tammy and her foster daughter Abigail in tow. |
| Sarah | When they arrive at the compound, things are a little off. Everyone is asked to sign a lengthy and NDA and to change their clocks by 15 minutes because the family runs on Gardner Time. Still, the property is beautiful, guests are excited, and Maggie assures her dad that everything will be okay. Frank is warmly greeted by Errol, Aidan’s father. |
| Sarah | His wife is unwell, and Frank is discouraged from seeking her out himself. Aidan’s friend Gwendolyn suggests that all is not as it seems and arranges to meet Frank and tell him more on the second day while everyone is hiking. |
| Sarah | Instead, she is found dead. Wedding preparations continue despite what is deemed to be an unfortunate accident after drugs are found in her bag. Unsettled, Frank sneaks off the compound and meets with the missing girl’s family who share that she was pregnant when she disappeared. |
| Sarah | Back at the compound, Frank learns from Errol and Gerry, his lawyer and close friend, that the photo was faked because Aidan’s hands are wrong. Feeling slightly more at ease, he heads to the main house to meet Aidan’s mother. |
| Sarah | She reveals that the missing girl was having an affair with Errol and became pregnant. She came to the compound trying to blackmail the family. Aidan’s mother hit the woman, who then fell down the stairs. Hugo, the family fixer, interrupts the story and tells Frank to ignore what he’s just heard. |
| Sarah | Frank searches for Maggie to warn her about the family that she’s about to marry into, only to find Maggie and Errol in a compromising position. |
| Sarah | Frank attacks Errol and Hugo attacks Frank. |
| Sarah | Frank wakes up the next morning, what is supposed to be the wedding day, and prepares to leave. A few pieces have fallen into place for Frank, and he realizes that maybe his daughter is not quite as sweet as he hoped when she explains that she and Errol had arrived at the compound after ah this missing girl was killed. |
| Sarah | And Maggie suggested that she give Aidan the alibi leading to this wedding. It’s a business arrangement and she will do quite well as a result. |
| Sarah | When Aidan doesn’t show up for the ceremony, Frank finds him about to harm himself. Just before he does, he tells Frank he’s left him a gift in his suitcase. |
| Sarah | Frank finds $1,000, which he thinks is a little bit odd. |
| Sarah | A few months later, Frank realizes that Aidan actually left a map of the compound in Abigail’s suitcase, not realizing that Abigail and Frank had swapped rooms. Frank calls Maggie to tell her. |
| Sarah | When he goes to her apartment, the one she shared with Aidan, Errol, Gerry and Hugo are waiting. It turns out that they’re planning to hurt Abigail and Frank warns Tammy before a harrowing escape with recordings of Maggie’s conversations with Errol and the others about their plan. |
| Sarah | Frank tells the story to a friend’s son, who is also a reporter. |
| Sarah | The book ends on a bittersweet note. Tammy has adopted Abigail, and Frank plays a significant role in her life. Maggie, who is now in prison, refuses to see Frank. |
| Brook | Thank you, Sarah. That was a great summary. I really enjoyed this book. I i like that we’re doing a What Would You Do title that ah has a male main character. This is new because our other thrillers we’ve talked about have been female and then also a male author. So this is really fun and um I’m excited to get into it with you. |
| Sarah | I agree, Brook. I think I really liked Frank as the main character. He was very down to earth, thoughtful person. |
| Brook | I agree. And um I have a very blue-collar background, you know, in my life. And so Frank is a UPS driver, ah his wife who has ah passed away, but she worked, you know, retail and just a local store. These are very, you know, salt of the earth people. |
| Brook | And i I really liked, I think that his character was really well done. |
| Sarah | Yeah, and I’m sure we will talk about the way that, you know, throughout this, he’s really doing things because he’s looking out for what he thinks are the best interests of his daughter. |
| Brook | He’s definitely a caretaker. He he wants to to take care of people and and do what’s right for them. |
| Brook | So thinking on that, you know here we have this very um kind of middle-class guy What would you do if you found out that your child is marrying into like a billionaire family? |
| Sarah | I liked that scene when he pulls up at this building and he’s, you know, he’s like, there must be a mistake because it’s, um, it’s kind of a mixed-use building, right? The, the lower floors are office, um, office units. |
| Sarah | And then the, I don’t know how many residential units there are, but, um, Aidan and Maggie are living in this very luxurious apartment with this amazing view. |
| Sarah | They have a personal chef. |
| Brook | Mm-hmm. |
| Sarah | Right. So this is so outside of the world that Frank is familiar with. And he he just, you know, wants to demonstrate that. He’s doing OK for himself. Right. um I like the scene where he um has looked up what the average cost of alcohol at a wedding is and then negotiates with Aidan’s father, Errol, that he will pay for the and he will pay for the alcohol at the wedding, which he thinks, you know, it’ll be about eight thousand dollars. And so he sends this check to Errol. |
| Brook | I know he’s very sweet and awkward in not realizing how out of his league that he is. Right. When he goes to that initial meeting with Maggie, who he’s been estranged with for a while, ah he takes the what ah fire extinguisher. You know, like “these kids are just starting out. They’ll want this for their apartment.” [Sarah: Yeah] And then he gets there and it’s this, you know, grand place. |
| Sarah | Yeah. He’s just thinking about her safety, which is such a classic um caring dad move. |
| Brook | Yeah. |
| Sarah | Right. It’s in these little things that you can see how Frank thinks and, um and how much he cares. |
| Brook | And why he gets drawn into trying to fix this or solve this situation where some people might not. They might just like wash their hands of it and walk away, but that’s not in him. |
| Sarah | So he has met Aidan, not really been able to connect with him. um And we realize why later, but ah you know, he shows up at this wedding, really not that comfortable with the family. |
| Sarah | So what would you do, Brook, if you arrive and you’re asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement? |
| Brook | That scene was really hard to take. Like I imagined my husband and I sitting at this you know checkpoint with a guard and being asked to sign an NDA in order to come to our daughter’s wedding. And I just… |
| Brook | I don’t know. I honestly could see people just at that point, like I said, just checking out and being like, you know what, this this isn’t for me. um But then again, you’re you’re a parent and you’ve got to get in there to be with your child. So that was a really tough one. |
| Sarah | Well, and because they had had such a strained relationship, right, he is seeing this as an opportunity to reconnect with his daughter. |
| Sarah | His wife had died when I think his daughter was 10. He had done most of the child rearing. And it was, ah you know, clearly a big hole for him to not have that relationship with her. |
| Brook | Definitely. And ah this is something that’s done really well at this point of the story. We don’t know why they’re estranged. And so this is a mystery underneath the storyline of why haven’t these two been getting along? And of course, when that’s revealed, it’s a pretty big twist. |
| Sarah | Yeah, so it’s revealed that Maggie had asked Frank to lie for her when she was involved in an arson crime. |
| Sarah | She didn’t come out and say that she was involved, but he kind of figured out that that was the case. He refused to to provide the alibi that she was looking for. And her response was to then shut him out of her life. |
| Brook | Right. I enjoyed the addition of this foster child in the storyline. And I was wondering, what would you do if you show up to this wedding with your sibling who has this child in tow with head lice? |
| Sarah | Yeah, so she was such a great character. And this is Abigail, who has had, you know, a um and a troubled childhood and, and is taken in by Tammy, who’s a foster parent, um, and unexpectedly has to care for her this weekend of the, of the wedding. So she’s got no other choice, but to bring Abigail along and Abigail’s quite, um, quite bright. |
| Sarah | I loved what when she was reading a book about weddings and wedding etiquette so that she would fit in because this was her first time attending a wedding. |
| Sarah | And the relationship between them, you know, at first Frank is so standoffish with with Abigail, but he warms up to her. I think he he doesn’t have a choice, right? He wants his sister there because she’s really the only other family that they have. And she has, i think, maintained a relationship with Maggie, even though Maggie and Frank haven’t been speaking. |
| Sarah | And so he doesn’t want to harm her by not bringing, ah not bringing her to the wedding. So yeah, I mean, I think if I was Frank, I probably would, you know, just accept that we have to bring this girl. There’s that scene where she’s, she was wearing a costume, I think, like a, like a Halloween costume for one of the events. And he’s like, “What are you doing?” |
| Sarah | Because I think he recognizes that he doesn’t really belong with these people, right? They are just of a different socioeconomic class than he is. |
| Brook | Mm-hmm. |
| Sarah | And um he just doesn’t feel that comfortable. He doesn’t want to draw a lot of attention to himself. And then here’s this 10-year-old girl who’s wearing a costume and overfilling her plate because she hasn’t had a lot of food in, in, you know, access to a lot of food in the past. |
| Sarah | That was a great dynamic. |
| Brook | I agree. I agree. It was a lot of fun. And then at the end, as you mentioned in the um summary, they end up being a family. And that relationship with Frank and Abigail is actually incredibly sweet and ah like a second chance moment for him. |
| Sarah | So what would you do, Brook, if you received this photo in the mail of this missing girl? I think the photo, all it says is what happened to Dawn? Or where is Dawn? |
| Brook | Mm-hmm. |
| Sarah | Something like that. um And so he yeah has no idea who this person is, has no idea who has sent him this photo, but he sees it’s a photo of this girl, Dawn, and Aidan. |
| Sarah | So what would you do? |
| Brook | I, I think his reaction in the story is really valid and probably the direction I would go to. He calls his daughter. He’s like, “I got this in the mail.” |
| Brook | Which was a little risky because they hadn’t been in touch. But I think that is all you could do. But then her reaction was also you know a little hair raising because she’s like, “bring the photo to the wedding. We’ll give it to our attorney and to Aidan’s dad. You bring it to us.” |
| Brook | And as a reader, you just know like, OK, this thing is getting destroyed, right? [Sarah: Mmhmmm] They’re going to be putting the lid on this. um But yeah, I think I would i would contact my child and be like, hey, do we need to be concerned with this? |
| Sarah | Yeah, because he’s, you know recognizing that she’s marrying into this family. And if Aidan is involved in the disappearance and possible death of another young woman, what parent would want their child to enter into this marriage? |
| Brook | Right, right. |
| Brook | So Frank and Tammy, they’re getting settled on the on the compound. And um Frank does a little exploring. And he overhears Aidan having that discussion with a friend whose name is Gwen. They’re both artists. |
| Brook | And Gwen very obviously is unhappy with something that’s going on. um What would you do if you heard that situation? Do you think that you would confront Aidan about it? |
| Sarah | You know, I think if I was Frank, probably because he’s a pretty straightforward kind of guy. Right? And I think he’s just really looking out for his daughter. I think he’s felt like, I think because of the death of his wife, when, when, um, Maggie was so young, he’s really had to look out for her. Um, so yeah, I probably would say like, what was that? And I think he does, um, and he, well, he does end up speaking to Gwen, right? And they make this arrangement to meet the next day because she essentially says, look, it’s not what you think. |
| Sarah | There’s more to this than is going on. And presumably she knows the truth of the relationship between Maggie and Errol, right? And that this marriage is a fiction. And she’s preparing to to tell him that. But… she ends up dead. |
| Brook | Exactly. And that’s the point in the story where we have the first twist. Like, this is the tip off for Frank, right? Something is really wrong here because you just were offered to learn more and then that person is gone. |
| Brook | Ah But no one really believes him because she allegedly had drugs in her suitcase and, oh, it was just an overdose. But I think I would feel really uncomfortable that the wedding is just going on. The festivities just continue. i mean, wouldn’t that shocking? |
| Sarah | Yeah, well, and he is surprised because he originally says to um to Errol, I think, like, oh, man, how are the kids feeling about their big day being called off? And and he’s like, “what are you talking about, man? Everything’s still on track.” |
| Brook | Exactly. |
| Sarah | But Frank is feeling, you know, uncomfortable enough that he decides to track down the family of this missing girl. Because on his way to the compound, he actually um encountered her uncle, right? who I think tried to warn Frank off of going to this wedding and and and being involved. |
| Sarah | Frank brushed that off. But after Gwen’s death, he thinks, you know what, maybe I’m going to see if I can speak to these people. So do you think he would do the same, Brook? |
| Brook | Right. I think that it is very logical. He already had that lead because he had met the man earlier. So I think that makes it believable. It’s a very brave because these folks really don’t want anyone on their property. They’ve been through a lot. and But um one thing we hadn’t mentioned is Frank was a Desert Storm soldier. |
| Brook | This part of the story, he kind of recalls some of those skills and instincts that he had learned um in battle. And he does go and he speaks with them. um And it’s interesting once you know the ending that this family fully believes that Aidan was the boyfriend that of Dawn Taggart, their daughter, they’ve bought into that lie. And so as the readers that just like strengthens that um belief in us. |
| Sarah | So I didn’t have any inkling that Maggie and Errol were together until Frank finds them together. |
| Brook | I was the same way, even though we learn a little bit earlier that Errol was the one having the affair with Dawn Taggart. I still didn’t make any suspicions until [Sarah: Me neither.] Frank is like on a mission. He’s got to go tell Maggie that she’s got this all twisted in her head. It was Errol. And when he gets there, it’s Errol and Maggie as well. |
| Sarah | Like you said, he he goes and speaks with Aidan’s mother and learns the truth about what happened to Dawn, that she had been having this relationship with Errol, not with Aidan. And as you say, he marches off to go and and drag Maggie away because he knows that this family is bad news. Little does he realize how entwined Maggie already is in this family. |
| Brook | That’s right. That’s right. In some ways, she is the mastermind behind the cover up. |
| Sarah | Yeah, because she suggested that she and Aidan fake this relationship to create this alibi. Because now that I’m thinking about this, though, I don’t know why Aidan needed the alibi. Because he wasn’t, he didn’t harm Dawn. |
| Brook | Right. They believed that he was the one in the relationship. So, I guess the assumption would be that he was the one that would eliminate her. |
| Brook | But yeah, that might be a little bit of a plot hole we’ve discovered, Sarah. |
| Sarah | When Frank realizes that Aidan had swapped the gifts and Abigail had received the map that he had intended to give to Frank, what would you do? |
| Brook | Well, I have to say, this is one of the times I felt really frustrated with Frank because he immediately calls Maggie and says, “Hey, guess what? You know, Aidan left me a map and and he left Abigail $1,000.” And of course, she says, “Bring it on to the apartment.” |
| Brook | And I was just cringing, thinking, “Frank, you haven’t learned anything.” |
| Sarah | Exactly. Like this was his final attempt at reconciling with Maggie, right? |
| Brook | Mm-hmm. |
| Sarah | And he returns to her very fancy apartment and Hugo, Errol, and Gerry, the lawyer, are there waiting with Maggie. And he realizes that he’s probably made a mistake. |
| Sarah | I did think it was really clever of him to go to the bathroom to recover whatever had been hidden in the bathroom, which initially he thought was drugs or cash that Aidan had secreted away. And he realizes that it’s the recording that Maggie had referred to when she had explained the whole situation to him. And so he he tries to grab that and to warn his sister that these guys are coming after Abigail. |
| Brook | Yeah, yeah. He did remedy, but I don’t think I would have tipped off the bad guys that I had a map to where Dawn Taggart’s body was. |
| Sarah | So if you were Frank and you realize that your daughter is potentially this mastermind what would you do, Brook? |
| Brook | You know, I think that is the overall what would you do in this book is what would you do if you discovered that your child was a criminal, was like a conniving con artist? Like, what would you do? I think it was really interesting because we don’t often think about the parents of, you know, even in true crime, let’s say. |
| Brook | These people who are having to live with the fact of what their child has done. And um it would be incredibly difficult. And we see that in Frank having to make the decision of, um you know, he didn’t lie for her when there was the arson situation. |
| Brook | He tried to do what she needs him to do in this situation because he’s just trying to make things right with her. But in the end, she does get her punishment for for her part in this con. |
| Sarah | Yeah, that’s right. So she ends up in prison. When the book ends, Errol has so far avoided any prison, likely because of all of the money he has and, you know, that he can hire these amazing lawyers. But ah she refuses to see him. |
| Brook | Yeah, it’s very it’s really heartbreaking. And I think that’s where the um role of Abigail comes in. And as I said earlier, we see Frank having a bit of a second chance. |
| Sarah | Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, um when I was reading this, I remembered a conversation that we had some time ago about this type of book, the domestic thriller, and how things often end in worse… |
| Sarah | In in a worse place than when they started. And in some respects, I think that’s true for Frank, right? He, um you know, i didn’t mention it in the, in the overview, but he has an accident that means that he’s not going to be working anymore. |
| Sarah | And, for him, he was very proud to work for UPS and have had this clean driving record. [Brook: Mm-hmm.] And we see in the book how that um kind of spins him into a little bit of ah a depression after the wedding. But Abigail really is who brings him out of that. |
| Sarah | um And he’s strengthened his relationship with his sister, with Abigail, and with his friend Vicky who had started out as his hairdresser and kind of became this um confidant for him throughout the book. And you know I think overall even though his relationship with Maggie hasn’t improved and maybe never will I think overall Frank is in a better place. |
| Brook | I would agree. The book ends with a feeling of hope, doesn’t it? |
| Sarah | Brook, it has been so fun to discuss this book with you. I think it was a, as you said, really fun to read with a male main character written by a male. Um, we just don’t get a lot of those in this space. |
| Brook | That’s right. It was a great read. I will definitely be watching for other titles from this author. |
| Brook | And we hope that you enjoyed today’s episode as well, listeners. But for today, thank you for joining us on Clued in Mystery. I’m Brook. |
| Sarah | And I’m Sarah, and we both love mystery. |
