ALC Review: Pole Virgins

Last Night Was Killer by Mary Pauline Lowry

Read by: Helen Laser

Publication Date: July 7, 2026

Summary from Netgalley:

When Tilly Turner signed up for an introductory pole-dancing class, she was looking for a distraction. Reeling from her mother’s passing, and with her career as a stand-up comedian in ruins, Tilly has just moved back to the Idaho hometown she was desperate to leave, with her twin daughters in tow.

But Tilly gets more than she bargained for after a night out with her new pole-dancing pals. She wakes to a raging hangover, no memory of the evening before, and a dead body in the trunk of her car.

Who was the dead man? And more importantly, who killed him? Tilly has no alibi and needs answers. But investigating a murder is complicated, especially with an old frenemy circling, childcare plans falling through, and pole-dancing classes to attend. And don’t even mention the sexy ATF agent who she’s trying (and failing) to keep at arm’s length.

As Tilly races to solve the mystery before the police come knocking, she finds herself implicated in a larger plot that includes political subterfuge and arms dealing. But who knows—maybe busting a criminal enterprise will be just the shake-up she needs.

Balancing both heart and hilarity, and with a witty take on the struggles of modern motherhood, Last Night Was Killer is a charming introduction to the most unlikely—and likable—of sleuths.

ALC provided by Harper Audio Adult via Netgalley for an honest review.

Confession:

This was such a fun read! I don’t think I have laughed so hard while listening to a book as I did this one. This story has a great cast of characters, a pretty good mystery and a lot of heart.

Helen Laser does a fantastic job with the narration. She had the perfect comedic timing to really pull off Tilly’s one liners and jokes. She also does an excellent job bringing all of Tilly’s chaotic emotions and her inner dialogue to life. She was a perfect match to do this book.

Tilly’s life is a chaotic hot mess even before she finds the body in her trunk. She is dealing with the death of her mother, giving up her comedy career, navigating returning to her hometown and being a single mother. She has a lot going on, but now she has to deal with how the body got into her trunk as she was too drunk to remember her night out with the girls. But there is a lot of heart underneath all of that chaos, and as Tilly learns to maybe trust those who want to be her friend and help her, things start to get a little bit better.

There is a great cast of secondary characters, from her mother’s best friend who helps Tilly, to the group of ladies she meets at her pole dancing class. There are even a couple of old childhood friends and frenemies who Tilly comes to trust and who are very helpful to helping her figure out the mystery of what happened.

The romance in the story was nice. It developed slowly and more or less naturally. Nate was a great character and I really enjoyed the chemistry between them. There was a minor subplot with the romance that I wasn’t a fan of, but otherwise it added a nice diversion from the main story.

The story starts off with a bang and never really lets up. We get a dual timeline to start with alternating chapters from the present with ones from her night out with her pole dancing friends. Eventually the timelines catch up to each other and we settle in to the present timeline. The dialogue between characters is witty and a lot of fun. There are some nice twists and turns to the mystery of the dead body that will really keep you on your toes. There is even quite to surprise as to who is the mastermind behind it all that I was not at all expecting. But there were also a few plot points that just didn’t work for my, like what happened to the body and the whole snow mobile plot line.

The one thing that I really liked in this story was how pole dancing was described as athletic and how it is a true art form. There were also some nice comments about how the dancers are not necessarily prostitutes and also that prostitutes are sometimes just doing what they can to survive. Also a little bit of pole dancing history which was fabulous.

This is a great comedy thriller and a very solid debut. It does have a few issues with pacing and unnecessary plot lines, but overall a really fun read. I highly recommend the audiobook as Helen Lester does such a great job. Fans of Finlay Donovan will probably enjoy this one. I really hope that we get a series out of this story as I really want to see Tilly and friends solving more mysteries.