diff --git a/chatmastermind/chat.py b/chatmastermind/chat.py
index dd18293..f3637de 100644
--- a/chatmastermind/chat.py
+++ b/chatmastermind/chat.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from pprint import PrettyPrinter
 from pydoc import pager
 from dataclasses import dataclass
-from typing import TypeVar, Type, Optional, ClassVar, Any, Callable
+from typing import TypeVar, Type, Optional, ClassVar, Any, Callable, Literal
 from .message import Message, MessageFilter, MessageError, message_in
 from .tags import Tag
 
@@ -142,15 +142,18 @@ class Chat:
         self.messages += messages
         self.sort()
 
-    def latest_message(self) -> Optional[Message]:
+    def latest_message(self, mfilter: Optional[MessageFilter] = None) -> Optional[Message]:
         """
-        Returns the last added message (according to the file ID).
+        Return the last added message (according to the file ID) that matches the given filter.
+        When containing messages without a valid file_path, it returns the latest message in
+        the internal list.
         """
         if len(self.messages) > 0:
             self.sort()
-            return self.messages[-1]
-        else:
-            return None
+            for m in reversed(self.messages):
+                if mfilter is None or m.match(mfilter):
+                    return m
+        return None
 
     def find_messages(self, msg_names: list[str]) -> list[Message]:
         """
@@ -404,3 +407,32 @@ class ChatDB(Chat):
         # write the UPDATED messages if requested
         if write:
             self.write_messages(messages)
+
+    def latest_message(self,
+                       mfilter: Optional[MessageFilter] = None,
+                       source: Literal['mem', 'disk', 'cache', 'db', 'all'] = 'mem') -> Optional[Message]:
+        """
+        Return the last added message (according to the file ID) that matches the given filter.
+        Only consider messages with a valid file_path (except if source is 'mem').
+        Searches one of the following sources:
+        * 'mem'  : only search messages currently in memory
+        * 'disk' : search messages on disk (cache + DB directory), but not in memory
+        * 'cache': only search messages in the cache directory
+        * 'db'   : only search messages in the DB directory
+        * 'all'  : search all messages ('mem' + 'disk')
+        """
+        source_messages: list[Message] = []
+        if source == 'mem':
+            return super().latest_message(mfilter)
+        if source in ['cache', 'disk', 'all']:
+            source_messages += read_dir(self.cache_path, mfilter=mfilter)
+        if source in ['db', 'disk', 'all']:
+            source_messages += read_dir(self.db_path, mfilter=mfilter)
+        if source in ['all']:
+            # only consider messages with a valid file_path so they can be sorted
+            source_messages += [m for m in self.messages if (m.file_path is not None and (mfilter is None or m.match(mfilter)))]
+        source_messages.sort(key=lambda m: m.msg_id(), reverse=True)
+        for m in source_messages:
+            if mfilter is None or m.match(mfilter):
+                return m
+        return None
diff --git a/tests/test_chat.py b/tests/test_chat.py
index f34cb24..ca74725 100644
--- a/tests/test_chat.py
+++ b/tests/test_chat.py
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ class TestChat(unittest.TestCase):
         self.chat.remove_messages(['0003.txt'])
         self.assertListEqual(self.chat.messages, [self.message1, self.message2])
 
+    def test_latest_message(self) -> None:
+        self.assertIsNone(self.chat.latest_message())
+        self.chat.add_messages([self.message1])
+        self.assertEqual(self.chat.latest_message(), self.message1)
+        self.chat.add_messages([self.message2])
+        self.assertEqual(self.chat.latest_message(), self.message2)
+
     @patch('sys.stdout', new_callable=StringIO)
     def test_print(self, mock_stdout: StringIO) -> None:
         self.chat.add_messages([self.message1, self.message2])
@@ -474,3 +481,23 @@ class TestChatDB(unittest.TestCase):
                            answer=Answer("Answer 1"))
         with self.assertRaises(ChatError):
             chat_db.update_messages([message1])
+
+    def test_chat_db_latest_message(self) -> None:
+        chat_db = ChatDB.from_dir(pathlib.Path(self.cache_path.name),
+                                  pathlib.Path(self.db_path.name))
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='mem'), self.message4)
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='db'), self.message4)
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='disk'), self.message4)
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='all'), self.message4)
+        # the cache is currently empty:
+        self.assertIsNone(chat_db.latest_message(source='cache'))
+        # add new messages to the cache dir
+        new_message = Message(question=Question("New Question"),
+                              answer=Answer("New Answer"))
+        chat_db.add_to_cache([new_message])
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='cache'), new_message)
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='mem'), new_message)
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='disk'), new_message)
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='all'), new_message)
+        # the DB does not contain the new message
+        self.assertEqual(chat_db.latest_message(source='db'), self.message4)