in letzter Zeit

• die letzte Zeit (chiefly colloquial)

in letzter Zeit

1. of late; lately; recently; referring to the recent past as a whole
   • 1960, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Gespenster:

     Anton fragte ihren Bruder, ob sie beide in letzter Zeit gereist waren und wohin?

     Anton asked her brother whether the two of them had been travelling recently, and where to?

• In letzter Zeit is not freely interchangeable with other words meaning “lately, recently”, such as kürzlich, neulich, letztens, all of which refer to a particular time or event in the recent past, as in: Ich habe sie kürzlich besucht. (“I visited her recently.”) — Compare to this: Ich habe sie in letzter Zeit besucht, which will typically mean a number of visits throughout the recent past.