A Beautiful Corpse by Christi Daugherty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
One night as Harper McClain is having a few drinks and visiting with her best friend, Bonnie, a bartender at The Library Bar, she receives a call that there has been a shooting.
As an investigative reporter on Savannah’s crime beat, Harper needs to get to that scene and fast.
She’s had a couple of drinks by this point, however, so Bonnie insists on driving her. It’s closing time anyway and she promises not to get in Harper’s way.
Once on scene, Bonnie recognizes the murdered girl as 24-year old, Naomi Scott, a waitress at The Library Bar. In fact, Naomi had been working that very night, having just left the bar for home around an hour before.
Reflecting back on it, they realize, Naomi had seemed a bit frazzled right before she left, but why?
The police believe the perpetrator to be Naomi’s boyfriend, Wilson Shepherd, but both Bonnie and Harper, who know the young man, don’t like him for the crime.
Harper follows other leads that send her down some dark roads against some very powerful people.
With her signature style, Harper doesn’t give up. She is determined to get to the bottom of the case and see justice for Naomi and her family.
This is the second installment to the Harper McClain mystery series. While I wasn’t as engaged with this story as I was with the first book, this was still really strong and enjoyable to read.
One of the things I enjoyed so much about the first book was learning about Harper’s past and the trauma that really shaped the course of her life. There wasn’t as much of her backstory in this one and I kind of missed that.
I love Harper as a character. I feel like her job as a crime reporter is a great way to frame a mystery story. I like her interactions with the local police and how that dynamic plays out.
Additionally, this one had a really intriguing ending that set it up perfectly for the third book.
I believe in the next book, we are going to be learning a lot more about Harper’s mother and I’m so ready!
Overall, this is a great mystery series with a strong female protagonist who needs no one to save her. It’s the perfect time to jump in on the series as well, with the third book releasing next Tuesday, March 10th!!!
Thank you so much to the publisher, Minotaur Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. My apologies for taking so long, it was definitely worth the wait for me. Looking forward to continuing on Harper’s journey!