BOOK REVIEW: A Beautiful Corpse by Christi Daugherty @CJ_Daugherty @MinotaurBooks #bookbestiesabeautifulcorpse #abeautifulcorpse

Wow, this book was so compulsively readable and addictive! I found myself thinking about the mystery of A Beautiful Corpse by Christi Daugherty whenever I wasn’t reading it. As journalist Harper McClain pursues a killer, the police throw up road blocks, and Harper finds herself the focus of a different sort of crime that is no less terrifying. This should be a top pick for mystery fans in 2019!

About the Book

From Christi Daugherty, author of The Echo Killing, comes another pulse-pounding suspenseful thriller featuring crime reporter Harper McClain.

For a woman, being killed by someone who claims to love her is the most ordinary murder of all.

With its antebellum houses and ancient oak trees draped in a veil of Spanish moss, Savannah’s graceful downtown is famous around the world. When a woman is killed in the heart of that affluent district, the shock is felt throughout the city. But for crime reporter Harper McClain, this story is personal. The corpse has a familiar face.

Only twenty-four years old, Naomi Scott was just getting started. A law student, tending bar to make ends meet, she wanted to change the world. Instead, her life ended in the dead of night at the hands of an unseen gunman. There are no witnesses to the crime. The police have three suspects: Scott’s boyfriend, who has a criminal past he claims he’s put behind him, her boss, who stalked another young bartender two years ago, and the district attorney’s son, who Naomi dated until their relationship ended in acrimony. All three men claim to love her. Could one of them be her killer?

With the whole city demanding answers, Harper unravels a tangled story of obsession and jealousy. But the pressures on her go beyond the murder. The newspaper is facing more layoffs. Her boss fears both their jobs are on the line. And Harper begins to realize that someone is watching her every move. Someone familiar and very dangerous.

Someone who told her to run before it’s too late…

Reflection

This is the second book in a series featuring crime reporter Harper McClain, but it can absolutely be read as a standalone (though it does spoil a few things from book 1, so if you care about that, read them in order or at least be forewarned). Harper is a journalist in Savannah, GA, and the current book shows her on the outs with the police department due to the case from the previous book.

Harper is hanging out with her best friend Bonnie at The Library, a bar that Bonnie works at, when a call comes in about a murder. To their horror, they know the victim—Naomi Scott, a law student who works part time at The Library and was seen leaving the bar less than an hour before she was shot.

Though we don’t really see Naomi alive much in this book, there’s something about her that really shines through the story. Naomi is by all accounts, beautiful, compassionate, intelligent, kind, and hard-working. She’s a perfect example of a victim of a seemingly senseless crime, except that there was definitely something off when she left the bar. She was texting and then left early, and now no one can find her phone.

The suspect list narrows quickly to a few individuals, but it isn’t totally clear who is responsible. The current boyfriend with no alibi? The ex-boyfriend with motive but an airtight alibi? The owner of the bar who has an apparent drinking problem? The police have their number one suspect, but Harper has other ideas. In a highly charged political case, Harper and her boss put themselves out there to reveal the truth. But someone won’t let that happen!

I absolutely loved Harper. She’s that perfect mix of incredibly strong but authentically vulnerable. Harper can shatter but pull herself together, but she feels everything. She is dogged, damaged, and passionate. She’s someone everyone will root for because she goes after what is right, even when it may not be what is best for her.

There’s another ongoing plotline about Harper’s personal life, with an ex-boyfriend (which honestly that had me right in my feels!) and with a potential stalker. The stalker plot was absolutely chilling. Harper starts reviewing all of the times she thought something wasn’t right but she brushed her instincts aside, and honestly I had goosebumps! And then story between her and Luke, well that was really something. It felt so authentic and emotional and raw. Very well-written!

I am confident this won’t be the last we see of Harper, and as the book ends we get a small hint of where the story may go next. I will be signed up to read it the moment the draft is done! Truly excellent work by Christi Daugherty!

Book Besties

I read this book with the book besties! So as usual, all of our reviews are live today and can be found at the following links:

Berit at Audio Killed the Bookmark
Holly at Dressed to Read
Jennifer at Tarheel Reader
Kendall on Goodreads

And you can find more from me on my goodreads review and my Instagram! Pre-order your copy here.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for my advanced copy. Opinions are my own.