Although this is the second book in the 'Harper McClain' series but my first one, I didn’t have any problem settling into the story.

"A Beautiful Corpse" by Christi Daugherty was a fast-paced, page-turning thriller. Lots of mystery and intrigue held my interest and the fascinating plot kept me guessing and analysing throughout. Crime reporter, Harper McClain was a wonderfully drawn character as she was so feisty, relatable, and endearing. I found myself rooting for her and cheering her on in her unyielding work to find the killer in this highly suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat thriller.

This was a fantastic read with a superb and satisfying ending and I highly recommend it to lovers of crime thrillers especially those who enjoy a slight twist on a police procedural.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from HarperCollins UK/ HarperFiction via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

A good and thrilling murder mystery. The only downside for me was that I found it very 'american', however this didn't detract form my enjoyment if this title. Well worth a read, and I will be reading the first instalment next!

Many thanks to NetGalley for the Arc of A Beautiful Corpse I had previously never heard of this author but the synopsis for this book and the cover caught my eye and I was delighted to receive and arc to read but I noticed it was #2 in the series so I purchased #1 The Echo Killing and read it first and I’m very glad I did because not only was it a brilliant read but it also set the scene for The Beautiful Corpse and the story continued so I would definitely recommend you read The Echo Killing first!
I read both of these books back to back and I’ve hardly slept for the last few nights ... they are that good !!!!!! Christi Daugherty is the best new author I’ve discovered this year and her books are right up there with my favourites !!! Harper is such a brilliant character she’s SO courageous nothing fazes her and she will stop at nothing to get to the truth no matter what it costs her, she’s one of my favourite female characters yet!!! This book gave me sleepless nights and kept me guessing the whole way through and i love the way they end with cliff hangers that leave you dying for more ... Roll on march 2020 for the next book I can’t wait !!!!!!!!!

Thanks netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this excellent book.
One problem have read it in wrong order, as have read this one first, hope there will be a third to this great series of books about Harper.
Harper is a reporter,who will do Anything to get a story, and when a young bartender is murdered she is determined to find out who killed her.
After reading all these thrillers I wonder if I could become a detective,
This was a well written and very descriptive story about a reporter and a detective.
Well done Christi Daughtery

Harper McLain is a crime reporter for a newspaper in Savannah. She’s catching up with her best friend Bonnie when she’s called to a murder scene. When she and Bonnie arrive they realise they know the victim - Naomi Scott was a law student who worked part time at the same bar as Bonnie. Naomi has been shot. The police think her boyfriend Wilson did it. There are also two other suspects - the owner of the bar where Naomi worked as well as a fellow student who stalked her and led her to take a restraining order out on him. While working on the story Harper comes to realise that someone has been breaking in to her apartment on a regular basis and that they’re watching her all the time.

This is the second book in the Harper McLain series and the fact I haven’t read the first didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this one. A really well paced story and I look forward to reading more about Harper McLain soon.

Thanks to Netgalley, Harper Collins and Christi Daugherty for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC, which I have enjoyed reading.
A Beautiful Corpse by Christi Daugherty is a very slick and entertaining story about a predator who stalks and was the subject of three separate restraining orders taken out by three different woman. When the predator’s father is well connected and wealthy, the son believes he can get away with murder.
However Harper is a female reporter who wants to stop the killer and make sure he is held accountable for his actions. She is a very determined female. The storyline was excellent and the characters were all interesting and I enjoyed reading this book and will read more again by the same author.
Highly recommended.

When a bartender colleague of her friend is found dead, Harper McClain has a lot on her plate but she is still a reporter at heart. Following events the previous year Harper finds herself shunned by the local police and they think they have the killer, Naomi's boyfriend. However Naomi's father doesn't believe it is him and Harper starts to follow her own leads. This bring her to the son of a wealthy politician who has links to the board of her newspaper. Fighting for justice for Naomi, Harper is also aware that someone is stalking her.
Not having read the previous book about Harper McClain I wa splaying catch-up to a certain extent but this is an engaging and pacy thriller that grabs anyway. It's a fairly standard American procedural with a modern setting and a few twists. On the whole very entertaining but without being completely unputdownable!

Christi Daugherty wasn't an author I'd come across before I read this book - but now I've been introduced to her writing I'll definitely keep an eye out for her books. This is the second book about Harper McClain, a young reporter on a Savannah newspaper, who on going to a crime scene (where a young woman she vaguely knew is lying dead after being shot) takes her reporting a stage further and ends up solving the crime and almost getting herself killed in the process. If this was the only plot in the story I think the book would still be good, but there's another twist - Harper herself is being kept under surveillance, her apartment and car have both been broken into, but she doesn't know why or who has done it. I think it would have been helpful if I'd read the first book before I read this one as there are quite a few references to things that had happened in that book, but this is still a very good read. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series - and I've just bought and downloaded the first one to my kindle!

Although this is the second book of the series, it is the first I have read but it won't be the last. The fast paced plotline kept me gripped from start to finish, an absolute triumph of a book

Really enjoyed this novel.

Crime writer and reporter HArper McClain is convinced that the police have the wrong man for the murder of Naomi Scott. What follows is an outstanding story which weaves in and out of this outstanding thriller which will keep you guessing right until the end.

Will be looking out for more in this series.

Some books seem to draw you in from the first page and you don't want to put it back down. A Beautiful Corpse is definitely in that category. Although I hadn't read her previous book, The Echo Killing which introduced the reader to the main character Harper McClain I did not feel to be at any disadvantage. That is all thanks to Christi Daugherty who is a tremendous storyteller with credible characters and plot. The story moves at a pace with sufficient intrigue to maintain my interest at all times. This is a great read and I can recommend it to anyone interested in this genre. Now, I must get myself a copy of The Echo Killing!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The author serves up a credible murder plot wrapped inside a story where the lead character is a female crime journalist, rather than a detective. Notwithstanding the role limitations the journalist succeeds where the police fail, with a suitable number of plot dead ends to trap the unwary reader. The writing is fluent and rarely gets in the way of the reader's enjoyment. There are a number of sub plots, which for the most part add relevant texture and colour to the standard crime-solving storyline. However, for this reader at least, the amorous distractions affecting the lead character and the will he/won't he aspect of her love life added little to the book. This is a shame, as the writing and storyline were strong enough without this aspect. Despite this reservation I think this deserves a highly recommended from me.

Another day, another book where someone gets murdered – will I ever be able to resist? Probably not. This time, it’s a young law student who leaves her part-time job in a bar in downtown Savannah in a hurry, only to end up dead a few hours later. One of the first people on the scene (outside of the police) is Harper McClain, the local paper’s crime reporter. She’s used to seeing dead bodies, just not those of people she knows…it turns out the bar the young law student worked at was Harper’s local.
Almost immediately, police have a prime suspect, one that doesn’t quite fit with Harper’s view of the crime or the reasons the victim might have ended up dead. Like an itch she has to scratch, she ignores the police when they tell her there’s nothing to see and keeps looking into the murder, putting herself in danger in the process. At the same time, she’s dealing with a potential stalker, someone who may or may not want her dead.
Between the plot and sub-plot (which I think must link back to an earlier novel I haven’t read) the pace with A Beautiful Corpse doesn’t let up from the moment you pick up the book till the last few pages, making it a great read. Unfortunately, for me, the sub-plot was a bit of a distraction because I felt I was missing something. That aside, however, I really enjoyed the story and liked Harper as a character and definitely want to get to know her more in the future.

This is a run-of-the-mill thriller. I don’t mean this as an insult. The book is in very good company. I haven’t read the first book in the series but I will definitely check this out now. The book opens with fast, dramatic action and got me hooked right away. I read the book fairly quickly because once I got sucked into Harper’s world and the investigating I didn’t want to leave. The characters are well written and interesting and I rooted for them from the first. The book is well paced and fairly speeds along. There’s nothing worse than a thriller that’s slow, boring and dull.

I requested the book because i found the summary plot interesting and i liked the cover. I didn't realise then that it is the second book of a series and now i regret missing on the first book because this one is full of spoilers, i think i would go back to it anyway.

Harper McClain is a crime journalist, with her own share of tragedy. When she covers the murder of a young woman she knew, the investigation becomes rather personal to her. One beautiful young woman, three man who claim to have loved her, one killer.
The story was easy to read and enjoy; there wasn't exactly any unforeseeable twists but that somehow made it more interesting, to see how the story would unravel, to follow the complicated relationships of the various characters and also to witness the impact of what happened in the first book of the series.
The end rather opened a new chapter, which i hope will be developed in the next book. And this time, i will be waiting for it.
I would definitely recommend this book.

Gripping and a real page turner. I’m even more pleased to find the heroine is in other books. Off to purchase tomorrow. Totally recommend and 5/5 on goodreads.

I am really enjoying these books by US authors, I enjoy the speed of them, the depth of the female lead characters and the action.
I didn't read the previous book, and I will be looking out for it.

Thanks to NetGalley, Christi Daugherty and Harper Collins

A Cracking Journalistic Murder Thriller:
"A Beautiful Corpse" is the second novel in the Harper McClain series. Harper is a news reporter with The Savannah Daily News where she's worked after dropping out of college at twenty. She spends her time investigating the city's worst crimes. Such crimes never effect the tourist area of the city, so vital to the local economy. The murder of a young female law student in the fashionable, tourist-popular area of town makes for a big story and threatens trade. It transpires that the dead girl, Naomi Scott, worked with Bonnie, Harper's friend, in a local bar. Harper has a poor relationship with the police having previously uncovered corruption within the local police force and many of the local police hold a grudge against her.
Complete with red herrings, twists and turns, this thriller will keep you guessing until the end. The police pursue a line of enquiry which differs from Harper's suspicions. But Harper's prime suspect has an alibi and powerful family connections to protect him. Will Harper gather enough evidence to nail the killer and a big news exclusive? Read this absorbing thriller and you'll find out. A great read.

Despite some elements of character ideas and events I have read before, this police procedural told from pov of a feisty journalist who lost her own mother to a crime ... is heartfelt which saves it from being clockwork crime. A boyfriend is distracted and some creepy such people impinging on her life: stalkers abound. There is a kind of rage under this story that keeps it genuine. Which I liked.

Wow. I'm blown away. I haven't read the first book in this series, or any of the author's previous works so I went in with minimal expectations. I got SO much more than I bargained for.
Harper McClain is the crime reporter at a newspaper. She finds out that Naomi, a quiet girl that worked in a bar alongside Harper's best friend, has been killed in the middle of a busy street in the middle of the night. And from there, it's a rollercoaster.
There's several key suspects and Harper investigates a little into each one. It's obvious pretty early on who the killer is, but I think part of the fun is figuring out the why/how. Which gets teased out slowly.
Luke, her exboyfriend who she still hasn't gotten over, returns and takes over Naomi's case. And in between, Harper is also being stalked by someone. There's high tension levels throughout the story but something I did notice is that quite a bit of the book goes by without much happening. However, you really only realise this after finishing it so maybe it's a case of "it's the journey that matters".
Some of the questions don't get answered in this book. I'm guessing it's to stretch out the series but it's a little annoying.
Anyway. I've already ordered this and the previous book and will now patiently wait for the next installment.