Review – What Happened on Beale Street

From the back cover:  How can music so beautiful hide something so deadly?

A cryptic plea for help from a childhood friend sends cousins Nate and Nicki Price from New Orleans to Memphis, the home of scrumptious barbecue and soulful blues music. When they arrive at Danny Andre’s last known address, they discover signs of a struggle and a lifestyle not in keeping with the former choirboy they fondly remember.

Danny’s sister, Isabelle, reluctantly accepts their help. She and Nate aren’t on the best of terms due to a complicated past, yet they will have to get beyond that if they want to save Danny.

On top of Danny’s alarming disappearance and his troubled relationship with Isabelle, Nate also has to rein in his favorite cousin’s overzealousness as a new and eager PI. Confronted with a possible murder, mystery, and mayhem in the land of the Delta blues, Nate must rely on his faith and investigative experience to keep one or more of them from getting killed.

This time this new addition to Mary Ellis’s standalone, Secrets of the South Mysteries moves to Memphis. This time she teams up with her cousin, Nate. They have come to answer Nate’s friend, Danny’s, call for help but he seems to be missing. Danny’s sister has a past with Nate so they are not on the best of terms and they keep encountering secrets everywhere they go. This one isn’t going to be easy. Nicki and Nate are terrific characters that Ms. Ellis has breathed life into and that we root for them to succeed. And did I mention that there is a romance also? “What Happened on Beale Street” is loaded with twists and turns and red herrings that will leave you guessing all the while you are flipping pages to find out what happens next.  I think Ms. Ellis has given us an excellent mystery and this is a terrific way to continue the series! “What Happened on Beale Street” is a lot of fun and it entertains you as you keep flipping pages as you try to find out what is going to happen next.  Ms. Ellis has a great way of telling the story and moving it along at a nice pace. A really enjoyable read.