What Happened on Beale Street is Mary Ellis' second book in her Secrets of the South series. Nicki and Nate Price leave behind their lives in New Orleans to help an old friend in Memphis. When they get there, they are immediately thrust into a devastating mystery. Putting their PI training to use, they attempt to help the Memphis Police solve a murder. Along the way, Nicki gets herself taken off the case by Nate, which leaves her left alone to explore a mystery of missing jewels on her own. Can the two cousins solve their respective mysteries without irritating the Memphis police and getting themselves banished from their historic hotel?
Unfortunately, this story lacks much depth. The characters do not evolve in any significant way throughout the book. They are developed rather shallowly, and the development does not improve as the story goes on. The initial description of the characters is all readers get.
Likewise, the plot is weak as well. It has a few patches of entertaining events, then it fizzles out until several chapters later when there is another small bit of excitement. The jewel mystery mostly seems to be a distraction from the primary mystery. Either way, neither mystery really leaves readers with any sense of suspense. The story is lighthearted with no real suspense of any kind because of the way Ellis portrays the characters and the murder.
Overall, the story does provide some exciting entertainment, it is just buried within pages of poorly developed characters and a plot that fails to offer much suspense.
I received an eARC version of this book in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are my own.
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