The Echo Killing by Christi Daugherty (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"A city of antebellum architecture, picturesque parks, and cobblestone streets, Savannah moves at a graceful pace. But for Harper McClain, the timeless beauty and culture that distinguishes her home’s Southern heritage vanishes during the dark and dangerous nights. She wouldn’t have it any other way. Not even finding her mother brutally murdered in their home when she was twelve has made her love Savannah any less.

Her mother’s killer was never found, and that unsolved murder left Harper with an obsession that drove her to become one of the best crime reporters in the state of Georgia. She spends her nights with the police, searching for criminals. Her latest investigation takes her to the scene of a homicide where the details are hauntingly familiar: a young girl being led from the scene by a detective, a female victim naked and stabbed multiple times in the kitchen, and no traces of any evidence pointing towards a suspect.

Harper has seen all of this before in her own life. The similarities between the murder of Marie Whitney and her own mother’s death lead her to believe they’re both victims of the same killer. At last, she has the chance to find the murderer who’s eluded justice for fifteen years and make sure another little girl isn’t forever haunted by a senseless act of violence―even if it puts Harper in the killer’s cross-hairs…"

My Thoughts:

This book was an excellent beginning to a new mystery series and I enjoyed my time reading it!  I'm not going to lie - I added this one to my TBR list based off of that gorgeous cover alone.  The book itself was just as good as I had hoped though and left me very excited about both this author and series!  One of the things that I liked best about this book was that it wasn't your typical detective mystery.  Harper is a crime reporter for a newspaper who pushes to the edge sometimes to get her story.  It is only when she comes across a crime scene that eerily reminds her of her past (her mother was murdered when she was younger) that she starts investigating both the recent crime and her mother's murder.  The similarities between the two crimes was intriguing but it was Harper herself that really made the story stand out for me.  She just came to life between the pages even when some of the choices that she made had me cringing.  In just a very short time she became obsessed with figuring out what happened to her mother so long ago (hence the reason for some of those bad choices).  It added this layer of tension to the story that caused me to be unable to stop reading.  I did guess the actual bad guy towards the end of the book although I couldn't figure out the whys behind it all.  Even figuring that much out, I found myself very surprised by the ending of the book and very eager to get my hands on book two.  It was so good but now I need more!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am now left with the long wait for book two.  But this one was so good that it will be completely worth the wait!  I tried not to give too much away because I didn't want to spoil anything but I obviously can't say enough good things.  I feel like I've hit a streak of finding new mystery authors to be really excited about and this author is on that list.  It was just such a great mystery and that ending left me wanting more.  I almost forgot to mention that I really enjoyed the Georgia setting.  There is just something about books set in the South that I love.  If you enjoy mysteries and suspenseful reads then this is a book to check out!  I'm in awe that this book is the author's debut because it is just so good!  I would highly recommend (I'm sure you can tell as this feels like it has turned into a gush fest).  So very good!

Bottom Line:  A mystery where the characters and setting swept me away and left me wanting more!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. 

This book releases today on March 13th if you want to check it out!