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Larissa Reinhart

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Portrait of a Dead Guy: A Southern Humorous Mystery (A Cherry Tucker Mystery Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Larissa Reinhart (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 895 ratings

Book 1 of 8: A Cherry Tucker Mystery

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“LAUGH-OUT-LOUD FUNNY AND AS SOUTHERN AS SWEET TEA AND CHEESE GRITS”

From Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Larissa Reinhart. The first in the sassy and Southern Cherry Tucker cozy mystery series, a Woman’s World Magazine 2018 book club pick, Daphne Du Maurier finalist, The Emily finalist, Dixie Kane Memorial Winner, and Night Owl Review top pick.

“Reinhart is a truly talented author and this book was one of the best cozy mysteries we reviewed this year. We highly recommend this book to all lovers of mystery books.” – Mystery Tribune

In Halo, Georgia, folks know Cherry Tucker as big in mouth, small in stature, and able to sketch a portrait faster than buckshot rips from a ten gauge — but commissions are scarce. So when the well-heeled Branson family wants to memorialize their murdered son in a coffin portrait, Cherry scrambles to win their patronage from her small town rival.

As the clock ticks toward the deadline, Cherry faces more trouble than just a controversial subject. Between ex-boyfriends, her flaky family, an illegal gambling ring, and outwitting a killer on a spree, Cherry finds herself painted into a corner she’ll be lucky to survive.

“An entertaining mystery full of quirky characters and solid plotting…Highly recommended for anyone who likes their mysteries strong and their mint juleps stronger!” – Jennie Bentley, New York Times Bestselling Author of Flipped Out

“The tone of this marvelously cracked book is not unlike Sophie Littlefield’s brilliant A Bad Day for Sorry, as author Reinhart dishes out shovelfuls of ribald humor and mayhem. It takes a rare talent to successfully portray a beer-and-hormone-addled artist as a sympathetic and worthy heroine, but Reinhart pulls it off with tongue-in-cheek panache.” – Mystery Scene Magazine

“Don’t miss Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart! Portrait is pure enjoyment, a laugh out loud mystery with some Southern romance thrown in. Five stars.” — Lynn Farris, National Mystery Review Examiner at Examiner.com

“Laugh-out-loud funny and as Southern as sweet tea and cheese grits, Larissa Reinhart’s masterfully crafted whodunit, Portrait of a Dead Guy, provides high-octane action with quirky, down-home characters and a trouble-magnet heroine who’ll steal readers’ hearts.” – Debby Giusti, Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author

“A sweet, southern stroke of brilliance…Action, humor, mystery and a dash of romance all packed into one quirky creation. Trust me when I tell you—don’t miss this one.” — The Book Boost

“Reinhart’s debut sparkles with wit. A fun, fast-paced read and a rollicking start to her Cherry Tucker Mystery Series. If you like your stories southern-fried with a side of romance, this book’s for you!” — Leslie Tentler, Author of Midnight Caller

Books in the Cherry Tucker Southern Humorous Mystery Series:
A CHRISTMAS QUICK SKETCH
PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY
STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW
HIJACK IN ABSTRACT
THE VIGILANTE VIGNETTE (novella)
DEATH IN PERSPECTIVE
THE BODY IN THE LANDSCAPE
A COMPOSITION IN MURDER
A VIEW TO A CHILL, A Maizie Albright and Cherry Tucker Interconnected Mystery
A MOTHERLODE OF TROUBLE, A Cherry Tucker and Trouble the Cat Interconnected Mystery (2020)

Other mystery series by Larissa Reinhart:
Maizie Albright Star Detective series
A Finley Goodhart Crime Caper series

Related subjects include: cozy mysteries, amateur sleuth, women sleuths, murder mystery series, whodunit mysteries (whodunnit), humorous murder mysteries, book club recommendations, small town and rural, comic crime, Southern humor

From the Publisher

Awards and accolades for Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart

A Cherry Tucker Mystery series of book covers

PG-13 language and situations, small town murder mystery with clean romance

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Reinhart is a truly talented author and this book was one of the best cozy mysteries we reviewed this year...We highly recommend this book to all lovers of mystery books." - Mystery Tribune
"An entertaining mystery full of quirky characters and solid plotting...Highly recommended for anyone who likes their mysteries strong and their mint juleps stronger!"- Jennie Bentley, New York Times Bestselling Author of Flipped Out

"The tone of this marvelously cracked book is not unlike Sophie Littlefield's brilliant A Bad Day for Sorry, as author Reinhart dishes out shovelfuls of ribald humor and mayhem. It takes a rare talent to successfully portray a beer-and-hormone-addled artist as a sympathetic and worthy heroine, but Reinhart pulls it off with tongue-in-cheek panache." - Mystery Scene Magazine

"Don't miss Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart! Portrait is pure enjoyment, a laugh out loud mystery with some Southern romance thrown in. Five stars." -- Lynn Farris, National Mystery Review Examiner

"Laugh-out-loud funny and as Southern as sweet tea and cheese grits, Larissa Reinhart's masterfully crafted whodunit, Portrait of a Dead Guy, provides high-octane action with quirky, down-home characters and a trouble-magnet heroine who'll steal readers' hearts." - Debby Giusti, Author of The Captain's Mission and The Colonel's Daughter

"A sweet, southern stroke of brilliance...Action, humor, mystery and a dash of romance all packed into one quirky creation. Trust me when I tell you--don't miss this one." -- The Book Boost

"Reinhart's debut sparkles with wit. A fun, fast-paced read and a rollicking start to her Cherry Tucker Mystery Series. If you like your stories southern-fried with a side of romance, this book's for you!" -- Leslie Tentler, Author of Midnight Caller

From the Author

I've had a writing career full of blessings and strange luck. This story, Portrait of a Dead Guy, occurred to me as I coped with the funeral for my father. It was an unexpected death. At the time, I was living in Japan with my family and received the shocking call on a Friday morning, just as I was dropping my first-grader off at school. Because of the peculiarities of time zones and trans-Pacific flights, the Lord amazingly got me to my mother's home that same Friday night.
My young daughters and I stayed with my mother for nearly a month. Cherry Tucker and friends had been playing around in my head previously, but I didn't know what to do with her. And for some reason -- maybe due to grief, maybe because I'm just odd -- while staying with my mother, I got the idea for an artist painting a death portrait. The portrait of a murdered man. After I returned to Japan, I started writing.
I'll always be grateful to Kendel Flaum and Henery Press for giving me my first break into publishing. I returned from Japan with the manuscript for Portrait of a Dead Guy, the second manuscript I'd ever written -- the first of which will never see the light of day -- and submitted it to Henery Press after encouraging advice from writer friends like Debby Giusti and Donnell Bell. Kendel said she liked my voice, although it needed work. Boy did it. Her notes were my first editorial experience. I think the stars were aligned for that submission for I hadn't yet done the typical slog of queries most authors go through.
Five years have passed since Portrait's first publication. Now she's in her second edition with five more Cherry Tucker novels and three novellas published between 2012 and 2017. I can't believe it!
When I was a child, I wanted to become a writer, but I didn't think people like me could do something as great as that. I didn't live in a big city (my hometown's population hovers around 600 on a good day). I wasn't sophisticated. I wasn't particularly smart or talented. I wasn't even particularly creative. Although my writing teachers saw my potential, they told me, "write what you know."
I knew nothing. So I didn't write.
But I loved books and words. I loved making up stories. Twenty years later (after my husband's urging), I let all those characters spill down on paper. Now I do this every day, and I've never known such fulfillment (and stress. lol).
If you love to make up stories, too, write them down and see what can happen. Don't give up. Then write me a note and tell me. Nothing would make me happier than knowing you dared to do the same.
Happy reading!
Larissa <3!

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B075KS3B12
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Past Perfect Press; 2nd edition (September 11, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 11, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4332 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 260 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #101,374 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #381 in Cozy Craft & Hobby Mysteries
- #877 in Cozy Crafts & Hobbies Mystery
- #1,417 in Amateur Sleuth Mysteries (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 895 ratings

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Larissa Reinhart

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Visit Larissa's website to join her VIP Readers email group and get the free prequel to The Cupid Caper plus other exclusive bonus content! www.larissareinhart.com

A Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Larissa writes the award-winning Cherry Tucker Mystery, Maizie Albright Star Detective, and Finley Goodhart Crime Caper series. She loves to tell funny stories about women, looking for love (and dead bodies) in all the wrong places.

Larissa, her family, and Cairn Terrier, Biscuit, lived in Nagoya, Japan, but have returned to Peachtree City, Georgia. You can see them on HGTV's House Hunters International "Living for the Weekend in Nagoya" episode. Larissa loves books, food, and traveling with her family. You can often see her adventures on Instagram (and her little dog, too).

The Cherry Tucker Mystery Series in reading order:

A CHRISTMAS QUICK SKETCH (prequel novella)

PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY

STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW

HIJACK IN ABSTRACT

THE VIGILANTE VIGNETTE (Halloween novella)

DEATH IN PERSPECTIVE

THE BODY IN THE LANDSCAPE

A VIEW TO A CHILL

A COMPOSITION IN MURDER

A MOTHERLODE OF TROUBLE (in YEAR-LONG TROUBLE anthology)

The Maizie Albright Star Detective series in reading order:

15 MINUTES

16 MILLIMETERS

NC-17

A VIEW TO A CHILL

17.5 CARTRIDGES IN A PEAR TREE

18 CALIBER (2020)

19 CRIMINALS (2021)

Finley Goodhart Crime Caper series:

Pig'N a Poke (for newsletter subscribers only)

THE CUPID CAPER

THE PONY PREDICAMENT (2020)

THE HEIR AFFAIR (2021)

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

895 global ratings

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savvyshoppers

loved it!

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2024

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What an amazing cast of characters! I loved Cherry, and can’t wait to see what transpires next with her and Luke. And/or Todd! I guessed who the villain was but the story is interesting (and convoluted) enough to make the journey fun. I’m looking forward to see what shenanigans Cherry gets up to next. Definitely re-readable, and definitely recommended.

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Nbrooks

I've enjoyed this series

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2016

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I've enjoyed this series. It's light reading (which is why I gave it four instead of five stars), but the characters are fun, the romantic tension is great, it's very funny at times (I laughed out loud once, which I don't often do reading a book), and the mysteries are fun. Author is very good at characterization, imo. I've come back with books two and three already to spend time with this crazy, spunky heroine and her town.

One person found this helpful

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Slugpuppy3

Wacky Cozy Murder Mystery

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2023

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PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY is a rather bizarre cozy murder mystery with mostly dark humor. There are red herrings all over the place and a main character named Cherry who has some serious issues with impulse control and interpersonal relationships. The story is entertaining; it just tries to do too much.

One person found this helpful

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Beverly Marshallgoodell

Not your typical cozy mystery

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2024

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Cherry is a gifted portrait artist.in small town Georgia. When she hears a local family is looking for someone to paint a portrait of their murdered son, she volunteers for the job. Little does she know she will end up trying to solve the murder in order to take suspicion off herself. A great read you won't be able to put down.

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2013

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This was a fun book. The characters are fairly well drawn and the plot has some nice twists and turns. The macabre theme is interesting and is handled with a good sense of humor. You feel pulled into the town and as if you know most of the people you meet. Two notes for the author: feet don't ring on wooden stairs and tempura is a Japanese style of deep frying - temperas are paints. Other than that and a few grammatical errors here and there, the editing is much better than other kindle books I've read.

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2024

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I loved the female lead. Spunky and unique. I after having met the cast of players I am excited about the next book to see where they go from here!

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S. Lee

Redneck artist in a town full of zany characters

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2020

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I've read several other cozy mysteries by this author, but it was fun to go back and see how it all began.
Cherry is a spunky heroine, brought up in a dysfunctional family in the small Georgia town of Halo. Although her behavior is mostly redneck, she went to art school and became a classically-trained portrait artist. Many of the descriptions show how Cherry views the world through an artist's eyes, which made her art education believable.
When the story opens, Cherry gets an opportunity for a portrait commission; she desperately needs the money. Dustin Branson, son of one of Halo's wealthiest families, has died, and his stepmother, Wanda, requests that a portrait be made of Dustin in his coffin. Cherry jumps at the chance.
She has competition, though, from long-time nemesis, Shawna Branson, whose artistic vision leans more toward kitsch.
It turns out Dustin, who was no angel, was murdered. Up close and personal while trying to create her painting, Cherry picks up some clues about the crime, and her inquisitive nature puts her in danger.
And there are love triangles. Luke Branson, an old flame, is back from the army, and sparks between him and Cherry rekindle. But Shawna also seems interested in Luke, if only to keep him away from Cherry. Cherry's other love interest is good-looking, slow-witted Todd, a local musician with a penchant for gambling.
Suspects abound and Cherry gets beat up a lot. Her sheriff uncle warns her away from the investigation, but of course, she doesn't listen--and ends up face-to-face with a killer.
Great start to an entertaining series!

One person found this helpful

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Jane Reads

First-Rate Debut Mystery

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2014

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Portrait of a Dead Guy is a really great, really fun read! Author Larissa Reinhart has written a first-rate debut mystery novel, filled with humorous, quirky, authentic and intriguing characters. Reinhart has created a believable setting in fictional Halo of Forks County. It's a place I'd like to visit (except for the murders, of course).

Halo is a small town, where everybody knows everything about everyone — and everyone's family. As far as the townsfolk of Halo are concerned, Cherry has to overcome not only her own teenage shenanigans, but also those of her older sister Casey and her younger brother Cody, plus the actions of their mother (who abandoned them when they were little). Cherry keeps getting pulled into situations by the killer, but the townsfolk think that she's just pulling the crazy stunts on her own, to get orders for her art business. This is why winning the commission for the coffin portrait of Dustin Branson is so important to her.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Portrait of a Dead Guy:

Art
"You spent all that money on art school to paint pictures of dogs?'
"I spent all that money on art school to become a professional artist," I said. "It's early days yet. For now, I take what I can get."
"Including painting the departed?"
"You ever heard of a still life?"

After two minutes of carefully unwrapping Dustin's portrait, a stunned silence filled the room. Wanda clutched her sides with tears running rivulets down her face.
"It's amazing," she said. "It's like a work of art."

Ex-boyfriends
"How can you be mistaken about that?" asked Luke. I looked up from my bowl and caught Todd's wide-eyed open face greet Luke's shuttered countenance. They reminded me of Lassie meeting Cujo.

With a grunt, he kicked his heel against the archway. "I'm usually more in control. Do you think I like feeling this way? You're like malaria or something. I think I'm over you and suddenly you've worked your way into my system again."

I hope these quotes have made you want to read more about Cherry Tucker, in Portrait of a Dead Guy. I recommend it to all cozy mystery fans, and to mystery fans in general. This would be a great introduction to the cozy genre. I give Portrait of a Dead Guy my Five-Star seal of approval.

originally published at Jane Reads

9 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

E who Reads a Thousand Mysteries

A great book

Reviewed in Canada on March 8, 2023

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FYI this is high quality fiction! Vvery funny, sarcastic and totally a small town mentality where people gossip about her when she never even had the fun in the gossip.

Eileen Thornton

A Great Murder Mystery

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

Cherry Tucker is an artist. She went to art school to learn her trade. However, though she produces wonderful paintings, there is a limit to the number of commissions she receives in the small town where she lives. Running short of money, she decides to hurry across to a couple who are seeking someone to paint a portrait of their recently murdered son. However, on arriving at the funeral home, Cherry finds that she is not the only person after the job and so begins the rivalry between the two artists. But rivalry turns out to be the least of Cherry's problems, as she very soon finds herself caught up in a web of robbery, deceit and murder.
I really enjoyed this murder mystery, so much, I didn't want to put it down. Also, I found it so easy to read, which is , I believe, another bonus. If you are looking for a cozy murder mystery, then check out this one. I highly recommend Portrait of a Dead Guy.

One person found this helpful

Krysia

Easy reading book

Reviewed in Canada on November 29, 2023

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Fun to read. Enjoyable quick read.

Bernie Koenig

An Okay Mystery

Reviewed in Canada on March 9, 2014

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Maybe it is me but I have never had great success reading books that have won awards. I bought this book based on a review which mentioned that it won one award and was a finalist in others. While the book was perfectly acceptable, I did not see anything that really stood out.

The main character, Cherry, is a young woman who went to art school and now is back home in the small town of Halo, Georgia, trying to create a career as a portrait artist. She is commissioned to paint the portrait of a dead person, so the mother can remember him.

Various events lead Cherry to try and solve the murder herself, especially after she is mugged while painting. The dead person stole something and now someone is trying to steal it back.

We get involved in her family life and her love life, and meet a bunch of people, and we see her jumping to conclusions about who did what and why.

I found the ending pretty standard: Heroine makes a mistake, gets into trouble, but gets recused in time, etc etc.

Nothing special but perfectly acceptable.

2 people found this helpful

Felix the Cat

Boring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 18, 2014

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Boring, with little pace. I had no desire to read further than half way. Similarities with some situations to Evanovitch : funeral parlour and rival but that's where the similarities finish. No style, humour weak. Sorry didn't push any buttons for me whatsover.

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Portrait of a Dead Guy: A Southern Humorous Mystery (A Cherry Tucker Mystery Book 1) Kindle Edition

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Larissa Reinhart

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