Unofficial Review: "Midnight on the Mississippi" by Ellis

[Dani_Seilhamer]

Midnight on the Mississippi is Mary Ellis’ debut novel in her series entitled Secrets of the South Mysteries. This story follows Nicolette Price as she teams up with her cousin, Nate, to put her new private investigator license to use. She joins Price Investigations just as Nate has taken on the high-profile case of his wealthy friend Hunter Galen. Nicolette is determined to prove herself to her cousin, and solve the seventeen year mystery of her father’s murder along the way.

Galen’s successful investment business partner has been murdered, and Galen is the primary suspect. Galen hires Nate to prove his innocence, but when Nate runs into trouble with the law, Nicolette becomes Galen’s sole investigator. When Nicolette uncovers unsavory business deals with Galen’s signature on them, Nicolette begins to wonder whether she should trust him. When romantic problems emerge between Galen, his girlfriend, Ashley Menard, and Nicolette, everything gets more complicated with the case and their working relationship. Can Galen and Nicolette put their growing feelings for each other on hold while they work to clear Galen’s name? Can the two of them continue to work together to prove Galen’s innocence, or will Nicolette turn and flee for home?

While there is a mystery in Midnight in Mississippi, the plot almost focuses more on the romantic entanglement of the main characters than it does on the actual solving of the mystery. The main characters of Galen, Menard and Nicolette are well-developed, but the vast number of secondary characters are flat with little development. The religious aspect of the book is not well-developed either. Religion plays a very minor role in the story. Nicolette mentions she was raised a Christian and that determines a few of the decision she makes throughout the story. It is revealed that the entire Galen family is Roman Catholic, but other than being a part of character development, this is not relevant to the story. The storyline is intriguing, but not deep. The plot makes for a light read.