~ Book Review: #TagMe for Murder (Trending Topic Mysteries #2) (ARC) ~

Author: Sarah E. Burr

When murder trends too close to home, social media influencer Coco Cline will have to swipe through a sea of trolls to tag a killer.

After cracking her first case, Cordelia “Coco” Cline’s life is finally getting back to normal—or as normal as life can be when you have over three million followers online. With a thriving business, a devoted boyfriend, and her two besties living right up the street, Coco is set to have the most fun summer of her life until Larry and Rosalynn Dunmer move into the condo next door.

Coco and her friends do their best to avoid the confrontational duo, but when a party at a swanky new wine bar brings everyone together, things become less than neighborly faster than a celebrity-themed hashtag goes viral. Larry levels some super shady threats toward Coco and her BFF Jasper, which could have dire consequences for their multimedia empires. Just as Coco begins to wonder if she’ll have to spend the rest of the summer looking over her shoulder, she gets a shocking request from police. As part of her PR gig with the Central Shores PD, they need her to come to the beach and keep the public at bay. A body has washed ashore.

Thinking a poor swimmer drowned just before the Salute to Summer festival kicks off, Coco arrives to find Larry Dunmer, dead with a corkscrew sticking out of his neck. What’s even more unbelievable is that Jasper quickly shoots to the top of Chief McInnis’s suspect list. In full-on panic mode, Coco decides to use her tech-savvy sleuthing skills to clear her best friend’s name before his rep is ruined. She soon discovers that Larry made quite a few enemies during his very short stay in town. But who hated him enough to kill him?

Return to the beaches of Central Shores as Coco Cline and her squad assemble to catch a killer before they get canceled…permanently.

#TagMe for Murder is the second novel in the Trending Topic Mysteries series. The series follow Cordelia “Coco” Cline, a social media influencer and lifestyle blogger turned amateur sleuth on the beaches of Central Shores. At first, I was not paying attention to realize this was the second novel in the series, but I found it easy enough to catch up. This novel also made me want to go back and read the first novel. As part of her work, Coco attends the opening reception of Vine, a wine bar owned by one of her clients. One of the attendees, a government official who was visiting on business, is found murdered the next day and fingers are initially pointed at Coco’s best friend, Jasper. This spurs Coco to begin her own investigation to find the real murderer.

The mystery was nice and cozy as the reader follows along with Coco as all the pieces are slowly placed together. I liked that I could not guess the murderer right away and I got to try and solve the mystery, too. There wasn’t as much foreshadowing as I thought, though, so I think it was missing the perfect balance in a mystery. It was still enjoyable, though, it just needed a few more clues. The small-town setting worked well for the story as it served as a great back drop, and it helped to limit the characters. Essentially, this novel had all the pieces of a great cozy mystery. Since social media is a huge part of Coco’s life, there is a lot present in the story. For me, it appeared a bit too much as it took away the focus from the mystery. The characters in this story are fun and the mystery was enjoyable, so I can see myself read more of this series in the future. Overall, this was a fun and interesting story and a great introduction to this author.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Level Best Books, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**