The Bransons want their murdered son remembered in a coffin portrait, and Cherry Tucker wants the job. They are a well-heeled family in Halo, Georgia. Her commissions have dried up, and a painting of a dead man pays the same as any other. Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart came out on August 28, 2012, from Henery Press. It was her first novel and the start of the Cherry Tucker Mysteries.
Who Is the Dead Man in the Portrait?
He is Dustin Branson, the family’s troublemaking son, and he has been murdered; who killed him is the question of the book. A coffin portrait is a memorial painting of the person who has died, shown at the funeral. Cherry first has to win the commission against a small-town rival, Shawna. Winning it is where her trouble starts.
Looking for a Portrait of a Dead Man? This Is a Novel
A search for a portrait of a dead man usually brings up paintings, vintage photographs and stock image collections. Fine art prints and photos of that kind are for sale elsewhere. This page is about a comic mystery story, and its title is a joke on Cherry’s creative job.
What Is Portrait of a Dead Guy About?
Cherry is a classically trained portrait artist, a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, who was raised on a farm outside Halo. Soon after she takes the job, she is accused of trespassing and of stealing from the corpse. Someone seems to be setting her up to take the fall, so she starts looking for the killer herself.
The people around her do not make it easy. Luke Harper, her high-school ex-boyfriend, is Dustin’s stepbrother. Todd, a hot drummer she married in Vegas and had annulled just as fast, is still around. An illegal gambling ring runs in the background. And Tater, her grandfather’s billy goat, likes to play chicken with her truck.
Our Review: Sassy, Southern and a Little Dark
The publisher promised laugh-out-loud funny and as Southern as sweet tea and cheese grits, and the voice delivers. Cherry narrates in the first person, quick-tempered and quick with a comeback, and the small-town dialogue is the best part of the book. Her childhood, with a mother who disappeared, gives her a sharp tongue and a real need to stand up for the underdog.
The author has said this first book is darker than the later ones, and you can feel it. There is more than one death, and the gambling ring is not cozy. The cast is large, with two men in Cherry’s life at once; some readers found that triangle repetitive. Reinhart calls her style chick lit cozy and rates her books about PG-13 for language and romance. That is a fair warning label.
The Cherry Tucker Mystery Series in Order
Each book has a self-contained mystery, but the author says the romance and the characters are best enjoyed in order. Her own numbering:
- A Christmas Quick Sketch, a prequel novella (2013)
- Portrait of a Dead Guy (2012)
- Still Life in Brunswick Stew (2013)
- Hijack in Abstract (2013)
- The Vigilante Vignette, a Halloween novella
- Death in Perspective (2014)
- The Body in the Landscape (2015)
- A Composition in Murder (2016)
- A View to a Chill, a holiday crossover with Maizie Albright (2018)
- A Motherlode of Trouble, a Mother’s Day novella (2020)
That makes six novels, three novellas and one crossover. As of October 2026 no new Cherry Tucker book has been announced.
Awards: What the Manuscript Won
The book is often called award-winning, and the honors are real, but they came before publication. They were contests for unpublished manuscripts run by Romance Writers of America chapters. The author lists the 2011 Dixie Kane Memorial, and finalist places for the 2012 Daphne du Maurier and The Emily. After publication it was a Woman’s World Magazine book club pick in 2018 and an Amazon Prime Reading title in fall 2021.
Who Is Larissa Reinhart?
Larissa Reinhart is the pen name of Larissa Hoffman, a Georgia writer. She wrote this book while living in Japan and published it after moving back home. Besides Cherry Tucker she writes the Maizie Albright Star Detective series, about a former child star working as an apprentice private investigator in Georgia. She also writes the Finley Goodhart Crime Capers, about a former con artist trying to go straight. Her own imprint, Past Perfect Press, reissued this book in September 2017.
Quick Facts
| Title | Portrait of a Dead Guy |
|---|---|
| Author | Larissa Reinhart |
| Series | Cherry Tucker Mysteries, book 1 |
| First published | August 28, 2012, Henery Press; reissued 2017 by Past Perfect Press |
| Setting | Halo, a fictional small town in Georgia |
| Sleuth | Cherry Tucker, a portrait artist |
| Audiobook | Narrated by Erin Clark, 10 h 1 min (Audible Studios, 2013) |
| Animals | Tater, a billy goat |
| Next book | Still Life in Brunswick Stew (2013) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it a clean cozy?
Not quite. The author rates it about PG-13: some language and romance, no graphic scenes, but darker than most cozies.
Do I need the prequel first?
No. The prequel came out after this book. You can start with either, and most readers start here.
What should I read next?
Mystery Scene compared the series to Sophie Littlefield’s A Bad Day for Sorry. From our own reviews, try another sassy Southern heroine in Jenna Bennett’s A Cutthroat Business, or Anne George’s Murder on a Girls’ Night Out. More in our funny cozy mysteries.