A Scrapbooking Mystery Series

A shocking murder strikes a sour note during Jazz Fest in the latest New Orleans Scrapbooking Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs.

It’s Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and the giant puppets from the Beastmaster Puppet Theatre are parading through the French Quarter. Some are very spooky and veiled, others are tall and gangly, like strange aliens.
    
As the parade proceeds, Carmela Bertrand and her best friend, Ava, follow behind, down Royal Street and past the food booths. Suddenly, they hear a terrible crash from Devon Dowling’s antiques shop. They rush inside to find Devon collapsed with blood streaming down the side of his face. Has he been shot? Stabbed? 911 is hastily called, and the police and EMTs show up. After the police examine Devon’s body, they tell Carmela and Ava that their friend was murdered with an icepick. They’re shocked beyond belief—and now Mimi, Devon’s little pug, is left homeless.

Carmela and Ava are determined to catch the murderer, but the list of suspects is long. How long do they have before they find themselves on the killer’s list?

An exploding Mardi Gras float has got to be the strangest murder weapon scrappy sleuth Carmela Bertrand has ever encountered in this Scrapbooking Mystery reprint from the New York Times bestselling author.

It’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand is excited to be attending the Pluvius parade along with her best friend, Ava. Carmela’s ex-husband, Shamus, rides by the duo on his float at the head of the parade, when suddenly the revelry turns to disaster. Shamus’s float crashes and explodes, and although Shamus escapes unhurt, a member of his krewe is killed.

Carmela and Ava plunge into an investigation of the krewe member’s death, but as they dig deeper, it starts to look less like an accident and more like a murder…and Shamus seems less like a victim and more like a suspect.

The Winter Market in the French Quarter is in full swing, but murder isn’t taking a holiday in this festive mystery in the New York Times bestselling Scrapbooking series.

The holidays are a busy time for scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand—but not so hectic that she doesn’t have time to enjoy browsing the booths at the Winter Market with her best friend, Ava. The last thing the ladies expect to see is a lurching man stabbed by a serving fork, dying in front of them.

The victim is loathed restaurant critic Martin Lash, who posted his scathing reviews on the Glutton for Punishment website. And the prime suspect is New Orleans restaurateur Quigg Brevard—who was seen giving the critic a tongue-lashing minutes before someone stuck a fork in him. An old flame of Carmela’s, Quigg asks for her help, which does not please her current beau, Detective Edgar Babcock, to say the least.

Before her relationship is the next victim, Carmela needs to find a murderer who had no reservations about punishing the culinary curmudgeon…

“The plot is detailed with layers of mysteries…The rich descriptions and dialog bring this story to life.”—Open Book Society

SCRAPBOOKING TIPS INCLUDED! 

In the latest from the New York Times bestselling author of Gossamer Ghost, scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand investigates a murder in New Orleans’ legendary Lafayette Cemetery…

Enjoying dinner at Commander’s Palace with her beau, Detective Edgar Babcock, Carmela finds the food and the company equally divine—with the exception of Isabelle Black stopping by to brag about her upcoming wedding. Leaving the restaurant, the couple is interrupted once again—this time by a terrifying scream from inside the cemetery. 

Rushing to investigate, Carmela and Edgar find Isabelle lying across an aboveground tomb, strangled with a piece of vintage lace. Carmela would rather leave the case to Edgar, but she can’t say no to Isabelle’s sister, Ellie, the tarot card reader at Juju Voodoo. As she untangles the enemies of Isabelle’s past, Carmela hopes she can draw out the killer before someone else gets cold feet.

“Scrapbook aficionados rejoice! Ms. Childs creates a charming mystery series with lively, quirky characters, and plenty of how-to.”—Fresh Fiction

SCRAPBOOKING TIPS INCLUDED!

The New York Times bestselling author of Gilt Trip returns to New Orleans for scrapbooking, Halloween, and homicide…

Scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand is ready to head out and enjoy her night until she hears some strange noises coming from Oddities, the neighboring antiques shop, and decides to investigate. Her evening plans are abruptly put on hold when out of a curio cabinet—and into her arms—falls the bloody body of Oddities owner Marcus Joubert.

While Joubert was known for being an eccentric, Carmela never thought he could inspire the passion required to kill—until she learns a priceless death mask was also stolen. As the mystery grows, so does the list of suspects, leaving Carmela with the feeling that it will take every trick in the book to unmask the killer thief before there’s another night of murderous mischief…

Scrapbooking Tips and Recipes Included!

A New Orleans businessman and white-collar criminal is celebrating his early release from prison. But his freedom will be short lived…
 
Scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand and her best friend, Ava, are off to a party. Prominent socialite Margo Leland is throwing an extravagant fete to welcome home her husband, Jerry Earl. There’s a zydeco band, champagne ice luge, and waiters in ties and tails.  But in the midst of the revelry, Jerry Earl is murdered—then stuffed inside a clothes dryer. 
 
When the grieving widow turns to her for help, Carmela can’t say no. But Jerry Earl took a lot of people to the cleaners with his underhanded business tactics, so Carmela’s going to be hard-pressed to identify which of his enemies was steamed enough to kill him. As she sorts through Jerry Earl’s dirty laundry, she needs to collar the killer before another victim is set to tumble dry…
 
Scrapbooking Tips and Recipes Included!

New Orleans is in the throes of another fantastic Mardi Gras celebration when the party gets crashed by a murderer…
 
Kimber Breeze of KBEZ-TV is broadcasting live from a hotel balcony in the French Quarter, interviewing locals and capturing the spectacle in the streets. But as Carmela Bertrand, owner of Memory Mine scrapbooking shop, waits to be interviewed next, someone sneaks onto the balcony and strangles Kimber with a cord, leaving her body dangling above the parade.
 
Soon after the murder, Carmela begins receiving strange postcards at her shop—signed by the late reporter. Now she and her friend Ava must risk their own necks to find out who’s posing as a ghost and expose a killer…
 
Scrapbooking Tips and Recipes Included!

When a fellow scrapbooker is bludgeoned with a religious statue in St. Tristan’s Church, a stolen relic may hold the key to catching the culprit… The last thing Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava expect to bear witness to in St. Tristan’s Church is a crime. But now a beloved member of their scrapbooking circle is lying lifeless next to a smashed statue of St. Sebastian—and a mysterious hooded figure has absconded with an antique crucifix. With so many tourists passing through the church, the police don’t have a prayer of finding the killer.But if anyone can get to the bottom of the crime, it’s Carmela’s main squeeze, Detective Edgar Babcock—with a little assistance from some scrappy sleuths. As Carmela and Ava are drawn deeper into New Orleans’ French Quarter in search of the missing crucifix, they discover that this is one killer they don’t want to cross…
SCRAPBOOKING TIPS INCLUDED!

With its history of spooky folklore, New Orleans offers the perfect atmosphere for Halloween. Scrappy sleuth Carmela Bertrand is getting into the spirit by building a giant puppet for the French Quarter’s Halloween Monsters and Mayhem parade. But things get terrifying earlier than expected when she overhears an argument between Jekyll Hardy and Brett Fowler-and minutes later, finds Fowler’s lifeless body.

A New Orleans mansion is being converted into a haunted house for tourists and scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand has been enlisted to help. No sooner does the project begin than someone winds up dead.

Amid Zydeco rhythms and popping champagne corks, scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand is having a wild night at a Mardi Gras party?until she finds a float designer murdered on a balcony.

SCRAPBOOKING TIPS AND RECIPES INCLUDED.

For Carmela Bertrand, a New Orleans shop owner who can turn any scrapbook into a treasure, this Halloween will feature more than the usual scares. On her way home from a ghoulish gathering, Carmela finds the dead body of a model?and is then attacked herself. Her leads are many, including animal tooth marks on the deceased?s neck. And as the witching hour draws closer, Carmela must find what?s lurking in the shadows?or get the fright of her life.

Keepsake Crimes introduces Carmela Bertrand and her booming scrapbooking shop, Memory Mine, on the fringe of New Orleans’s French Quarter. When Carmela’s estranged husband is named a suspect in a Mardi Gras murder, it is Carmela who must find the clues to the real killer-in one of her customer’s scrapbooks.In Photo Finished, Carmela is hosting a late-night “Crop Till You Drop” session at her shop. But when a neighboring shop owner is murdered in the alley behind the store, Carmela’s customers become the focus of the police investigation.And finally, in Bound for Murder, Carmela is creating custom place settings for a wedding party when she discovers the groom with a knife protruding from his body. Carmela must help the bride pick up the pieces while wrapping up a murder with more than one lethal loose end.

After Hurricane Katrina, scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand has her hands full getting Memory Mine back in business-and her relationship with her ex-husband, Shamus, back on its feet. But then Shamus is kidnapped, and Carmela discovers Shamus’s Uncle Henry, murdered.

Carmela puts together a sentimental scrapbook of memories and keepsakes of Henry. But her project holds a clue that could identify the killer and kidnapper-and the murderer is going to try to close the book on Carmela once and for all.

New Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand’s pre-wedding party is overshadowed when a friend’s intended groom is murdered. Asked by the heartbroken bride to look into the case, Carmela must help her friend pick up the pieces while wrapping up a murder that has more than one lethal loose end.