Cut, Crop & Die (A Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery) [Kindle Edition]

Joanna Campbell Slan (Author)

Book Description

Acclaim for Paper, Scissors, Death, the first
Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery:

An Agatha Award Finalist!

"A well-turned cozy with loads of scrapbooking tips."
—Kirkus

"Settle in for a fast-paced adventure . . ."
—Emilie Richards, bestselling author of Beware False Profits

"A wonderful read."
—Crimespree Magazine

Creative Revenge

All it took was one scone. When the hot-tempered (and widely hated) hobbyist Yvonne Gaynor eats a tainted pastry at Kiki's scrapbooking crop party, it triggers an allergy that leads to Yvonne's death. Even worse, the police suspect foul play when they realize that someone tampered with the treats and swiped the victim's allergy medication.

An expert at stealing design ideas, Yvonne had enough enemies to fill a memory album. Soon, the scrapbooking community pins her murder on Kiki's friends and our ace scrapper finds herself dealing with anti-Semitic threats at the shop, a quarrelsome pre-teen daughter at home, a meddlesome mother-in-law, and constant financial pressure. Despite help from the handsome yet annoyingly coy Detective Detweiler, Kiki has her work cut out for her in solving the crime.

Includes innovative scrapbooking tips.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Broad humor bordering on the absurd propels Agatha-finalist Slan's uneven second mystery to feature St. Louis scrapbooker Kiki Lowenstein (after 2008's Paper, Scissors, Death). When one of Kiki's fellow scrappers, Yvonne Gaynor, keels over during a cropping event because of a severe allergic reaction, the police suspect someone sabotaged the epinephrine syringe Yvonne always carried for such an emergency. Despite all warnings, Kiki decides to launch her own murder investigation, which is soon complicated by hate crime attacks against Kiki's employer and other local Jews. On the bright side, three handsome men take an interest in Kiki, while her late husband's mother, Sheila, interferes in her life to her benefit. Filled with scrapbooking lore, this relatively clean cozy contains scenes that will make you either laugh or cringe, like Sheila's sticking penis-shaped vibrators into her lawn to get rid of her mole problem. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Joanna Campbell Slan (Washington, D.C.) is an international authority in the scrapbooking community. She is the author of over ten books on the subject, and her work has appeared in all of the industry's top magazines. In 2004, Slan founded a contest for scrapbookers in the U.K called "The Best of British Scrapbooking," which still runs today. Additionally, Joanna is one of the early Chicken Soup for the Soul authors, and in 2007, she co-founded Sisters in Crime's Forensic University of St. Louis.

Product Details

• File Size: 2241 KB
• Print Length: 336 pages
• Publisher: Midnight Ink (June 8, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002F9NB64
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #253,524 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars She doesn't write fast enough May 13, 2010

By Kate

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am a scrapbooker and mystery lover, so this book seemed right down my alley. I read her first book so fast my Kindle was panting from the exertion. The second book is even better, and the entire spa experience was so hilarious, it nearly killed two people (I was reading the segment aloud to my friend Sandie, who was driving at the time, and we both got to laughing so hard the car joined in!) So- here it is, mid-May 2010, and WHERE IS BOOK THREE?!! Someone needs to be lighting a fire under Ms. Slan...

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cut, Crop & Die August 8, 2009

By B. Jackson

Format:Paperback

I am not interested in the scrap booking hobby so I wasn't sure I would like to read this book. I almost purchased it once, then decided against it. I saw a copy at our local library and checked it out. I couldn't but it down after I began readng it. I loved it. I skipped over all the scrap booking hints included, but I am sure they were very helpful to scrapbookers. The story line and characters were great. I'd buy the next book in this series when it comes out.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Read September 5, 2011

By D. Gindoy

Format:Paperback

I read this book before I realized that it was number 2 in a series, but I enjoyed it so much that I will definitely read the rest of the series. I laughed out loud at Kiki's day at the spa, and I didn't guess who the killer was until right before it was revealed in the story. You don't have to be a scrapbooker to enjoy this book, since the scrapbooking tips are between chapters and I just skipped right over those. I can't wait to find out what Kiki does in the next installment.

More About the Author

Joanna Campbell Slan started storytelling - and winning awards for her writing - at an early age. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Joanna grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, and graduated cum laude from Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana) where she majored in journalism. Today she's the author of eleven non-fiction books, a mystery series featuring Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky single mom who loves to scrapbook, and a new series featuring Charlotte Brontë's classic heroine Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth. Joanna's first novel--Paper, Scissors, Death--was a 2009 Agatha Award finalist. The Kiki Lowenstein series has been praised by the Library Journal as "topically relevant and chock-full of side stories." Publisher's Weekly calls them, "a cut above the usual craft-themed cozy."
RT Book Review has said that Kiki Lowenstein is that she is "our best friend, our next-door neighbor and ourselves with just a touch of the outrageous." Once you've met Joanna, you can guess where the outrageous comes from. Ready, Scrap, Shoot, the fifth book in the Kiki Lowenstein series, has just been released along with short stories featuring Kiki. A sixth book in that popular series has been scheduled. In addition, Joanna is writing a new historical mystery series featuring Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth. Death of a Schoolgirl (August 2012/ Berkley) marks the first entry in The Jane Eyre Chronicles. In her ongoing quest to never see snow again, Joanna lives with her two dogs and her husband on a nearly deserted island--Jupiter Island, Florida.