Death By Design (A Scrapbooking Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Laura Childs (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Scrapbooking Mystery | Publication Date: June 27, 2006

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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Cackleberry Club, Tea Shop, and Scrapbooking mysteries. In her past life she was a Clio Award–winning advertising writer and CEO of her own marketing firm. She lives in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (June 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425210006
• ISBN-13: 978-0425210000
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #968,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fund raising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries - set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She's also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn't rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries - a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans' spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries - set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe's undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love scrapbooking? You're gonna love this series, November 3, 2006

By 

T. Birdwell (Sugar Hill, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death By Design (A Scrapbooking Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Laura Childs, author of a terrific Tea Cozy series, offers scrapbookers a cozy just for us. Her characters, and yes New Orleans is a character in her books, jump to life. The mysteries are fun and light, but what makes her books are the characters. By then end of her first book you wish Carmela and her Memory Mine shop were just down the street so you to could enjoy a day of creativity and conversation. This is a great opportunity of have all three of her Scrapbook Mysteries on one book. Enjoy! and Scrap on!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So entertaining!!!, October 5, 2007

By 

T. Moniz "Book Addict" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Death By Design (A Scrapbooking Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed this - you can't beat it... mystery, romance, cooking, scrapbooking...!

Definitely try this out if you like Nora Roberts, Mary Higgins Clark, and the like... the three in one paperback is great for the price.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this arthur & her series., June 13, 2011

By 

Lee Pearl "scappy mom" (SOCAL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Death By Design (Scrapbooking Mystery Books) (Paperback)

I love reading books in a series where you get to know the characters and follow their lives. While this is light recreational reading, there's just the right touch of romance as well as suspense. Set in New Orleans, Camile is a divorced business owner, running a scrapbooking business and branching out with those talents into other entrepeneural ventures. She's faced with living in a "small town" dealing with her ex, his eccentric family while trying to find love again.

As a scrapbooking fan, I like getting new project ideas from these books. Also, as a displaced Southerner, I love that the foods featured in the story comes with recipes in the back. I have all the books in this series and eagerly await the next installment. Despite loving the convenience and portability of my electronic reader, this is one book I get in paper just so I can hang onto those tips and recipes.