Keepsake Crimes: A Scrapbooking Mystery [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Laura Childs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2004

Award-winning Mystery Author

In New Orleans's French Quarter sits Carmela Bertrand's little scrapbooking shop, Memory Mine. When one of the city's elite dies during Mardi Gras, Carmela's estranged husband is the number one suspect. Carmela doesn't think that Shamus is cut out to be a killer. As hebegs for help, Carmela uncovers an important clue in a most unlikely place - one of her customers' scrapbooks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Just the right blend of cozy fun and clever plotting." -Susan Wittig Albert



"Murder suits [Laura Childs] to a Tea." -St. Paul Pioneer Press

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing; 1 edition (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587245906
• ISBN-13: 978-1587245909
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,824,745 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

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Writing too many novels perhaps?, June 1, 2003

By 

Chelle "Chelle" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keepsake Crimes (A Scrapbooking Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Cozy mysteries are great. They're light and quick and enjoyable. However, when the word "mystery" is attatched to the "cozy" bit the author really should follow through.

Childs' budding new series has many of the same characteristics as her Tea Shop Mystery series. The setting is strong and definite. She knows the area(s) she's dealing with and seems to delight in describing them to the reader. There are numerous quirky secondary characters that are loyal and supportive and always there at the right times. But there is also the same repetition, the same breeziness, the same lame inner dialogue that makes you go a little crazy because, really, I think we're all just a little more intelligent than that. And then there's the "mystery" part. Right.

There really is no mystery. There is a crime, granted. But it's either too easily solved (with little detection work on the part of the protagonist) or just not all that interesting. In other words, you don't care much either way. And the crime and resolution in *Keepsake Crimes* is almost silly. It's very obvious that it's a new series start and it seems like Laura Childs' is more concerned with her character interaction than her crime.

It's not that this novel was bad or unreadable, but even those of us who like the occasional "cozy mystery" needs a little mystery there.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Style, but, November 4, 2003

By 

Patricia Bird (West Palm Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Keepsake Crimes (A Scrapbooking Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I like the Tea Shop books and was looking forward to a new series. I love New Orleans; a series set there could be so intriguing, and Carmela is a spunky, clever heroine. There is a "but."

There was too much detail on scrapbooking for a reader not interested in that hobby. Also, I didn't really care who committed the murder. The supporting characters, except for Ava, blended together and weren't particularly likable.

Carmela was also too forgiving for my taste. I thought that her support of a husband who had deserted her made her seem weak. The series needs a strong male character, and I'm hoping it won't be that husband!

I will read the next book in the series, if there is one, for I like Laura Child's writing style. This just wasn't one of her better efforts.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I like the idea of this book, but it didn't engage me, November 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Keepsake Crimes (A Scrapbooking Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm an avid scrapbooker, and a fan of Laura Child's tea shop mysteries - I've read them all. The tea shop books are cozy and fun - and you quickly come to idetify with and like at least 5 of the recurring characters without having to make a list to keep straight who they are.

I was anxious to read the new series. For me, there was just way too much information about New Orleans and mardi gras. I just wasn't that interested in all that detail. Also, I really didn't come to care much about the characters in this book, other than Carmella and Ava. There's no strong male character, as in her tea shop books. Ms. Child's mentions many different characters on several occasions, but we're never given enough information on them to allow us to know them or to know why or how they may be connected to the story.

As for the scrapbooking aspect, I really could have used more intersting tips and techniques. There were a couple unique ideas wound into the story, but many things mentioned would be old hat to serious scrapbookers.

Normally, I finish the tea shop books in a day or so. They're so fun and cozy that I can't put them down. This one took me a while to read because I just couldn't get interested in it due to the excessive detail on New Orleans. However, I like the tea shop mysteries enough that I will give this new serious another try. I'll pick up the next book and see if things improve.