Customer Reviews

Photo Finished: A Scrapbooking Mystery

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After a year of marriage, her husband quits his job at the bank and moves to his family place in the Bayou. Although Shamus comes from old world money he wants to be free and get his photographs into a high class gallery. The bond that ties Carmela to her husband is still strong so that neither has filed for a divorce. Still Carmela has moved on with her life in a professional capacity, opening a store in the French Quarter. Memory Mine sells scrapbooks and gives lessons to customers who want to turn them into art.

Next door to Memory Mine is Menagerie Antiques owned by Bartholomew, a man who Carmela believes works on the wrong side of the law. One night while giving a craft lesson, Carmela?s assistant finds Bart dead in the alley, a scissors in his chest. Everyone from her assistant to her best friend expects Carmela to uncover the identity of the killer and she does her best to accommodate their expectations.

PHOTO FINISHED is an exciting amateur sleuth mystery starring a heroine that is impossible to not like. She moves at supersonic speed which means a fast plot, plenty of action and a lot at hair-raising adventure though why involvement in a homicide investigation seems stretched. Laura Childs takes the reader on a tour of New Orleans that seems so realistic that the audience will believe they are there. One should not read this novel on an empty stomach because the mouth watering descriptions of foods will make the reader visit the nearest five star restaurant.

Harriet Klausner

As an avid scrapbooker and rubber stamper, I really enjoyed this book. The characters are fun (and funny) and the various suspects really kept me guessing. The main character, Carmela, is very believable as a small business owner and the details of running a scrapbooking shop are compelling. Her friend Ava is a hoot and the rest of the cast are pretty crazy, too. This is a great meld of a cozy mystery and "chick lit" but without the profanity.

Laura Childs' books drive me just a little bit crazy. Sure, they're great for a couple of hours of enjoyment, but...why do I keep coming back, reading each book the woman writes? There is certainly no mental stimulation to be had and after you've finished one you don't get that rush of pleasure and satisfaction that follows a fabulous book. But it just seems to come down to the fact that, even though the books are silly, you are still entertained on some level.

My complaint about all of Childs' novels, and *Photo Finished* is no exception, is that her characters are very light and lacking dimension. Their motivations and thought processes often seem suspect. And silly. Have I mentioned the silliness factor? And, another complaint, the mystery is really no mystery at all. Just a crime that gets resolved (and in this case not very efficiently) at the end. The reader is still left in the dark to an extent regarding what actually happened to prompt the crime. Now that I think about it, some aspects of the book are downright aggravating. Like Carmela's husband, Shamus, and everything that goes along with their relationship. (But to go into that would be just too much.)

I must say, though, that it is worth it to read this particular title in the Scrapbooking mystery series simply for one of the last scenes, which had me laughing out loud quite unexpectedly. A scene that will no doubt prompt me to read the next book.

One problem I've noticed with prolific, successful writers is it seems like their editors take a break. No one is catching the little errors (and the big plot boo-boos) because they're not giving the same level of scrutiny they would to a greener writer's work. And that is the case in "Photo Finished."

I really enjoy Carmela and her friends. But hearing about her "tawny hair" multiple times in the first few pages was a little annoying. And the absolutely inane things she does in the name of chasing down the murderer are just too much (going to an abandoned warehouse at night? messing around the dead man's store, unaccompanied??). And why in the heck did Bobby, the police's number-one suspect, drop in on Carmela? He says nothing of real import, then drops out of sight once again. It was merely a way of furthering the plot that made absolutely no sense. The same with the way Shamus is urging Carmela to attend "family" functions when the entire Meechum clan -- including Shamus himself -- has made it clear that she's no longer "one of them."

One final thing -- the yo-yoing with Shamus is getting old. And he is such a cad (flirting with other women in front of her, giving her a hard time about keeping her company when she was afraid, etc.), that if Carmela actually gets together with him, I am DONE with this series. Or should I say, "photo finished" with it??

I really enjoy this series. Not only do I enjoy mysteries but I'm a scrapbooker as well. Keep them coming!

When Carmela Bertrand's husband Shamus decides to move out in order "find himself", Carmela goes on with her life and spends her time running a scrapbooking shop on the edge of the French Quarter. When she announces an all-night scrapbooking session at the store, the response is good and many of her regular customers plus some new ones show up. When her assistant Gabby goes out in the alley behind the store, she discovers the dead body of Barty Hayward, who owned a nearby antique store. The police department's suspect list at first includes the women who were at the scrapbooking party, but soon it narrows down to Billy Cobb, Barty's young assistant. Feeling that Billy is incapable of such an act, and spurred on by his grandmother to "do something", Carmela launches her own investigation. It soon appears that Barty was a shady businessman and a number of his associates join Carmela's suspect list. This series is set in the city of New Orleans, which serves as an interesting backdrop for the action. Childs comes up with some interesting characters, and even more interesting names, such as Jade Ella and Sweetmomma Pam. For those who enjoy scrapbooking, New Orleans, cozies, or all of the above, this book may be for you.

I read this book after reading the 1st in the series. I enjoyed the 1st book, but this book wasn't as good.

Carmela, owner of the local scrapbook store (LSS), holds an all-night crop. During this crop, the neighboring furniture store owner is found dead in the alley. Now Carmela is out to find the killer, even though she really doesn't want to. In the interim, Carmela has to deal with her estranged husband coming in and out of her life. (I found this part unnecessary and annoying).

She encounters various interesting characters along the way of her investigation. She becomes involved in an Arts gala as well.

The book started off mediocre, but entertaining enough. As the plot "developed", it lost it's mediocrity and became worse. The book read like the author was tired of the story and looking for a quick wrap up. The dialogue toward the end between the characters became like a movie script and too predictable - nothing original, nothing creative. When you read it, you will understand what I mean. It reminded me of a B movie screen play for your average, stereotypical whodunnit.

I have the 3rd and 4th book in the series and plan on reading them, but I hope they will be much better than this sequel.

Carmela Bertrand owns Memory Mine, a scarpbooking store in the French Quarter of New Orleans. During an all-night scrapbooking session, Gabby, her assistant, discovers Bartholomew "Bart," owner of the neighboring Menagerie Antiques, dead in the ally with a pair of scissors in his chest.

Carmela believes Bart was a shady businessman and is appalled when Billy Cobb, his young assistant, becomes the police's prime suspect. She decides to do some investigating of her own to find the real killer. Can she do that without putting herself in harm's way?

This is the first in this series that I've read. It definitely won't be the last. I like Carmela and her scrapbooking buddies. I especially like the New Orleans setting! I am not a scrapbooker, but I have an interest in the craft, so that really appealed to me.

If you like cozy mysteries, you will like this book. I highly recommend it!

I think most of us like a light mystery to read when we just want to escape. Laura Childs books do that for me.

The 1st three books in this series were gifts to me (I had never heard of them)from my mother who knows of my love for the scrapbooking craft/hobby. I dove into the first one and moved right on to the second and third ones without delay. I really have enjoyed them. I will say, however, that I can't even remember who exactly the murderer ended up being in this book. That must say something either about the book or maybe just about my faulty memory. But the mystery is secondary to me as I just enjoy the idea of the stories surrounding this scrapbook shop owner trying to make it on her own after being abandoned by her husband of one year. I really like her feisty best friend and have enjoyed getting to know her shop regulars (it does take time, though, because they're not that involved in the stories.) I like the scrapbooking projects she gets into but I don't embellish quite the way she does in her work but it's still interesting and helps me brainstorm ideas for my own projects. I also like that she includes recipes mentioned in the story. I am frustrated by Carmela's estranged husband, Shamus, as well as with Carmela as she doesn't say the things most people would say (scream) to Shamus and his annoying sister. But there's still a strangely likeable quality to Shamus and some potential there for the marriage to survive. I do like series in general (getting to know characters) and with the scrapbooking link here, I am sure I will continue to seek out these Laura Childs books as they come out. They make me smile so that's worth something.