Photo Finished (A Scrapbooking Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Laura Childs (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Scrapbooking Mystery | Publication Date: January 6, 2004

New Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand is hosting a late-night "Crop Till You Drop" session-when a neighboring antique-shop owner winds up murdered in the alley. Now, the scrapbooking expert must rearrange the jumble of clues and pick out the killer.

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: 272 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (January 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425194345
• ISBN-13: 978-0425194348
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,530 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

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting amateur sleuth mystery, January 7, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Photo Finished (A Scrapbooking Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun!, October 25, 2004

By 

Max (Plymouth, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photo Finished (A Scrapbooking Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

28 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More like 3.5, really, February 9, 2004

By 

Chelle "Chelle" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photo Finished (A Scrapbooking Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.