First line: A globulous giant head, evil grin stretched wide across its glowing orange face, teeth jagged as a buzz saw, bobbed and pecked at the air above Carmela Bertrand’s head.
From the inside cover: With the help of her best friend Ava Gruiex, Carmela is building a giant monster puppet for the French Quarter’s gala Halloween Monsters and Mayhem Torchlight Parade. Things get terrifying earlier than expected when they overhear an argument between Jekyl Hardy and Brett Fowler – and just minutes later they find Fowler’s body, his heart pierced by the razor-sharp horns of a gigantic Minotaur head.
Carmela has known Jekyl for years and can’t believe he’d ever resort to murder, despite the fact that Fowler owed him money. Fowler owed a lot of people money after being indicted for his involvement in a Ponzi scheme, making every investor a suspect. But when another victim is discovered – who also had an unfriendly relationship with Jekyl – Carmela is convinced someone is framing her friend and now must find a way to unmask the real killer…
My thoughts: This is the 8th book in Laura Child’s scrapbooking mystery series and it was a fun, quick read. Once again Carmela finds herself in the vicinity of a dead body. When her good friend, Jekyl is accused of the murder, Carmela, along with gal-pal Ava, decide to find out for themselves who killed Brett Fowler so they can clear Jekyl’s name. Of course, Carmela does this against the wishes of her boyfriend, NOPD Lt. Edgar Babcock. Carmela is a fun, stable character while Ava provides quite a bit of quirkiness. Following the two of them on their adventures is always good for a laugh! Halloween is the perfect setting for this mystery, especially with the story taking place in New Orleans. I love reading Laura Child’s cozy mysteries – not only this series, but also her Tea Shop mysteries and the Cackleberry Club mysteries as well – because they are never too serious or too gruesome. Every once in a while I can even figure out who did it, which I was able to do with this one! I especially love the scrapbooking tips that are included throughout the book and at the end – I am eager to give some of them a try when I get back to my scrapbooking (which hopefully will be soon as I am way behind in my albums!).
(I borrowed this book from the library.)
This sounds like a cute book. Great review! 🙂
Sounds like a great book for scrapbookers! Terrific review!
Sounds like a really fun read!