Gossamer Ghost

August 18, 2014
Childs’s enjoyable 12th Scrapbooking mystery (after 2013’s Gilt Trip) finds charming heroine Carmela Bertrand musing about what costumes to wear over Halloween and what classes to offer next at her New Orleans craft store. But she soon has a bigger puzzle to solve: the murder of Marcus Joubert, the creepy owner of the store next door. A rare French mask is missing from Joubert’s store, and soon the police, including Carmela’s hunky cop beau, Det. Edgar Babcock, are wondering not only who stole the mask from Marcus but also whether Marcus himself had come into its possession illegally. Real estate lust also complicates matters—more than one savvy small businessperson was longing for Marcus to vacate his primo location. Local color is Child’s strong suit, and on this romp with Carmela, the details of the Big Easy, from absinthe to étouffée, do not disappoint—and readers will get a few zany Halloween costume ideas to boot.

November 1, 2014

Carmela Bertrand, proprietor of Memory Mine Scrapbooking Shop, is ready for Halloween. But the death of a shop owner next door and the theft of a priceless death mask dims her excitement, and Carmela sets off to solve the crimes in her 12th series outing after Gilt Trip.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
The latest in Childs' New Orleans series immerses readers in Halloween, French Quarterstyle, with graveyard tours, ghost trains, costumes, parades, and parties. The atmosphere is as much fun as the mystery, which is launched when scrapbooking shop owner Carmela finds neighboring shopkeeper Marcus Joubert dead, spilling out of a coffin on his floor. The victim's shy fianc'e asks Carmela to help discover what happened. A famous Napoleonic death mask is missing from Joubert's store, suggesting a possible motive. There is a lot going on here, and sometimes the tone wobbles a bit, as Childs moves from the mystery to comic exchanges between Carmela and friend Ava, background on creative crafting, and lengthy but stylish descriptions of the landscape. Still, series fans will enjoy the ambience, and the finale provides plenty of suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)