Ready, Scrap, Shoot

February 20, 2012
Agatha-finalist Slan’s well-crafted fifth scrap-n-craft mystery (after 2011’s Make, Take, Murder) finds single mom Kiki Lowenstein at a breaking point—her shrew of a mother has paid her a surprise visit; her job at the scrapbook store Time in a Bottle is becoming tense; her boyfriend’s ex-wife is stalking her; and to top it off, during a celebration at her daughter’s school, a sniper fatally shoots one of St. Louis’s wealthiest women. The police think Kiki was the sniper’s real target, especially since her husband’s killer is still on the loose, threatening her and her loved ones. Kiki must struggle to stay sane as well as alive as she once again turns sleuth. The book’s focus on the complex nature of mother/daughter relationships and caring for aging parents will resonate with many. Subtle humor, with a few laugh-out-loud moments, balances the darker episodes. Agent: Paige Wheeler, Folio Literary Management. 

March 15, 2012
A single mother struggling to support her daughter becomes a target for murder. Kiki Lowenstein is barely keeping her life together. A partner in a craft store, she feels that her creative talents are under-appreciated, especially when the senior partner sells another share to a rigid German woman. Her narcissistic mother comes to visit convinced that Kiki is hiding assets that would help support her; her cop boyfriend, Chad Detweiler, still isn't divorced; and now Kiki is pregnant. The only bright spots in her life are her lovely daughter Anya and her mother-in-law Sheila, who, now that she's grudgingly come to respect Kiki, pays for all the extras for Anya. When they attend a May Day celebration at Anya's posh private school, a St. Louis society matron is killed and her son wounded. Both Chad and Sheila's fiance, Police Chief Robbie Holmes, wonder if Kiki was the real target, since her murdered husband's former partner is still certain that Kiki's holding back money that should be his. As Kiki works on a memorial scrapbook for the Fitzgerald family, she struggles to figure out whether she's targeted for death. All the while, her mother's mania is increasing, and Detweiler's wife is verbally attacking her in public. Can things get any worse? Slan's scrapbook mysteries (Make, Take, Murder, 2011, etc.) are most valuable for the well-developed characters and the issues they raise, in this case the hardships of caring for elderly parents.

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April 15, 2012
Scrapbooker Kiki Lowenstein is under a dark cloud. Her ill-tempered, elderly mother is visiting for an undetermined length of time. Her late husband's business partner, Bill Ballard, has been harassing her and now appears to be trying to kill her, and her boyfriend's soon-to-be ex-wife is accusing her of being a homewrecker. On top of everything else, her boss at Time in a Bottle, the St. Louis, Missouri, scrapbooking store of which she is a minority partner, has brought in a persnickety new partner without asking her. Even with all that's going on in her life, Kiki investigates when Edwina Fitzgerald is killed by a sniper at the Charles and Anne Lindbergh Academy's May Day Celebration. Multiple plotlines, numerous twists, and the details of scrapbooking add to this enjoyable first-person account of a single mom dealing with personal and professional issues while protecting herself and her family. Crafters will enjoy the project instructions peppered throughout.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)