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A Scrapbooking Mystery #3
Bound for Murder
New Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand's pre-wedding party is overshadowed when a friend's intended groom is murdered. Asked by the heartbroken bride to look into the case, Carmela must help her friend pick up the pieces while wrapping up a murder that has more than one lethal loose end.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 2, 2004
132 people are currently reading
1144 people want to read
About the author
Laura Childs
93 books2,252 followersLaura Childs is a pseudonym for Gerry Schmitt and she is the best-selling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, the Scrapbook Mysteries, and the Cackleberry Club Mysteries.
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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
December 28, 2016
Considering I have started this series with book three, I found it was easy to get into and the characters were endearing almost immediately. There was a certain character that I don't like or trust (Shamus) and I hope that this ending doesn't ring true for the rest of the series. I particularly liked all the crafting and scrap booking, as well as the delicious Southern charm. Hopefully I will be able to find some more of these, it was hired on a whim from my local library. Four stars!
August 8, 2011
I've just finished reading the third in Laura Childs's scrapbooking series set in New Orleans, Louisiana. I don't know about you, but as a Southerner, I get tired of authors who use the circa 1980's television show Designing Women as the basis for their stereotypical views of Southern women and the Southern lifestyle.
The South is not populated by wealthy "women who lunch" and spend their time attending charity balls, making scrapbooks of their wonderful families, redecorating the family mansion and complaining about tourists and Yankees. We don't all have big hair or nicknames like "Baby", our husbands don't all hunt coon dogs or drive around with rifle racks in their pick-up truck, we don't all have "help" or weekly appointments at the beauty shop. Alternately, those of us who don't are not reduced to living in trailer parks, working in bars, and driving clunkers down dusty back roads to the family shack.
As with the previous books in this series, Keepsake Crimes and Photo Finished, this "American cozy" is more travelog cum charactor study than mystery as it stumbles to a conclusion. Following the time honored tradition of authors who write themselves into a corner, Childs slap-dashes a hastily executed ending in deus ex machina fashion.
With each book I remember more clearly why I quit reading the Tea Shop mysteries after number 3 or 4.
As before, the things I enjoy about this book are the scrapbooking tips, descriptions of food and the pre-Katrina glimpses of New Orleans. I don't know if Childs has written any in the series that take place during or after Katrina, but if she has it will be interesting to see if the tone of the books change.
The South is not populated by wealthy "women who lunch" and spend their time attending charity balls, making scrapbooks of their wonderful families, redecorating the family mansion and complaining about tourists and Yankees. We don't all have big hair or nicknames like "Baby", our husbands don't all hunt coon dogs or drive around with rifle racks in their pick-up truck, we don't all have "help" or weekly appointments at the beauty shop. Alternately, those of us who don't are not reduced to living in trailer parks, working in bars, and driving clunkers down dusty back roads to the family shack.
As with the previous books in this series, Keepsake Crimes and Photo Finished, this "American cozy" is more travelog cum charactor study than mystery as it stumbles to a conclusion. Following the time honored tradition of authors who write themselves into a corner, Childs slap-dashes a hastily executed ending in deus ex machina fashion.
With each book I remember more clearly why I quit reading the Tea Shop mysteries after number 3 or 4.
As before, the things I enjoy about this book are the scrapbooking tips, descriptions of food and the pre-Katrina glimpses of New Orleans. I don't know if Childs has written any in the series that take place during or after Katrina, but if she has it will be interesting to see if the tone of the books change.
January 6, 2020
It's the first time that i have read any books by this author and although this is the third book in a series, i decided to give it a try. I usually read the more gory murder books, but this cozy murder mystery made a welcome change. I rarely write what a story is about as i prefer one to read a book for themselves, but i would recommend giving this book a try, especially if you enjoy cozy murder mysteries. I hope to read the previous two books in this series.
February 15, 2012
Another "cozy mystery". I like these from time to time because I really don't like the books that describe all the details of a brutal murder. Laura Childs has three separate sets of these books and I like all of them. Not much serious thought required to read them. They are funny and since the reader never really knows the murder victim, it doesn't bother me to read them.
November 5, 2016
Really 3.5 stars, but I rounded up
Overalla pretty good book. The killer was a cheap cop-out, to me, Sheamus was annoying, and Carmela was conceited at times, but overall it was a good book.
Overalla pretty good book. The killer was a cheap cop-out, to me, Sheamus was annoying, and Carmela was conceited at times, but overall it was a good book.
May 23, 2021
An entertaining read in a series I really enjoy. This one, though, I struggled to finish as things didn't always move along nicely.
December 1, 2007
It's hard to sympathize too much with a main character who not only is "pretty verging on stunning," but who has her own business, great friends, and a cute dog, to boot. The only flies in Carmela's ointment seem to be the dead bodies that constantly crop (no pun intended) up. The old "bad twin" card was played here, as was the wandering-around-the-graveyard-in-the-dark trick. A little too predictable, a little too light on realistic character development, and a little too cutesy. And would someone please get this woman an editor? "Courier" and Ives is just an embarrassment, as is the misspelling of "zydeco" in a book based in N'Awlins. Don't forget "commaraderie" (is that being on good terms with your punctuation?) and "mother load" (a truckful of maternal-types?).
All the same, Laura Childs can write -- no doubt about that. I think she just needs to take a little more time plotting and writing to take this series to the next level.
All the same, Laura Childs can write -- no doubt about that. I think she just needs to take a little more time plotting and writing to take this series to the next level.
April 24, 2012
Things I liked: New Orleans setting, Scrapbooking shop milieu, with tips embedded in the story, plus a section at the end with tips and recipes
Things I didn't like: Mystery was obvious almost from the start, with ham-footed clues; Scrapbooking tips were not very creative or original; female characters were mostly pretty stereotypical, main character Carmela is just too-too to be relatable: too pretty, too spunky, too talented at her business, too invincible at solving crimes. Oh, and too wishy-washy about her charming (to her) rake of a husband, Seamus. He doesn't charm me.
Hmm, that's a much longer list than the things I liked. Would I read another? Yes, but only for the tips and the yummy sounding recipes. Not for the story.
Things I didn't like: Mystery was obvious almost from the start, with ham-footed clues; Scrapbooking tips were not very creative or original; female characters were mostly pretty stereotypical, main character Carmela is just too-too to be relatable: too pretty, too spunky, too talented at her business, too invincible at solving crimes. Oh, and too wishy-washy about her charming (to her) rake of a husband, Seamus. He doesn't charm me.
Hmm, that's a much longer list than the things I liked. Would I read another? Yes, but only for the tips and the yummy sounding recipes. Not for the story.
July 14, 2015
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12279871
The 3rd in the series. I picked this up because I needed a book set in Louisana for a state challenge. I didn't feel like I needed to read the first two books, and don't intend to start a new series. The heroine, Carmela, was just too, too perfect. And I don't know what it says for her group of friends, that they have nothing better to do than spend all day, every day in a scrapbooking store.
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12279871
The 3rd in the series. I picked this up because I needed a book set in Louisana for a state challenge. I didn't feel like I needed to read the first two books, and don't intend to start a new series. The heroine, Carmela, was just too, too perfect. And I don't know what it says for her group of friends, that they have nothing better to do than spend all day, every day in a scrapbooking store.
June 20, 2009
I didn't really enjoy one of the characters in this series. It's carmella's husband(ex) Shamus. There is something about his character that just irritates the dickens out of me, so I didn't finish the book.I'll probably not read any more of this series.
I love the other series, The Tea Mysteries, by Laura Child. Those I am reading.
The storyline to this book is good, if she would just get rid of that one character, I'd be so happy.
I love the other series, The Tea Mysteries, by Laura Child. Those I am reading.
The storyline to this book is good, if she would just get rid of that one character, I'd be so happy.
May 18, 2016
It was a really quick, enjoyable read. I am settling into this series almost like Ms. Childs' Tea Shop books and plan on moving on to the next one!
April 13, 2018
New Orleans scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand is helping at a friend's pre-wedding party when she discovers the groom-to-be's murdered body in the restaurant kitchen. At the bride-to-be's request, Carmela does some investigating of her own into the deceased's past, trying to determine why someone would want to murder someone who appeared to be a very nice person. On the personal front, Carmela is trying to decide if she should push her estranged husband for a divorce. As much as she hates to admit it, she still has feelings for him, but knows from experience that that does not guarantee a happy marriage.
February 25, 2020
I like this book and the characters and I love the setting New Orleans. I love to hear all about how to scrapbook and the different ways to put photos on a page. I love Carmela because she is a tough, strong woman who only seems to have one weakness Shamus. I really don't want that to be her guy. He might care for her and what not but there are much better men out there but please don't go with the creepy pretentious restaurant guy either. I was hoping for the cop but he seems interested in Ava Carmela's friend.
The story line kind of dragged a little in the middle and I had guessed before the ending what the twist would be but a good book with great cast of characters.
The story line kind of dragged a little in the middle and I had guessed before the ending what the twist would be but a good book with great cast of characters.
January 25, 2023
Carmela is helping Gabby with the pre-wedding celebration for her cousin Wren and fiancé Jamie when the groom is found stabbed to death at the party. Helping Wren with details like finding Jamie’s will and understanding the bookstore business he had helps occupy Carmela’s mind, while she mulls over who could have killed him in such cold-blood, and what message he was trying to convey, tracing some characters in his own blood as he was dying. Finding the answers may lead Carmela to an early grave - if her frustration with Shamus doesn’t put her there first!
December 10, 2017
I liked this book. The series is fun and easy to read, and I enjoy the New Orleans food and culture and scrapbooking references. The thing that kills me though about this series is how Carmela and all her friends are so “lithe” and “skinny” and “sinewy” and Glory (or many other despised characters) is constantly referenced as flabby, large, and fleshy. We get it, Laura Childs: you don’t like fat people.
November 13, 2022
When Gabby's cousin's fiance is killed at their pre-wedding celebration, Carmella volunteers to see if she can find where the groom to be's parents are buried. How Caela manages to unravel this mystery and figure out her relationship with her ex, Shamus, makes for a great read. A lot of the characters in this book were very unpleasant but clearly that was the author's purpose. A good addition to the series.
November 3, 2025
Book #3 had an interesting twist on the killer and a cliff hanger for Shamus and Carmela's marriage.
"New Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand's pre-wedding party is overshadowed when a friend's intended groom is murdered. Asked by the heartbroken bride to look into the case, Carmela must help her friend pick up the pieces while wrapping up a murder that has more than one lethal loose end."
"New Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand's pre-wedding party is overshadowed when a friend's intended groom is murdered. Asked by the heartbroken bride to look into the case, Carmela must help her friend pick up the pieces while wrapping up a murder that has more than one lethal loose end."
October 10, 2018
They keep getting better and better!
Being a native of New Orleans Ms. Child's doesn't get facts totally correct of a fair city but she does have a true love of it! She takes poetic license to twist and turn and this mystery was the better so far! I couldn't figure out the killer in this one and love the characters! Nicely done! I wish the next 6 were available on kindle!
Being a native of New Orleans Ms. Child's doesn't get facts totally correct of a fair city but she does have a true love of it! She takes poetic license to twist and turn and this mystery was the better so far! I couldn't figure out the killer in this one and love the characters! Nicely done! I wish the next 6 were available on kindle!
March 7, 2020
Series is definitely growing on me... On to the next!!!
New Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand's pre-wedding party is overshadowed when a friend's intended groom is murdered. Asked by the heartbroken bride to look into the case, Carmela must help her friend pick up the pieces while wrapping up a murder that has more than one lethal loose end.
New Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand's pre-wedding party is overshadowed when a friend's intended groom is murdered. Asked by the heartbroken bride to look into the case, Carmela must help her friend pick up the pieces while wrapping up a murder that has more than one lethal loose end.
February 3, 2025
The storyline was fine, a fun little twist at the end that the reader could pick up on about 2/3 of the way through the story.
But this print edition is absolutely riddled with errors. Forgotten quotation marks, ill placed apostrophes, and parentheses that have no end. It was quite distracting.
Someone from my library district even bothered to try to fill in their own edits!
But this print edition is absolutely riddled with errors. Forgotten quotation marks, ill placed apostrophes, and parentheses that have no end. It was quite distracting.
Someone from my library district even bothered to try to fill in their own edits!
October 5, 2017
Oh Lordy, kill me now. Now wait, kill off the "is he or is he not" ex and make us all happy. See my review of the first one of this. I wasn't bright enough to stop there. Yes, there's some plot and I don't care, just get rid of this guy and his horrid family.
May 1, 2018
Another interesting and fast read in this series. I am weary however, of the on/off aspect of the marital status of the main protagonist. I hope resolution comes soon. the good news is that the iffy status of her marriage doesn't interfere with the story.
December 18, 2022
Another enjoyable entry in the Scrapbooking Mystery series. The tropes are all here: Carmela discovers the body, Ava's sass, Shamus being a doofus.
Reading the books is similar to curling up with a blanket--a comfort.
Reading the books is similar to curling up with a blanket--a comfort.
January 21, 2024
A quick fun read. I love the characters and the crafting/cooking tips. The style is Nancy Drew for adults. A few typo’s but, otherwise a well written story. I certainly would recommend this as a light read and will be reading more in the series.
August 23, 2024
Here I was all annoyed the killer was OBVIOUS in chapter 2 and they were taking forever to get there... jokes on me, big ole red herring! Well played!
I'll keep going in the series but need a break to focus on other books.
I'll keep going in the series but need a break to focus on other books.
December 16, 2025
As much as I love the Tea Shop series, I just can't get interested in this one. I'm not a fan of the characters, and scrapbooking info bores me to tears. The mystery this time was not as interesting as some of the side stories (like the bookshop), and it seriously drug for me.
November 25, 2017
This light murder mystery series just gets better and better.
March 28, 2018
I didn't like the ending (or the middle) of this book. Too much going on with what turned out to be inconsequential happenings. And a lot about scrapbooking and other crafts!
April 9, 2020
Carmela and Ava sure get caught in a variety of odd happenings. A friend's intended groom is killed right before the wedding. Who did this and why?
December 23, 2020
The third book in A Scrapbooking Mystery series. Fun cozy mystery set in New Orleans. Light and charming.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews