Death By Design

by Laura Childs

Keepsake Crimes introduces Carmela Bertrand and her booming scrapbooking shop, Memory Mine, on the fringe of New Orleans's French Quarter. When Carmela's estranged husband is named a suspect in a Mardi Gras murder, it is Carmela who must find the clues to the real killer-in one of her customer's scrapbooks.In Photo Finished, Carmela is hosting a late-night "Crop Till You Drop" session at her shop. But when a neighboring shop owner is murdered in the alley behind the store, Carmela's customers become the focus of the police investigation.

And finally, in Bound for Murder, Carmela is creating custom place settings for a wedding party when she discovers the groom with a knife protruding from his body. Carmela must help the bride pick up the pieces while wrapping up a murder with more than one lethal loose end.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction

480 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2006

About the author

Laura 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.

Reviews

[Leeanne G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Laura Childs' tea shop mysteries so much that I knew I had to try her New Orleans scrapbooking series. I didn't love this as much as the tea shop mysteries but these three books were still enjoyable. Setting Keepsake Crimes during Mardi Gras was a great way to start the series. It’s such a fun, wild event that was an easy hook. Bound for Murder was mostly a chore to get through but I enjoyed the others. I think Photo Finished was my favourite. The last 2 chapters of that book were two of the wildest I think I’ve ever read. I had no idea where it was going and it felt a bit like watching an action movie.

Even though I'm not a scrapbooker, I love the scrapbooking focus. Laura’s descriptions of the women's creations are so detailed that I feel like I’m sitting at the table with them. There are many cool ideas and plenty of tips and tricks for scrapbookers out there.

Carmela is a good main character with plenty of spunk, self-confidence, and curiosity, except when it comes to her romantic relationships. I'm not a fan of her estranged husband Shamus. He's charming and is authentically sweet at times, but overall treats her rather poorly and manipulates her repeatedly. Carmela seems to have a bit of the "I can fix him" mindset but Shamus is a freedom-loving, spoiled little brat; he’s not going to give that life up willingly or easily. She deserves so much better and every other character keeps pointing that out! I hope she makes her decision final by the next book.

My favourite thing about Laura Childs' books are the vivid descriptions and detailed history that she shares. Each story is rich in details of the locations, food, culture, and history of New Orleans. In Keepsake Crimes, I truly felt like I was in the bayou with Carmela, hearing the wildlife, smelling the decay, and feeling myself sink into the marshy ground. Reading this made the call of nature so strong that I just had to go on several nature walks the past few weeks. Laura didn't just excel in the bayou scenes, the moments in the city were just as immersive.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 books in 1. A very fun read, although I wasn't too fond of the names Carmela and Shamus for the main characters. Otherwise, it was great. Carmel who was from the working side of the tracks marries into a rich Garden District family. The marriage doesn't last and so she renovates an apartment and opens up a scrapbooking store. All the designs and projects in the books made we want to get back into scrapbooking again. Her business neighbor is found murdered in the back alley behind their stores. Not a nice guy, but as Carmela says, "No one deserves to die that way." As her customers come under suspicion she puts on her private eye hat and begins to investigate.
I gave the book 4 of 5 stars because the on and off again relationship between Carmela and Shamus got irritating.
A very fun read for cozy mystery lovers.

[Kim Bakos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love scrapbooking, mysteries and Southern fiction, so this series was fun to read. I had me wanting to pull out my scrapbooking supplies again - I haven't touched them in years. It also sent me to Google more than once to look up some of the historical places that were spoken of in the stories. A fun way to pass a few hours "visiting" New Orleans.

[Evelyn]

Nice collection

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book from the TBR pile has been read. Only a couple hundred more to go....

My mom picked this book up for me a couple of years ago. She thought I might find the scrapbooking theme enjoyable given the number of years we've been scrapbooking together. Let's see...the oldest is 18 and I received a blank scrapbook for him at my baby shower. I probably started it the year after he was born, so let's say I've been scrapbooking for at least 17 years. No wonder I have so many albums on the shelf!

The scrapbooking theme was unique. I've certainly never read any other cozy mysteries with that particular hook. However, I will admit there were times I wanted to skip some of the more scrapbook-heavy descriptions and get back to the mystery at hand. Reading every word took discipline, which is part of the reason why this is getting a three star review. The other reason was that I just didn't connect with the main character. I couldn't reconcile the fact that the supposed feisty amateur sleuth was, in truth, a lovesick jilted wife who accepted her estranged husband's rather sub-par treatment of her with so little spine.

The mysteries themselves - there were three separate stories in this bound collection - were fairly well done, I thought. Although I wonder if a reader more well versed in cozy mysteries would have a different opinion. I don't read in this genre often.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains the first 3 books in Laura Childs scrapbooking series. It is set in New Orleans, and while not all the details may be true to life, it sets a nice atmosphere. These are light mysteries, focused around Carmela, the owner of a scrapbooking store. She is recently separated from her husband and is working to manage on her own. I liked these stories, but not as much as the Tea Shop series. It may be because I don't know as much about scrapbooking. It is an easy read and includes both scrapbook ideas and recipes.

[Cynthia Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This included the first of three books in a series about a woman who runs a scrapbooking shop and winds up turning amateur sleuth. The thing I can't stand is that she's separated from her husband but is still in love with him. Why can't I stand it? because he dumped her without notice to "find himself" causing her to have to find a new place to live with no notice, and consistently takes advantage of her without so much as even an inkling of awareness of how poorly he treats her...and she lets him! Hard to respect this otherwise neat character.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun three books to read. Anyone into scrapbooking would love the helpful hints as the main character is Carmela who owns a Scrapbooking shop. Book was written prior to Hurricane Katrina. The setting is New Orleans at Mardi Gras time in the first book. Anyone who has visited New Orleans will recognize some of the famous restaurants. At the end of each book, recipes and scrapbooking tips are included.

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just finished book 1. How did this book get 4 out of 5 stars? Inane, repetitive and unsatisfying. I'll read the other two stories to see if she can do better, but my initial impression is pretty negative.
Having now read all three, I can't really give any of the three stories a glowing recommendation, but they do get progressively better. At least after reading all of them, I give the series itself an "ok" rating, up from "I didn't like it."

[Lanette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got through the first book in this series, and can't bring myself to keep reading. Despite the author's too-detailed accounts of almost everything, the book was only 142 pages long. The 'climax' came at page 140 and boom! All done! I enjoyed the New Orleans setting, that was at least fun...

[Brandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really didn't care for this author. I had to read it for a book club I was in.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

fun mystery to read

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 3 out of 5]

A trilogy of cozy mysteries seemed like a good idea for packing for vacation. The problem was reading three by this author so close together that I can too easily recognize her outline and style.

[Jane Carozza · Rating 4 out of 5]

another great series from laura childs

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first two books were slow moving. The third book was definitely more suspenseful.

[Janics · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, a fun, entertaining read!