Glue, Baby, Gone

Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-n-Craft Mystery #12

by Joanna Campbell Slan

After the world's longest pregnancy, Kiki has her baby. But nothing in Kiki's life goes as planned, does it? You'd think Detweiler would be over-the-moon with happiness, but instead he's acting like he's been jabbed with a diaper pin. Anya is sharing inappropriate pictures, Erik is wetting the bed, and someone is trying to steal newborn babies from hospitals in St. Louis. Kiki comes down with a bad case of the new mommy blues, and then one of her worst enemies winds up dead. It's enough to make Kiki to cry like a baby--but help is on the way. Or is it?

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy

326 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 6, 2016

About the author

National bestselling and award-winning author Joanna Campbell Slan was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but she grew up in a small town in Indiana. After graduating from Ball State University with a degree in journalism, she worked as a newspaper reporter, a newspaper ad salesperson, a television talk show host, a college teacher, a public relations professional, and a motivational speaker. In that capacity, she was named by Sharing Ideas Magazine as “one of the top 25 speakers in the world.”

Slan's work has appeared in five of the New York Times Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and one of those became a television show. She is the author of nearly 80 books, nonfiction and fiction, including Death of a Schoolgirl, which won the 2013 Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence.

Joanna's personal essays have appeared in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and one was made into a television program on the Pax Network. The college textbook Joanna wrote—Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience—has been praised as an invaluable resource by Benjamin Netanyahu’s speechwriter and endorsed by Toastmasters, International.

RT Book Reviews has called Joanna “one of mystery’s rising stars.” Her first novel—Paper, Scissors, Death—was an Agatha Award finalist. It features Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky single mom who lives in St. Louis. The sixth book in that series will be released Summer 2013.

Kirkus Reviews has said, “Slan’s mysteries are most valuable for the well-developed characters and the issues they raise.” RT Book Reviews has said, “Kiki is so darn entertaining that she’ll keep readers hooked.” A series of short stories featuring Kiki are available on Kindle.

Joanna’s newest series—The Jane Eyre Chronicles—began with Death of a Schoolgirl (Berkley) and continues with the release of Death of a Dowager. The series features Charlotte Brontë’s classic heroine Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth.

As “Lila Dare,” Joanna has penned the fourth book in the Southern Beauty Shop series—Wave Good-bye.

Joanna is married to David Slan. The Slans live on Jupiter Island, Florida.

Website: www.JoannaSlan.com

Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/JoannaCampbel...

Twitter: @JoannaSlan

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't realize how much I missed Kiki Lowenstein until I started this new book. Joanna Campbell Slan has written another excellent book in Glue, Baby, Gone. I have always felt like Kiki is my BFF because she feels so real to me.

This time Slan has written about several social issues. One is about Postpartum Depression. Interestingly, the middle of the book is written by her BFF Cara Mia Delgatto. She is just up from Florida and can see the changes in Kiki better than those who are around her all the time. The other issue is infant kidnapping. I don't want to give anything away, so I will stop there.

This book has been highly anticipated because Kiki gives birth to her son. (That's not a giveaway, because we all knew it was a boy.) Slan hasn't let us down! The book is in turn funny, poignant, scary, sad, thoughtful, dramatic and downright wonderful! I couldn't put it down! Thank you Joanna Campbell Slan!

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Baby Here, A Baby Gone

Finally the Lowenstein-Detweiler baby arrives in quite a spectacular way! (Ask Anya to see the pictures she took documenting the birth.) However, this book does not just deal with the joy of birth, but also on the dark negative moments, too. There is a baby kidnapping, a murder, & a very negative spouting mother-in-law. All these things overwhelm poor Kiki as she is trying to deal with all this & a severe case of postpartum depression. But even with all of this the author still shows us how the support of family & good friends can triumph. I laughed & cried, & all the while hanging on to the edge of my seat. And the ending left me with my jaw on the floor!

[Tracy Barcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read! I love me some Kiki Lowenstein and mixed up with Cara Mia Delgatto is twice as nice! Kiki deals with some real life issues after the birth of her son, all while solving a mystery, running a shop, and keeping us highly entertained!

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. I love Kiki, Chad and all the characters at the shop. This one is even better because Kiki's friend has come home for a visit from Florida Cara. The story line was really good though a lot of the story wasn't on the mystery as much as how Kiki is dealing with her newborn. I guessed who the guilty party was very early on but the book was so good and made me keep turning the pages.

[Rene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read the whole Kiki Lowenstein series and must say that I found the first several books interesting. As the series progressed, they became less enjoyable. The author tended to leave you wondering about something at the end of a book then not mentioning it again.

At the end of one book, Kiki's long lost sister shows up at her door. It took over half way through the next book before she was ever mentioned. Another book had a teaser about where they would live in the future. The following book never really mentioned it... it was the next book after that where we were actually told what the living arrangements were!

This last book had many pages in the voice of her friend Cara. I felt like it was Cara's story and not Kiki's. I will not be reading any more Kiki Lowenstein books in the future since at this time I really don't care about any of the characters in the books anymore.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a long time since we had an update on Kiki and how she was doing. I was so thrilled to have another installment in her life. Warning to other readers, while this was good, it was written in a different style than usual. The author pulled in other characters both from the Kiki books and her Cara Mia Delgato series. At times, she switched to telling the story from the different characters view points. When she did this she started over with the chapters and made a new section. This change in viewpoint helped to bring the story to a different level, just wanted to warn readers so that they didn't confuse with the different direction this is taking.

[Kay's Pallet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first book in the series that I read and while I don't unusually like to leave reviews when I start in the middle of a series, this was just so bad. The main character, Kiki, was only the main character for like 2/3 of the book and we get a random chunk in the middle from someone else's pov. Why? Who even is Cara? This makes it confusing when Cara leaves before the mystery was even solved. It's like I though the story was over soon because someone who had been narrating the last big chunk of the book was leaving, but the baby wasn't even found yet. Speaking of bad pacing and writing choices, why did the mystery part of this mystery book not even start until after 100 pages into the book? The characters aren't likable enough for 100 pages of day-in-the-life. After this, the mystery part of the book was such a background plot that I wouldn't even really call this a mystery book. There's so much more I could complain about, but I'm leaving it here. I did not enjoy this and I will not read anything else in this series.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiki returns in time to have her baby. There is tension in the Detweiler household with Chad recovering from his gunshot wound from the wedding. Kiki is feeling stressed because her mother-in-law Thelma has changed from supportive to critical. Kiki over scheduled herself leading up to the baby's birth and it is taking its toll.
The baby arrives rather quickly. Then Kiki's friend Bonnie's baby arrives and is stolen from the hospital. Kiki is suffering from postpartum blues and has a hard time at first kicking into gear to help her baby.
The story is told partly from Kiki's point of view, then from Cara Mia Delgatto's point of view and then back to Kiki. I really enjoy Cara Mia, so it was fun to have her play a big role in this book.
Things are tense as time goes by and they haven't found Bonnie's baby. The book ends quickly with a good resolution or understanding developing about the problems that are faced in the book.
It is fun to grow along with Kiki.

[L J Layland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all the books up to and including this one, I just can't put them down and frequently find myself up until the early hours having to finish up the book only to find it rolling into the next one .The characters are great and I find myself sympathizing with some and disapproving and worrying about others.
I do wonder why a Scottish lady would have the name Bronwyn, unless of course she has Welsh ancestors and in this book the sentence says " Brawny's been giving lectures about the strife between the Brits and the Scots" as far as my history knowledge goes the "strife" has always been between the English and Scots. But that's just me being Welsh and picky.
This book is number 12 and I'm looking forward to reading many more of Joanna Campbell Slan's books.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh this series is like a seesaw ride... or a tennis match. The editing in this one was really bad again.... a particularly bad spot was a part about a woman named Rhonda half way through the sentence her name suddenly swapped to Brenda which is the name of a completely different and deceased character. I mean come on, that's really really poor editing. The story was mostly good there were some definite triggers in this one.. child abduction as well as postpartum depression. I do like that JCS shed light on PPD while making it clear that it wasn't a failure on the mothers part but something that needed treatment and support. Interesting twist at the end... curious to see how that plays out. Still not fantastic due to the many many editing issues. Disappointed.

[Teresa Marzec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very intuitive! You'll enjoy reading Kikis new adventure!

This book.. It wows you every page! I figured out who the culprit was and then when it was proven it wasn't just her!! What a great book! And now to hear the answers to the next news Kiki receives! I'm really curious with all I'm reading about the characters in Joannas books! This one doesn't deepens your curiosity one one level, but astonishing on another! And to hear there is help out there for moms who lose a child either by miscarriage, stillborn birth, or abduction! Makes me glad I'm just an ordinary mom and I have an ordinary job.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glue, Baby, Gone by Joanna Campbell Slan was a fun cozy book to read. In this twelfth book in the series, a lot is going on in Kiki's life with two kids and another on the way. For me the book worked because the plot had a great flow to it. I liked that the book had many fun sayings: I'm out like a light bulb that's been shot with a BB gun. / January had slammed Missouri like a boxer dealing a knock-out blow. Slan has written interesting characters that you come to care about and she leaves us wondering what will happen to Brawny when the series continues.

[Kathy Zuercher Diveley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kiki

Kiki goes into labour fast and has the baby at home. Her lawyer friend Bonnie has her baby a couple weeks later, and her baby is kidnapped. Kiki helps her husband investigate and comes up with good clues. Kiki has trouble with postpartum depression, and her friend Cara gets her help.

[Joan W. Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Babies

Depression is a real disease. Post partum depression is too. When Kiki has her baby and doesn't snap back it takes her best friend Cara and the abduction of a customers baby to get her the help she needs. Finding the lost baby and getting the help she needs goes a long way to fixing most of Kiki's problems. Until a knock at the door. Read!

[Linda Haring · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiki has the baby at home! But why are Detweiler and his mom being so tough on her? Cara Mia narrates the middle of the book which is quite a different way for the book to go. Nice to see Cara Mia back. Deals with postpartum depression and how people clearly don't understand it. The only thing I didn't like was the mystery was anti-climatic. I don't want to put any spoilers in.

[Minetta Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series. It's definitely one to follow as each book ends with an unusual event or a question to be answered. This one did not fail in that regard! As others have noted characters other than Kiki have parts that they tell in this book. I was ok with that. Looking forward to reading #13!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was excellent but different sections of the book the story was told by different characters. I don't remember that style in the previous titles. It was distracting and at times hard to keep up with the story.

[Marti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot. A baby is abducted leaving no trace. Kiki is overwrought. Cara Mia, one of Kiki’s best friends, visits from Florida; she sees a major problem, and acts - no matter the consequences. Can Kiki survive all the conflict?

[Lucille Huzl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baby arrives

I enjoyed this various ways that finally showed KiKi to be able to rely on somebody to get help. It also shows strength in friendships,when Bonnie's baby was taken from hospital and how she solved the case.

[Lyn Soulia-Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiki is having the baby and life should be great. Thing just don't work that way and she finds herself struggling with every part of her life. Will she make it thru all of the issues facing her? Another good addition to the series.

[Nancy Vega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Family ties & kidnapping in the works

Baby blues & kidnapping in the mist of another scrapbooking escapade with terrifically weather of snow, ice, & demons from the past.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not like the chapters from Cara's point of view and it did not address Kiki's mom

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kiki's baby is born and the madness continues.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book

This was another great book in the series. But it was also special because it spoke to the grief I'm going through right now.

[Patricia Grigg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The switch of the perspective in this book threw me, however, the story was good.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was at first disappointed with the alternating points of view but found that it was probably for the best, considering the direction of the story line.

[Jennifer Reese Rohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a mother and grandmother this mystery is scary to think about.

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor plot, poor writing style. I did not care for this book at all.

[Ellen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiki has her baby, and with everything else, has the baby blues. There is babies being kidnapped, negative words from the mother in laws and a murder of someone who was enemy. Typical day for Kiki.

[Sandee Szabo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the entire series. Lost a lot of sleep as I couldn't put it down.