Frill Kill

A Scrapbooking Mystery #5

by Laura Childs

This Halloween, the bestselling mystery author makes New Orleans even spookier than usual.

Carmela's friend Ava is having a Halloween bash at her scrapbooking store, and she hires a sexy Tarot reader named Giovanni to work the crowd. What he doesn't foretell is that on her way home Carmela will find the body of a beautiful model behind a Dumpster, and be attacked herself. But he's the one who appears to save her-or was he already there?

Giovanni's the number one suspect, but Ava is determined to stand by her employee...even if he does have a way of dodging questions. Ava and Carmela have plenty of other strange leads to follow up, like the tooth marks around the victim's neck, and the non-human hairs found at the scene. As the witching hour draws closer, Carmela must discover what's lurking in the shadows of the French Quarter-or the only thing left to scrapbook will be her death certificate.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Halloween, Crafts, Crime

273 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2007

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

[Stella]

These books are fun to read, and the setting of New Orleans helps a great deal. I love Ava; Carmella is a little bit too "goody goody," but she's cool enough. As for Babcock --- I would never date him! I don't see what the fuss is about. He's constantly brushing Carmella off, arguing with her, yelling at her for meddling, or just being rude -- then he wants sex. I don't see how the characters think he's this perfect boyfriend. I hope they break up soon, because I don't want to continue reading about their awful relationship. This series is written better than the Tea Shop series, but the murderers are still predictable. Still, a fun read - you don't get emotionally attached, so it's easy to put down, but the suspense is enough that you want to finish. Perfect for lunch breaks or free hours.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another adventure for Carmela and her friend Ava. Carmela finds a body, becomes a fashion model and puts herself in danger to solve the crime. As always, recipes (some of which I may try) and scrapping hints.

I tend to blow hot or cold on this series. This entry (#5) was a good one. The mystery was interesting, the murderer was neither typecast or broadcasted (I was surprised) but it made sense.

Ava continues to be over the top (it gets worse in future installments, but she was not too bad this time) and I don't get the character of Glory at all (Shamus's sister), but in this one, it came in small bits and was easy to overlook and ignore.

The book takes place at Halloween, my fav holiday, which was fun, and the victim has teeth marks on her neck. Werewolf? While no one believes a supernatural entity is at work, it lent a different vibe to the story.

Certainly the book kept my interest, and I enjoyed the ending.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Headed into Halloween, Carmela has her hands full at Memory Mine and helping Ava decorate for a spooky fashion show when a model is murdered in the alley behind Ava's voodoo shop and Carmela is attacked. It appears that Ava's newly hired employee is the prime suspect, but there seems to be more to the story than meets the eye. Before she knows it, Carmela is deep in the investigation, trying to track down the real killer.

This was a good read, but I am increasingly annoyed by Glory and Shamus and their interactions with Carmela. Carmela and Shamus' off again on again divorce proceedings have dragged on far too long. Make a decision and move on already! And Glory's continued nastiness toward Carmela has sunk to middle school level. She is an adult and supposedly head of a major bank. She would know better than to behave the way she does -- especially as a woman in a well to do southern family. Enough already!

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I went to New Orleans and hung out with Carmela and Ava. I am glad I found the time. I really loved the book with its Halloween theme and Carmela and Ava get to even be runway models. I am so glad Carmela is finally going to dump Shamus. I really enjoy hearing all about the crafts and the whole Louisiana New Orleans atmosphere. A really well written story line though I hate the thought we are going to have a love triangle again which it looks like.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Halloween Edition!!! I so enjoy this and hope there are LOTS more.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy mystery, based around a scrapbooking shop in New Orleans.
Found this paperback in a goodwill in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
Liked it enough to go and seek out the rest of the series.

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 5th book in A Scrapbooking Mystery series. Fun cozy mystery set in New Orleans. Light and charming.

[Lain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not sure why I keep reading these books. I guess as a scrapbooker and mystery lover, I feel obligated to do so. But they just keep getting worse and worse. Not only are the characters shallow, they get goofier and goofier each book. Carmela and her best friend, Ava, now have intermittent N'Awlins accents that pop up every so often, then disappear just as suddenly.

This mystery is a lesson in suspension of disbelief. For some reason, Carmela feels the need to investigate the murder of a young model whose body she stumbles upon. Witnesses and suspects alike turn to her for counsel, suddenly appearing at her door for no clear reason other than to drop some crucial piece of evidence.

And anyone who has watched more than an episode or two of CSI or any other crime scene will be horrified by the inaccuracies in the crime scene forensics.

By the end of the book, I was laughing at the poor editing, the overuse of exclamation points (!!) and the silliness of the plot.

All in all, a ridiculous series that gets more ridiculous with each new title.

[Verity W · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up at the secondhand store because it seemed like a fortuitous coincidence that they had a Halloween-themed cozy crime at this time of year. I really wanted to like it - and the actual mystery part of the book was fine - but the characters and the dialogue didn't really work for me.

I was also slightly at a loss to understand a) why the lead keeps her ex-husband around if he's so terrible (and he does come across as truly terrible) b) why the characters intermittantly speak with New Orleans accents c) why the Creole is so randomly scattered through the book d) why on earth the proprietor of a scrapbook shop and a novelty voodoo shop were picked to decorate a high fashion halloween runway show e) how on earth the described decorations were meant to be in any way classy/appropriate f) why people keep telling the heroine info in the case g) why the detective puts up with it.

So a lot of questions.

My first Laura Childs - as well as my first in this series - I probably won't go hunting for more.

[Katreniah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book didn't really work for me. The main characters made me angry, and I couldn't figure out how some of these women managed to spend entire days in a scrapbooking store. The main character has an emotionally abusive ass of a husband (They're estranged, but for some reason, she doesn't just kick him to the curb and shut him out of her life.), and I became annoyed at how the main character dealt with him - so much so that I didn't really care what happened to her. Maybe I should have read the first book in the series first (I know; I KNOW), but after reading this one to check it out, I'm not really interested and am glad I didn't make the investment.

[JoAnne McMaster (Any Good Book) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carmela Bertrand owns a scrapbooking store in the heart of New Orleans, just down the street from her best friend Ava's voodoo shop. Ava has a new draw -- Giovanni, a gypsy who reads the Tarot, palms, and looks into his crystal ball for his customers. His good looks aren't hurting, and it's sending people her way. When Carmela sees him call out to a woman, she can't help but wonder why he wants to talk to her so badly. But not much later, Carmela hears noises behind a dumpster in the alley, and sees the same woman. When she turns to help, someone hits her from behind and knocks her out. Then she finds that Giovanni is trying to awaken her and wonders if he isn't the killer.

But Ava is convinced of his innocence, even if Carmela isn't, so they set out to find the person who wanted the young woman dead. Unfortunately, Carmela and Ava have full schedules that need to be taken care of, too. Along with running her shop, Carmela has promised her friend to help decorate a designer's grand opening at Halloween, complete with a scary background. The designer once employed the dead woman, Amber, as his model, so Carmela figures it's also going to be a good place to ask a few questions.

There's also the news anchor who's been hounding Carmela, and the rumors of a werewolf within the midst of the city. While she doesn't believe it, she knows that something sinister is going on. And with Halloween coming up fast in the Garden District, there's hundreds of places a killer could hide in plain sight. And they just might be doing so, if only to watch Carmela's next move...

This is the fifth book in the series, and while it's an older one, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. As Shamus says, Ava is a hoot. I honestly like Shamus in this book; he's not as sleazy as he's been in the others, and he definitely still cares for Carmela. Glory's her usual annoying self, and Detective Babcock is around as well to try and keep Carmela reined in (as if that's going to work).

The mystery is done well, and when the killer is revealed it comes as a surprise, which is how it's supposed to be. The climax was quite interesting and while I wouldn't call it a nail-biter, it had its moments. When the book was finished, it left a satisfying and pleasant feeling, which is how books should leave you. I am enjoying this series more and more and look forward to reading the next one. Recommended.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

New Orleans scrapbook shop owner, Carmela Bertrand, is attending a party at her best friend Ava's Juju Voodoo shop, when she finds the dead body of a young woman in the alley outside the shop. She then hears growling and is knocked over from behind. Ava's new fortune teller, Giovanni, is the first on the scene, supposedly saving Carmela from the unknown attacker, but Giovanni and his brother, Santino, have a past with the now dead woman, and Santino is nowhere to be found. To make matters even more chaotic, it's the week before Halloween and the local news is reporting sightings of werewolves in the French Quarter, which is quite disconcerting, as there were what appeared to be toothmarks around the victim's neck.

This is another fun installment in the series in a perfect Halloween setting; a great read for the month of October!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another exciting adventure of Carmela. Good story.

With Halloween barely a week away, things are getting even spookier than usual in New Orleans. A party at Juju Voodoo draws a fabulous throng, and Carmela's friend Ava has hired a sexy tarot reader named Giovanni to work the crowd. What he doesn't foretell is that on her way home, Carmela will find the body of a beautiful model behind a dumpster -- and be attacked herself....

It's Giovanni the gypsy who appears to save her -- or was he already there/ He's the police's number one suspect, but Ava is determined to stand by her employee... even if he does have a tricky way of dodging certain questions. Ava and Carmela have plenty of strange leads to follow up, like the horrifying tooth marks around the victim's neck, and the nonhuman hairs found at the scene.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read one a book from the tea shop series and enjoyed it. It wasn’t until I was home from the library that I realized this one was from the scrapbooking series. I was looking for a Halloween cozy to read for the season.

I really liked the book about a murdered model in New Orleans right before Halloween. Ava and Carmela are friends and both own local businesses. They are like Lucy and Ethel with their silly and funny antics. They like to dress up and have some good chats over food and drink. New Orleans lore, fortune telling and threat of a werewolf make the hunt for the murderer interesting, but it’s really the world of fashion that is scary and threatening this season.

[Sarah Hearn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose, in some ways, it’s my disinterest in scrap-booking as a hobby that made this book less interesting. The recipes at the back are a great addition - I already made the muffins - and the plot is good, if a bit thin. Frankly, however, I thought, by the book blurb, that there would be a more occult aspect to the story - a body with what appear to be bite marks around the neck, growling, strange shadows on windows - but no, none of that. Just a straight-forward cosy set in N’Awlins. A quiet, uneventful read, interesting enough to keep going and even enough to consider reading another by the same author but not spectacular.

[Tommie Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read. This is book #5 and still going strong. I really loved the ending, because I didn't know who-dun-it until the final chapter. Lots of fun. I am still reading The Great Deluge along with the Laura Childs scrapbook series that is set in New Orleans. I find that I have to take a break from the bureaucrat crap that prevented people in New Orleans from getting supplies and emergency care that they desperately need. I get so mad; I have to switch to easier lighter reading. However, the Laura Childs book are about the aftereffects of this tragedy as it affected the main characters.

[Dawn Kravagna · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I wasn’t sure what to think due to some clunky obvious detail planting, ie. “Just twenty minutes earlier, Carmela had run her fingers through her short, toffee-colored bob and highlighted her pale yet flawless complexion with a dab of NARS Orgasm blusher.” But the story quickly settled into its flow and I enjoyed it.

Having visited New Orleans several times, I enjoyed the believable details of the French Quarter during the Halloween season. And the cozy element details weren’t overdone, just enough to create a suitable working atmosphere.

A good solid mystery with likable characters.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another entry in the Scrapbooking Mysteries that is entertaining. I've found the books in this series to keep you guessing as far as the who the culprit is. Carmela and Shamus' divorce continues to drag out.

So far, the Scrapbooking Mysteries tend to take place at either Mardi Gras or Halloween. I hope the later books in the series go beyond one of these holidays and show New Orleans at different times of the year.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenges: RRRCs January 2019 - Bubble Bath Day, relax/round on cover/alliteration in title (4); and Create Your Own Readathon/Stacking the Series/Steeped in Books - Primary List/Level 9/Book 5. Set at Halloween time with a loup-garou suspect; just a nice set-back-and-read with the added creative dimension of scrapbooking.

[Megan Farve · Rating 2 out of 5]

This definitely lived up to the “cozy mystery” genre and I don’t mean that in a good way. Now, I did start a few books into the series instead of at book one which may have thrown me off, but the story felt very anticlimactic. I’m sure some people enjoy fun loving scrapbookers with a sense of style but I found myself bored with the characters and the story. Not my cup of tea.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the New Orleans setting and I like Carmela and Ava. I don't read these in order and I'm surprised that Carmela is still with Seamus (although this book does bring the end near). This was a fun setting - New Orleans at Halloween. I didn't know that they did it up so big! I also like the fashion and modeling angle. I'll continue reading Laura Childs when I'm looking for a cozy mystery.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, easy read, full of halloween in New Orleans, fun things, and a murder. Main character became annoying early on and almost seemed very flakey. Thought she would have been good after book 1. But haven't read the books between, and from the backstory, think that was for the best. The story on the whole is good, with a resolution and reason I did not see coming.

[Cathie Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Interesting storyline and plot. I do like this series. This book dragged in parts, but overall, it kept my interest. Since I'm not reading them in order, it's always interesting to see how things develop. Some twists and turns. Some good humor. Recommend.

[Ruth Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect cozy for me, mystery genre study. #NOLA

[Massanutten Regional Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linda, Elkton patron, June 2019, 5 stars:

This was a super book. It takes place in Louisiana. She is a great author.

[Judi Asdell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the settings for these Scrapbooking mysteries! New Orleans is such a colorful place...the descriptions bring everything visually into focus!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many twists and turns throughout that keep you guessing who did it!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time reading a book by Laura Childs. Frill Kill was an easy read with a surprising ending. She really "paints a picture" in your mind. A delightful story.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading, I keep hearing in my head "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." Carmela is gutsy but she could call the police more often.

[Danielle Vandehaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

She always solves the case the minute she decides to give up.