Cut to the Corpse

A Decoupage Mystery #2

by Lucy Lawrence

A sticky situation in the second Decoupage mystery.
Decoupage teacher Brenna Miller is in over her head when she finds bride-to-be Tara with her fiance's dead best friend-and Tara holding the murder weapon. It's up to Brenna to get to the truth before Tara's future turns to shreds.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Adult

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2010

About the author

Lucy Lawrence is a pen name for Jenn McKinlay.

Lucy Lawrence (a pseudonym for Jenn McKinlay) took her first decoupage class when she was twelve years old. Since then, cutting and pasting have become a way of life. With two small children at home, she finds decoupage a fun craft as well as a very handy tool, especially when used to cover up doodles made in permanent marker on otherwise lovely furniture. And yes, they know her by name at her local Michael's Craft Store. She is the author of three previous novels under the name Jennifer McKinlay and lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her musician husband Chris, their two sons, two cats, one dog and one fish.

Reviews

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and enjoyable book

[Gale Penton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Live the characters and their interactions. Great mystery had me going until the end. Highly recommend

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book interesting and the storyline captivating. Interesting glimpses into the past of the characters and the ending of the book was fantastic!! Going to have to back track and read book 1 in the series before I read book 3

[Melmo2610 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is going to rank right up there as one of my favorite Jenn stories. I adored this story-it has a great plot and I had multiple laugh out loud moments. This is one for my keeper shelf for sure!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant follow-up to the first book in the series. Another murder in less than one year? How do these things happen? Boston socialite Tara has fallen in love with local mechanic Jake, upsetting some in the small town of Morse Point. Tara invites Brenna and Tenley along for the bachelorette party--a night "on the town" which unfortunately ends up with Brenna discovering Tara the next morning in bed with Jake's best friend Clue, and Clue is quite dead. Tara is holding a knife but has no recollection of the evening. Of course, Jake believes that Tara has betrayed him but she is not arrested. Clue has a reputation as a bad-boy, love 'em and leave 'em ladies man and also was employed at the paper mill owned by Dom, one of Brenna's love interests. Brenna promises to help in the investigation--a bit repetitive in the cozy genre but there it is.. Many suspects with motives but the killer has a very interesting motive which kept me guessing until the end.. There is romantic tension between Brenna, Nate and Dom but she continues to be indecisive and just wants to be friends with both--not even dating.. Overall, an enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Jenn C · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second outing with Lucy Lawrence (aka Jenn McKinley) was better than the first, but it still didn't wow me. I'll finish out the series, but probably won't pick up another book by this author anytime soon.

Brenna (aka Nancy Drew) is back and slightly less ditzy. She is growing on me - I do like her terrier attitude - especially when the males in her life are constantly telling her to leave things alone. The twins are as annoying as ever (again, eccentricity is interesting. Annoying is most definitely not). The lopsided love triangle is "developing" - Dom is interested in Brenna, Brenna's interested in Nate, Nate's not saying much of anything... I'm not a fan of love triangles (most are not done well) and this one isn't leaving me in suspense.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a cute series. I really like it. The book just flows and I did not want to stop reading.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I solved the mystery halfway through, which was disappointing, but I enjoyed the characters.

[MD · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Good:
This was a fun, light, and quick read. There was no gore or sex. The main characters were nice, likeable, people. Mostly, even characters who weren't that likeable were given redeeming qualities. The victim was the least likeable character. Observations and dialog were often surprisingly original, clever, and fun. For this alone, I would read this author again.

I'm a crafter, and I like reading about crafting. I don't ever expect to decoupage, but it was interesting to read a little about this craft.

The Bad:

Why is it that modern mystery writers so often make the mystery personal to the main character somehow? She is the prime suspect, or her close relative/friend/crush is; or the murderer goes after her next, or whatever. I'm really so very tired of this. This is one of the ones where the murderer goes after the main character because she might know too much. Apparently this is the second book in a series and same thing happened in the first book.

I'm not big on crossed-wires romances either. In this one the author kind of beats the reader over the head with the mutual attraction between Brenna and Nate while trying to convince us that they are totally oblivious of it.

The revelation of the murderer wasn't very believable, especially since she was trying to keep Jake close to her, yet obviously implicated him when she put the boots in his locker. But I guess that was a worthwhile tradeoff for keeping the tone of the book light everywhere else.

Bottom Line:
The good outweighed the bad and I would try another in this series.

[Short, Sweet and Cozy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cut to the Corpse is the 2nd book in Lucy Lawrence's (Pen name for Jenn McKjnlay!) A Decoupage Mystery series. No wonder I really enjoyed it and I had no idea it was actually by Jenn McKinlay! The characters are wonderful,.there is some well placed humor and the mystery kept me guessing although I wondered about the culprit. Brenna Miller does Decoupage classes and items to sell at her friend Tenley's paper shop. Bride Tara and her mother Tiffany want to hire Brenna to make favors for the wedding. Tara invites Brenna and Tenley to go to her bachelorette party and with reluctance they do. They leave Tara and her friends later on and someone ends.up dead. There is a bit of a love triangle between Brenna, her landlord Nate and former mob boss Dom. There are some funny moments and some heartfelt moments. I really enjoyed this book and series! The audiobook is well done and very enjoyable (and why I'm not sure about names). #CutToTheCorpse #ADecoupageMystery #LucyLawrence #JennMcKinlay #BerkleyPrimeCrime #BerkleyPublishing

[Jeanie Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breena is talked into attending a girls night out for bride Tara and when she offered to pick her up the following morning, she finds the bride in bed with the groom's best friend, while holding the knife that appears to be the murder weapon.

Breena is talked into trying to help investigate the murder and find out what happened the night before when the group carried on without Breena and Tenely.

As a last resort, they try re-tracing the steps that the girls did along with the groom, Tenely's boyfriend, and Breena's landlord, that Breena has a huge crush on.

This was a very good read, even comical in some spots.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wouldn't you know it, I guessed the person that did the killing half way through the book. I also guessed that the first girl that went to her job far far away is actually dead and buried somewhere.

As for the triangle love Brenna seem to find herself in, I think she really need to figure out and have an answer for either man. If her landlord is only interested in giving her sexy eyes but not much else, she should stop crushing on him so hard and be with Dom who is really interested in her.

Off to 3rd book to see what else is in for this series.

[meghann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed this one, but these men are driving me crazy trying to manage Brenna and make decisions for her. I get being worried about someone when there is a murderer loose in town. But saying it's not safe for her to be out after dark because she is a woman? Dude, there have only been three murders in this town in the last 50 years, and all of the victims were men. Check yourself. I'm so glad Brenna put these guys in their place.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not realize that this series was written by Jenn McKinlay until I had finished the whole series of three books. Both series are a little unrealistic if you drill down, but satisfying if you just want a fun read, and that's what I'm going for.
While this was better written than the first book, so more enjoyable to read, I found the eventual murderer and motive a little hard to believe, given the complexity of the murder scene. Oh, well; up until the end, it was a fun read.

[L.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the first but it was still pretty good. Some new characters are introduced and Brenna's relationship with Nate develops a bit more. We also start to learn more about Brenna's past and her relationship with her family. I was kind of impressed by how the clues to the identity of the killer were really hidden in plain sight, kind of neat how it came together in the end.

[Brandi Moriarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good! Such a sad but realistic ending to this mystery! I enjoyed the real feelings and hilarious situations that happen. Brenna and Tara are the best kind of friends you could want! I love how the town has adopted Brenna and work hard to help her discover the truth. The mystery was good and the ending was fantastic! This was one of my favorite's of Jenn's books.

[Jennifer Kovaleski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid second read in series

Although it’s a short series I feel that momentum was quickly gained in this second book. The characters came together well. Love and fear were the biggest emotion surrounding the murder.

[SurfsideSallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy a fun cozy mystery - started this one and wasn’t really sure how I felt about it… But hang in there it’s a nice cast of characters! The mysteries are fun and a nice read when the world around you is a heavy place and I need to shut off the news!

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun cozy mystery. Good characters

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultra specific job for the sleuth to have and I love that. Very cool series here by a very good writer.

[M Enox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book!

[Deborah Almada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun quick read in an early series by Jenn McKinlay, a perfect summer read. Brenna is a character you want to root for.

[Bethanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! Totally surprised at the end!

[AnnieM · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing seemed disjointed and the lead character grated my never. She came across as whiney

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. A cute town of characters.

[Teresa Hathaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun quick read.

[Amy Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending of this book... my heart can't! I barely called it, but it hit hard. I absolutely love Brenna and am so sad that there's only one more book in the series.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoying this series, but feeling bad for Dom.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it a lot. I need to re try to this authors later series. But the love triangle needs to go. The mystery was pretty easy to guess. In this one but I liked it

[Christie Jacobsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun cozy mystery