Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable read!
Review: As an avid scrapbooker and fan of New Orleans, I was delighted to learn about this book. I enjoyed it immensely. The mystery was good; the tone was fun. I hope there are many more books in this series.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read!
Review: As an avid scrapbooker and fan of New Orleans, I was delighted to learn about this book. I enjoyed it immensely. The mystery was good; the tone was fun. I hope there are many more books in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Seemed More Like a First Draft
Review: Carmela's life is having its ups and downs. Her scrapbooking shop is doing well, but she's been separated from her husband for six months. She's trying to put that behind her and enjoy Mardi Gras, however.While attending a parade with her friend Ava, she is shocked to see the body of a friend lowered from a float, dead. She's even more surprised to learn that Shamus, her husband, is the chief suspect. She doesn't believe he could really be the killer, so she sets out to see what she can learn. I've read two of Ms. Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries and enjoyed them. This book disappointed me, however. My problem was that it felt like it was a first draft, not a finished book. Hardly anything happens in the first half of the book. Instead, we get lots of talk on scrapbooking. Things do get more interesting in the second half, but the last chapter is pretty bad with lots of things suddenly being thrown at us to tie up potential loose ends. I didn't get a good feel for the place like I did in her other series. And her attempts to add local color only slowed the story down as she had to explain what a character had just said. I don't think the author is ready to have two series or release three books in one year. I hope she slows down, because I did enjoy the other books of her's that I've read.
Rating:
Summary: Seemed More Like a First Draft
Review: Carmela's life is having its ups and downs. Her scrapbooking shop is doing well, but she's been separated from her husband for six months. She's trying to put that behind her and enjoy Mardi Gras, however. While attending a parade with her friend Ava, she is shocked to see the body of a friend lowered from a float, dead. She's even more surprised to learn that Shamus, her husband, is the chief suspect. She doesn't believe he could really be the killer, so she sets out to see what she can learn. I've read two of Ms. Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries and enjoyed them. This book disappointed me, however. My problem was that it felt like it was a first draft, not a finished book. Hardly anything happens in the first half of the book. Instead, we get lots of talk on scrapbooking. Things do get more interesting in the second half, but the last chapter is pretty bad with lots of things suddenly being thrown at us to tie up potential loose ends. I didn't get a good feel for the place like I did in her other series. And her attempts to add local color only slowed the story down as she had to explain what a character had just said. I don't think the author is ready to have two series or release three books in one year. I hope she slows down, because I did enjoy the other books of her's that I've read.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, but.....
Review: Childs' book has a lot of plusses: scrapbooking is "different" as a setting, N'Awlins was a good locale, story had a nice pace. However, it was cliche-ridden, repetitious description (how many times did I need to know that purple green + gold were Mardi Gras colors??) and every detail about New Orleans was explained, in detail. I have been in New Orleans for just one day, a few years ago, and I knew all these "secrets" (chicory coffee, gris-gris, krewes, Madame L, etc.) This book needs a little editing...
Rating:
Summary: Writing too many novels perhaps?
Review: Cozy mysteries are great. They're light and quick and enjoyable. However, when the word "mystery" is attatched to the "cozy" bit the author really should follow through. Childs' budding new series has many of the same characteristics as her Tea Shop Mystery series. The setting is strong and definite. She knows the area(s) she's dealing with and seems to delight in describing them to the reader. There are numerous quirky secondary characters that are loyal and supportive and always there at the right times. But there is also the same repetition, the same breeziness, the same lame inner dialogue that makes you go a little crazy because, really, I think we're all just a little more intelligent than that. And then there's the "mystery" part. Right. There really is no mystery. There is a crime, granted. But it's either too easily solved (with little detection work on the part of the protagonist) or just not all that interesting. In other words, you don't care much either way. And the crime and resolution in *Keepsake Crimes* is almost silly. It's very obvious that it's a new series start and it seems like Laura Childs' is more concerned with her character interaction than her crime. It's not that this novel was bad or unreadable, but even those of us who like the occasional "cozy mystery" needs a little mystery there.
Rating:
Summary: I like the idea of this book, but it didn't engage me
Review: I like the Tea Shop books and was looking forward to a new series. I love New Orleans; a series set there could be so intriguing, and Carmela is a spunky, clever heroine. There is a "but." There was too much detail on scrapbooking for a reader not interested in that hobby. Also, I didn't really care who committed the murder. The supporting characters, except for Ava, blended together and weren't particularly likable. Carmela was also too forgiving for my taste. I thought that her support of a husband who had deserted her made her seem weak. The series needs a strong male character, and I'm hoping it won't be that husband! I will read the next book in the series, if there is one, for I like Laura Child's writing style. This just wasn't one of her better efforts.
Rating:
Summary: Good Style, but
Review: I like the Tea Shop books and was looking forward to a new series. I love New Orleans; a series set there could be so intriguing, and Carmela is a spunky, clever heroine. There is a "but." There was too much detail on scrapbooking for a reader not interested in that hobby. Also, I didn't really care who committed the murder. The supporting characters, except for Ava, blended together and weren't particularly likable. Carmela was also too forgiving for my taste. I thought that her support of a husband who had deserted her made her seem weak. The series needs a strong male character, and I'm hoping it won't be that husband! I will read the next book in the series, if there is one, for I like Laura Child's writing style. This just wasn't one of her better efforts.
Rating:
Summary: Good Style, but
Review: I like the Tea Shop books and was looking forward to a new series. I love New Orleans; a series set there could be so intriguing, and Carmela is a spunky, clever heroine. There is a "but." There was too much detail on scrapbooking for a reader not interested in that hobby. Also, I didn't really care who committed the murder. The supporting characters, except for Ava, blended together and weren't particularly likable. Carmela was also too forgiving for my taste. I thought that her support of a husband who had deserted her made her seem weak. The series needs a strong male character, and I'm hoping it won't be that husband! I will read the next book in the series, if there is one, for I like Laura Child's writing style. This just wasn't one of her better efforts.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I live in New Orleans and was eager to read a series set in my lovely home town. The characters are engaing and seem very real, however, all the details about my home town are WRONG. I do understand that some liscense is needed in order to accomodate plot - the mis-statements regarding the city in general, Mardi Gras in particular, and the social attitudes of the characters and speech patterns are so far from real as to belong in a science fiction novel rather than an satisfying puzzle with good characters and enough plot to keep you reading. Very disappointing.
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