Bound for Murder (Scrapbooking Mystery Series)

Rating:
Summary: Another great read!
Review: Carmela is a great character! These mysteries draw you right into the plot and never let go. I couldn't put the book down until I finished it. I do wish Carmela and Shamus would get their act together and get back together though!

Rating:
Summary: strong amateur sleuth
Review: When her rich husband Seamus Meechum walked out on their marriage because he needed his freedom, his sister Glory kicked Carmella Bertrand out of the family mansion. Instead of moping, she finds an apartment in New Orleans' French Quarter and opens Memory Mine, a scrapbooking shop not far from her new abode.

Carmella helps Wren Wright decorate for the latter's pre-wedding gala. Wren is engaged to Jamie Redmond, the owner of a profitable bookstore and creator with his partner Blaine of a software program called Neutron that detects bugs and bombs in newly written software code. When Carmella takes a breather she finds Jamie dead. While Wren tries to cope with her finance's murder, Dunbar Des Lauriers pushes hard to buy Jamie's stock in the bookstore. Glory, who holds the mortgage to Jamie's and Wren's home, threatens to call it in if Wren doesn't sell to her. Blaine claims to have sole rights to Neutron and Carmella finds proof that Jamie was engaged to another woman a year ago without telling Wren. Overwhelmed, Wren asks Carmella to find her fiancé's killer; her inability to refuse places her in danger from a killer without mercy.

Laura Childs is a creative storyteller who grabs reader attention from the time Jaime is murdered and doesn't release it grip until the murderer is found and Carmella is safe. There are numerable suspects with viable motives and readers will have a lot of fun guessing who the real killer is. There are a lot of creative arts and croft tips at the end of the book, a bonus that readers can make use of for the winter holidays. BOUND FOR MURDER raises the bar on amateur sleuth quality.

Harriet Klausner