Childs is the author of the Tea Shop Mysteries series and the Scrapbooking Mysteries series. This title is the 5th the the latter series.
The setting is New Orleans following Katrina. The heroines are a couple of women entrepreneurs in the French Quarter, Carmela Bertrand and Ava Grieux. Carmela, the about-to-be-ex-wife of a prominent banker, owns a scrapbooking shop, while Ava owns the Juju Voodoo Shop.
Halloween festivities cast into motion the killing of a local model in the alley behind Carmela's shop. I have to admit that I didn't guess the murderer until just before that person is revealed near the end of the book. In the mean time there were several suspects that had to be eliminated.
I felt that the plot was weak and confusing. For such an atmospheric place I did not feel that the author made the most of the setting. I never really identified with the two main characters or particularly cared what happened to them. I found my mind constantly wandering and thinking about things other than the book, so I basically just skimmed the whole thing.
While I plan to go back and read some of the earlier ones in this and the Tea Shop Mysteries, I can't say that this was more than a "ho-hum" read.
Liz Nichols
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