Skeleton Letters
A Scrapbooking Mystery, No 9
Laura Childs

Berkley Hardcover
October 4, 2011 / ISBN 0425243893
Cozy Mystery / New Orleans / Contemporary / Scrapbooking interest
Amazon

Reviewed by Brenda Weeaks

At the Scrapbooking shop, Memory Mine, Calligraphy lessons (Skeleton
Letters) are on the agenda.

Carmela, owner of Memory Mine, has created a poster for gal-pal Ava. Ava, owner of the local Juju Voodoo shop, is volunteering on St Tristan Church's Angel Auxiliary. When the two deliver the poster to St Tristan's they enter with good deeds on their minds but witness a deadly one instead - to a scrapbook regular.

A young detective, Bobby Gallant, arrives to investigate, but Carmela sees the burdens of his everyday job in his eyes and requests Edgar Babcock, homicide detective and boyfriend. Detective Gallant shows he can do his job, but Babcock gets involved anyway. As usual, he tells Carmela not to take any risks concerning the murder. But Carmela does and Ava joins her. Ava is an entertaining partner in crime and survival. Throughout it all Carmela's busy with the shop, the expensive, showy house she won in the divorce and lots more.

Skeleton Letters is a great addition to an already successful series. It's an entertaining, sometimes humorous mystery full of memorable characters. The New Orleans atmosphere adds to it even more. Ava steals the limelight a couple times. Cozy mystery readers will enjoy the mystery as well as the interesting craft ideas and recipes.

Reviews of other titles in this series

Bound for Murder #3  [review]
Motif for Murder #4  [review]
Death Swatch, #6 [ review]
Skeleton Letters, # 9 [review]
Postcards from the Dead, #10 [review]
Gossamer Ghost #12 [review]