Laura Childs - Author - Book Reviews

Scrapbooking series
Berkley Prime Crime Books
Frill Kill - 2007
Death Swatch - 2008
Tragic Magic - 2009
Authors website

I have now read 4 books in the Scrapbooking series. Motive for Murder (book 4) was reviewed last week. The next 3 are reviewed here.

Books 5 to 7 respectively are as follows - Frill Kill, Death Swatch and Tragic Magic

The major characters of these books are Carmela Bertrand, her ex husband Seamus Meecham whos family own one of the local banks, Carmela's friend Ava and the local police detective, Edgar Babcock.

I really enjoyed these books a lot and I read all 3 books in just 2 days.


Frill Kill
With Halloween barely a week away, things are spookier than ever in New Orleans. A party at Juju Voodoo draws a fabulous throng, and Carmela's friend Ava has hired a sexy tarot card reader named Giovanni to work the crowd. What he doesn't foretell is that on her way home, Carmela will discover the body of a beautiful model behind a Dumpster--and be attacked herself!

In the meantime the model's former employer hires Carmela and Ava to create a new look for their next runway modelling show. As well as running the scrapbook shop, tryinn to kep her ex-husband Seamus away from her (he wants to give their marriage one last try) and designing a new runway show, Carmela is very busy - but not too busy to ask some questions and try and discover who killed the young model.

Carmela and Ava take a trip at night out into the Bayou to determine if Giovanni and his brother are murderers. Carmela's evidence is tested and is proven to eliminate the brothers.

So Carmela goes after another possible suspect. But when she finds herself lost in the backstage area of the building where the runway shoot is to be hold, the murderer comes after her. Carmela is rescued by Edgar Babcock, the local police detective.



Death Swatch
Amid zydeco rhythms and popping champagne corks, scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava are partying in the French Quarter. It's Mardi Gras, and they never imagined this might be the scene of a murder, but as the evening progresses, float designer Archie Baudier is found dead on the balcony--strangled with a barbed wire garrote.


As Carmela flirts with handsome detective Edgar Babcock, she also ponders the odd clues; gold paint on the victim's shoes, a ransacked apartment, and a glimmering gold doubloon.

The local TV reporter Kimber Breeze gets in on the act by creating a werewolf mystery. Her TV program is losing viewers and she is desperate to get them back and at the same time, grab some new viewers as well.


Tragic Magic
Design-wise Carmela Bertrand of Memory Mine scrapbook store is tapped to create spooky set decorations for Medusa Manor, a new haunted house attraction in New Orleans. But a flaming body hurled from the third-floor tower might just put a damper on the project.



Carmela and Ave set about tryng to find out who killed Melody (the owner of Medusa Manor) while continuing to decorate the Manor. Melody's husband is at the top of the suspect list. It turns out that Melody was killed over a painting that she had purchased at auction. A painting that turns out to be very valuable.

In this adventure Carmela is also having to deal with her divorce and her ex-husband Seamus, as they try to come to an agreement in their divorce settlement. Seamus's sister Glory does not want Carmela to get anything. Once the settlement is signed, Carmela is now free to go out with her new boyfriend - police detective Edgar Babcock.