A Holland Reads

Tragic Magic by Laura Childs (A Scrapbooking Mystery #7)

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley 
• ISBN-13: 978-0425237434 

Carmela Bertrand, owner of Memory Mine scrapbooking shop, and her best friend Ava Gruiex, owner of Juju Voodoo, have a big project ahead of them. Melody Mayfeldt is converting a New Orleans mansion into a haunted house for tourists in need of a creepy fix. She needs Carmela's crafty touch to make Medusa Manor come to life -- and evoke the dead -- in time for an upcoming horror conversion. 

And what at horror! No sooner do they begin than Melody's body comes crashing through a tower window. And it was no accident. Somone wanted that local ghost hunter - turned - entrepreneur dead. Now Carmela's in some deep gumbo again as she tries to find out why, and stick it to the killer before he strikes again. 

This a the seventh book in the scrapbooking mystery series by Laura Childs. This is the first cozy mystery series I ever read and I still enjoy reading it. I really like how Laura always inputs some of New Orleans into her books. I love the recipes and scrapbooking tips at the end of each book. Carmela and Ava have a good relationship and are the best of friends. It is a good thing too since Carmela keeps finding dead bodies and then feels the need to find out who did the killing and Ava is always there to back her up. Laura gives you clues as the story goes along but you do not find out who the murder is until the last few pages. If you love mystery, scrapbooking and a little New Orleans flair you will like this book. I give this book 4 stars.