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 for 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 convention.
And what a horror! No sooner do they begin than Melody’s body comes crashing through a tower window. And it was no accident. Someone wanted that local ghost hunter-turned-entrepeneur 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.
Carmela and Ava are at Medusa Mansion, trying to come up with ideas to make it the perfect haunted house. A coffin with a vampire, witches heads on the walls, ghosts, spiders, you name it. Just when they are about to leave, they hear a noise inside the house, and the next thing happens is a big explosion and a burning thing is thrown out of the third floor tower window! It is their friend Melody, who was supposed to meet them there, but (they tought) never showed up. Of course she didn’t set herself on fire, she was murdered, and before she knows it, everyone is roping Carmela into investigating the murder to figure out who did it and why. Her boyfriend Detective Edgar Babcock gets the case, and he just focuses on the husband. But Carmela and her friends just know he didn’t do it! Garth and Melody loved each other very much, and had a great jewellery store going together, called Fire and Ice.
Then there is that strange man who gives ghosttours to tourists, and what about that man who also wanted to buy Medusa Manor? And Melody’s silent partner, Olivia Wainwright, who first hires Carmela and Ava to keep doing their job in Melody’s memory, and now seems uninterested in it? Isn’t she just a bit to close to Garth?
On the personal front, Carmela is still busy getting a settlement from Shamus, her almost ex-husband. Everything finally seems to get together, until his sister Glory makes problems again. But in the end, the papers are signed, and Carmela is a free woman. Not only Edgar Babcock is very happy with that fact, also her previous boyfriend, restaurateur Quigg Brevard seems to be very interested in her again.
The shop is still going well, and Carmela is always inventing new things to teach her best customers, who keep coming back for more crafts and ideas.
The end of course is very exciting and suspenseful. I did not sea that coming! No, I won’t spoil the plot for you! You’ll have to read this fun series for your self.
It is one of my favourite cozy mystery authors, and I love her characters. Filled with humor and New Orleans, it really makes me want to visit this great city. Even after the hurricane. The craft things are very clearly explained, even wants me to visit this shop and see all the different papers and attributes. And me, without a creative bone in my body! You really don’t have to like scrapbooking and crafts to enjoy this series.
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