It's Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and the giant puppets from the Beastmaster Puppet Theatre are parading through the French Quarter. Some are very spooky and veiled, others are tall and gangly, like strange aliens.
As the parade proceeds, Carmela Bertrand and her best friend, Ava, follow behind, down Royal Street and past the food booths. Suddenly, they hear a terrible crash from Devon Dowling's antiques shop. They rush inside to find Devon collapsed with blood streaming down the side of his face. Has he been shot? Stabbed? 911 is hastily called, and the police and EMTs show up. After the police examine Devon's body, they tell Carmela and Ava that their friend was murdered with an icepick. They're shocked beyond belief--and now Mimi, Devon's little pug, is left homeless.
Carmela and Ava are determined to catch the murderer, but the list of suspects is long. How long do they have before they find themselves on the killer's list? (Summary via Goodreads)
Reading a book in the Scrapbooking Mystery series by Laura Childs and Terrie Farley Moran is always a treat....to say the least !! First you have this series set in New Orleans and you are right in the middle of all the fun in the French Quarter, second you are hanging around with 2 best friends, Carmela and Ava, that are always getting in the middle of trouble, thirdly you have Carmela always testing the boundaries of her relationship with her fiance Detective Edgar Babcock, and lastly there is always a murder with Carmela and Ava caught in the middle of all the action !!!
And Mumbo Gumbo Murder, the sixteenth book in this series, is loaded with great fun and scary situations !!! While Detective Edgar tries to get Carmela to think seriously about their upcoming wedding, like set a date or something, one of Carmela's dear friends is murdered....and Carmela and Ava happen to be right outside the store when it all goes down. They try to save Devon after they rush in and see what happened but are unsuccessful. Not only does Carmela lose a dear friend but she takes his dog, Mimi, in thinking that she may be able to sniff out the guilty party.
Childs and Moran provide the reader with such detailed descriptions of the fun surrounding the French Quarter and New Orleans that you will feel like you are right there in the thick of things. They also provide the reader with some colorful characters that could be the suspects to the murder. They also provide the reader with enough excitement to keep you tingling after your finish reading Mumbi Gumbo Murder.
On a ten star rating scale, I would give this book and this series a 14 !! And I would give the authors a 16....to be able to get to the sixteenth book in a series and still be able to keep it fresh, exciting and leave the reader longing for more....WELL DONE !!!
Review by Missi M.
Missi, Laura and I are over the moon with your fabulous review! thanks so much. xo
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