Enjoyed this book so much.....interesting...good tips....and great recipes.....as well as mystery!! :) ( )

Carmela and Ava start working on a haunted house after the friend who was working on it is killed. Carmela is also close to ending her marriage to Shamus and is enjoying her time with Detective Babcock.

When someone seems to determined to scare the people working on the house away, Carmela decides to find out what is going on, despite warnings from Babcock to leave the investigating to the police. There are plenty of suspects, is it the widower? The real estate developer who wants the building? The strange Sidney who leads ghost walks through the historic (and supposedly haunted) graveyards of New Orleans? Someone else?

I mostly enjoy this series but didn't ever really get invested in this one. It might have been the whole haunted house/cemetery thing along with lots of reference to the vampire Lestat. Not my favorite type of book.

Oh well, I will keep reading the series because I do enjoy Ada and Carmela as well as their friends and co-workers. ( )

I definitely like her Tea Shop mysteries better. ( )

Carmela and her friend Ava have been contracted to decorate Medusa Manor for a haunted house by their friend Melody. When they arrive a the house for the first time to meet Melody, they find her in a gruesome and unexpected way. They find her murdered. Carmela finds herself investigating a crime where some of her friends seem to be suspects.

I loved the setting of New Orleans and the idea of setting up a haunted house. Childs brings the city to life in many ways, from the people to the streets to the celebrations. Carmela is avery believable character that quickly grew to like...almost a little too much. She almost seemed a little too perfect at times. The mystery kept me guessing up until the very end, which is something that really makes a mystery for me.

3.5/5 ( )

I enjoyed this book. It was set in New Orleans, post Katrina. Carmela Bertram, is the proprietor of the Memory Lane Scrapbooking shop so there are scrapbooking suggestions all through this mystery. There is also a great section on scrapbooking and delicious sounding receipes in the back of the book. Her friend, Ava Gruex, owns JuJu Voodoo and knows how to conduct seances and is knowledgeable about voodoo. The pair are very likeable and the story is satisfying but it will make you hungry! ( )