I am so excited to have Laura Childs and Terrie Farley Moran here at Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Spotlight, Giveaway and Guest Post.
Thanks Laura and Terrie and Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for allowing me to join your Mumbo Gumbo Murder Blog Tour!
Please take it away, Laura and Terrie!
Character Guest Post by Carmela Bertrand,
main character in Mumbo Gumbo Murder
by Laura Childs and Terrie Farley Moran
Well, it’s Jazz Fest again in New Orleans. That means all sorts of jazz concerts, parades, parties, and delicious food. And, lucky me, most of the festivities take place just a few blocks from my cute little scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter.
But there’s a problem. (There always is, isn’t there?)
The other night my BFF Ava Grieux and I went to watch a parade put on by the folks who run the Beastmaster Theater. It was a strange and spooky parade, populated by masked ninja-like people wearing oversized puppet costumes of skeletons, wolves, and vampires.
Now Ava is the proprietor of a voodoo shop (think tarot cards, amulets, and saint candles), so she’s kind of used to things that go bump in the night. But I have to confess I was a little freaked out. That’s why we cut over to Royal Street where all sorts of food vendors had set up booths. I’m always up for a po-boy sandwich, beignets, or a bag of kettle corn, but this night we decided to quench our thirst with amaretto daiquiris served in plastic geaux cups. We ambled along, enjoying the food vendors, fortune tellers, musicians, street artists, and bead and t-shirt sellers until we came to Dulcimer Antiques, the quaint little antiques shop that our friend Devon Dowling owns. As we approached, we heard a horrifically loud crash, as if the front window had just exploded!
I dashed over, screaming for help, pleading with someone to call 911. And then I made the mistake of peeking inside. As dark as the interior was, I could tell the place had been utterly trashed. Thousands of dollars of precious antiques were smashed to smithereens. And then when Devon’s little pug Mimi started barking hysterically, I crawled in through the broken window and found poor Devon, laying lifeless on a Persian rug.
I didn’t know if he’d been shot, stabbed, or clubbed. Or if he was still alive. Anyway, the police arrived along with the EMTs. And as they worked on him, they finally gave Ava and I the very sad news that Devon was dead – that he’d been stabbed in the ear with an ice pick!
Since Mimi the pug was the only witness, I decided to take her home with me and see if she could possibly identity or sniff out Devon’s killer. That meant carrying Mimi to Devon’s memorial service and sneaking her into a few other places.
But it’s been tough. Because by running my own shadow investigation, I’ve uncovered a whole lot of potential suspects. There’s Devon’s greedy landlord who wanted him to vacate so he could take the building condo, Devon’s young assistant, a fat cat art collector, and the mysterious (but strangely attractive) president of the Vampire Society.
All my best,
Carmela Bertrand
Mumbo Gumbo Murder (A Scrapbooking Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
16th in Series
Berkley (October 1, 2019)
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0451489578
ISBN-13: 978-0451489579
Digital ASIN: B07M75KVSB
A shocking murder strikes a sour note during Jazz Fest in the latest New Orleans Scrapbooking Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs.
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?
About The Authors
Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.
Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:
The Tea Shop Mysteries – set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.
The Scrapbooking Mysteries – a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!
The Cackleberry Club Mysteries – set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.
Laura’s Links
Webpage – http://www.laurachilds.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/laura.childs.31
Recipient of both the Agatha and the Derringer awards, Terrie Farley Moran is the author of the beachside Read ‘Em and Eat cozy mystery series; co-author of Laura Childs’ New Orleans scrapbooking mystery series; and has published numerous short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly Magazine and numerous anthologies.
The only thing Terrie enjoys more than wrangling mystery plots into submission is hanging out with any or all of her seven grandchildren who reside in New York and Florida.
Terrie’s Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terrie.moran.9
Blog: www.womenofmystery.net
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/23186092-terrie-moran
Giveaway
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/02887792943
Please follow the rest of the tour here, thanks:
https://www.escapewithdollycas.com/great-escapes-virtual-book-tours/books-currently-on-tour/mumbo-gumbo-murder-a-scrapbooking-mystery-by-laura-childs-and-terrie-farley-moran
Thanks so much for having Carmela as a guest!!!
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