Mumbo Gumbo Murder by Laura Childs and Terrie Farley Moran

Title: Mumbo Gumbo Murder (A Scrapbooking Mystery #16)

Authors: Laura Childs and Terrie Farley Moran

Published on:1st October 2019

Genre: Cozy Mystery

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It’s Jazz Fest in New Orleans and the streets are filled with giant puppets. Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava follow the parade. Suddenly they hear a loud crash and explosion from Devon Dowling’s antiques shop. Carmela enters in through the broken window and finds Devon in a pool of blood. She immediately calls her boyfriend/Detective Edgar Babcock.

The paramedics arrive soon after but Devon passes away. Heartbroken and angry that her friend Devon was murder, Carmela decides to find his killer and bring her friend to justice.

Mumbo Gumbo Murder is the sixteenth book in Scrap-booking Mystery series and can be read as a standalone.

The main characters in the story include Carmela, Ava and Babcock. Other characters include Roy Sultan, Gabby, TJ, Drake, Detective Booy Gallant and three dogs – Boo, Poobah and Mimi. Carmela and Ava are best buddies. I have mixed opinion about the way they are portrayed in this story. Carmela seems either confused or stubborn most of the times. When her ex-boyfriend opens a shop next door and asks her to join in for a wine and paint venture, she neither agrees or disagrees. ( He assumes that she’s said yes and proceeds, Carmela goes along…) When it comes to solving crimes, Carmela is stubborn. She doesn’t take a no for an answer. Even when Babcock reprimands her, she pooh-poohs his warnings.

What do I say about Ava? She’s weird, quirky and a seductress at times. Being single is taking a toll on her ahem… social life. Any Tom, Dick and Harry she meets on the street, she goes all gaga and flirty. TJ, Drake and Sultan played quite a role in the story – as suspects in the murder case, their roles matched well. The three dogs added oodles of cuteness to the story.

The mystery is pretty good. There are many red herrings and if the reader is used to playing detective then they are sure to go off track. 😀 The story seemed a tad dragged at places and the identity of the murderer is revealed almost at the end of the story. The suspense and the chase kept me engrossed to the story.

There are loads of scrap-booking ideas in the story. Carmela is a scrap-booking queen. 😀 As the title suggests, there’s Gumbo too. Apart from Gumbo, almost all the famous New Orleans dishes are mentioned in the story.  If you are a scrap-booking enthusiast, there are some ideas at the end of the book. If you are foodie, you would surely want to try one or all the recipes mentioned at the end of the book.

Thrown in some scrap-booking ideas and mouth-watering recipes in a cozy story, and what you get is a Mumbo Gumbo Murder. 😀

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There’s a giveaway for the tour. Giveaway details are here. (US only)

Many thanks to Lori for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this blog tour.