Book Review: Photo Finished

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Photo Finished     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Laura Childs
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Cozy   Woman Main Character   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Scrapbook Mysteries # 2
Berkley, Jan 2004, $5.99, 272 pp.

After a year of marriage, her husband quits his job at the bank and moves to his family place in the Bayou. Although Shamus comes from old world money he wants to be free and get his photographs into a high class gallery. The bond that ties Carmela to her husband is still strong so that neither has filed for a divorce. Still Carmela has moved on with her life in a professional capacity, opening a store in the French Quarter. Memory Mine sells scrapbooks and gives lessons to customers who want to turn them into art.

Next door to Memory Mine is Menagerie Antiques owned by Bartholomew, a man who Carmela believes works on the wrong side of the law. One night while giving a craft lesson, Carmela’s assistant finds Bart dead in the alley, a scissors in his chest. Everyone from her assistant to her best friend expects Carmela to uncover the identity of the killer and she does her best to accommodate their expectations.

PHOTO FINISHED is an exciting amateur sleuth mystery starring a heroine that is impossible to not like. She moves at supersonic speed which means a fast plot, plenty of action and a lot at hair-raising adventure though why involvement in a homicide investigation seems stretched. Laura Childs takes the reader on a tour of New Orleans that seems so realistic that the audience will believe they are there. One should not read this novel on an empty stomach because the mouth watering descriptions of foods will make the reader visit the nearest five star restaurant.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner