Mumbo Gumbo Murder

Set in New Orleans, Childs’s busy 18th Scrapbooking mystery (after 2018’s Glitter Bomb, also with Moran) offers murder, romance, recipes, and scrapbooking tips. One evening during Mardi Gras, scrapbooking storekeeper Carmella Bertrand and her free-spirited best friend, Ava Grieux, are strolling along Royal Street, the home of many high-end shops, when they hear a terrible crash. Carmella realizes that someone has shattered the front window of Dulcimer Antiques, which is owned by their friend Devon Dowling. Inside, Devon is lying on the floor with an ice pick through his ear. Carmella shifts into amateur sleuth mode, and though she’s engaged to police detective Edgar Babcock, she would rather take matters into her own hands, even when her life is in peril, than call on her fiancé for help. Meanwhile, Carmella is distracted by an ex-boyfriend who wants her to become a partner in the new shop he’s opening. Childs captures the energy of Mardi Gras and does a nice job taking the reader on a tourist’s holiday. Cozy fans won’t mind that much of the action has little to do with solving the crime. Agent: Sam Pinkus, Keystone Literary. (Oct.)