Glitter Bomb

August 27, 2018
At the start of bestseller Childs’s charming 15th Scrapbooking mystery (after 2016’s Crepe Factor, also with Moran), New Orleans scrapbook shopkeeper Carmela Bertrand and her best friend, Ava Gruiex, are watching the Mardi Gras festivities when the King Neptune float explodes, flinging Carmela’s ex-husband, Shamus Meechum, practically at their feet. Shamus isn’t in the worst condition. That distinction belongs to the captain of the float’s “krewe,” hedge fund CEO Hughes Wilder, who’s very dead. Next thing you know, Shamus is begging Carmela to investigate before her boyfriend, Det. Edgar Babcock, arrests him. Shamus fears he’s the prime suspect because he made a bad investment with Wilder using bank funds, a distinctly wrong thing to do. Reluctantly, Carmela agrees to search for the real Neptune Bomber, with the eager help of Ava and despite Edgar’s disapproval. Scrapbooking tips and yummy recipes round out a volume sure to please cozy fans. Agent: Sam Pinkus, Keystone Literary.

September 1, 2018
During the Pluvius Parade at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, King Neptune's head explodes in a shower of glitter, dumping krewe members to the pavement below and killing krewe captain Hughes Wilder, CEO of a local hedge fund. The police soon determine Wilder was murdered, and when scrapbook store owner and amateur sleuth Carmela Bertrand's jerk of an ex-husband becomes a suspect, he begs her to investigate. Intrigued by the puzzle, Carmela agrees and, along with her bestie, Ava Gruiex, begins to question suspects, including Wilder's wife, her lover, and numerous people who lost millions in Wilder's hedge fund. Carmela's fianc�, Edgar Babcock, the lead detective on the case, demands that she cease interfering, but, naturally, Carmela refuses to stop, even though she and Ava are threatened and attacked. Satisfying series characters and some surprising plot twists are well supported by scrapbooking details and the lovingly described Mardi Gras setting. Recipes and scrapbooking hints conclude the book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)