Scrapbooking Books in Order
How to Read the Scrapbooking series
Mostly standalone stories with recurring characters in a shared setting.
The series is enjoyable as standalones due to its episodic structure—each book features a self-contained mystery with satisfying resolution—but reading in publication order (which follows a loose chronological progression) enhances the experience. Recurring relationships deepen over time, Carmela’s personal life evolves (including her divorce and romantic entanglements), and subtle references to prior events or characters add continuity and warmth. Jumping around works fine for casual enjoyment, but sequential reading rewards fans with a fuller sense of Carmela’s growth and the shop’s role in her world.
About the Scrapbooking series
Series Premise
The core premise revolves around Carmela Bertrand, owner of the Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter, who becomes an amateur sleuth when murders occur in her orbit. Often discovering bodies or stumbling upon clues during events tied to her craft—scrapbooking classes, holidays, festivals, or client projects—Carmela uses her keen eye for detail, creativity, and network of friends to piece together motives and suspects. Her investigations uncover secrets among New Orleans’ eclectic residents, blending artful sleuthing with the city’s rich culture of parades, voodoo lore, antiques, and high-society scandals. While scrapbooking tools and techniques occasionally aid her deductions (like analyzing photos or memorabilia for hidden clues), the stories emphasize community, friendship, and clever amateur detection in a city where everyone knows everyone’s business.
Main Characters
Carmela Bertrand leads the series—a smart, stylish, divorced woman in her forties with a sharp mind, artistic flair, and no-nonsense attitude. Resourceful and determined, she balances running her shop with sleuthing and personal life. Her best friend and sidekick Ava Gracas, owner of the Juju Voodoo shop, brings bold energy, psychic flair, and comic relief with her flirtatious nature and street smarts; the duo’s contrasting personalities create lively chemistry. Supporting and recurring characters include Quigg Brevard, Carmela’s charming but sometimes shady ex-husband; Babcock (Detective Edgar Babcock), a romantic interest who provides official police perspective and tension-filled attraction; local shop owners, artists, and customers who rotate in as suspects or allies; and various New Orleans eccentrics—antique dealers, parade krewe members, and festival organizers—who add flavor and suspects.
Setting
The setting is vividly New Orleans, Louisiana—the French Quarter’s narrow streets, historic mansions, bustling markets, Garden District elegance, and seasonal spectacles like Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, Halloween, and voodoo tours. Memory Mine sits in the heart of the Quarter, serving as a cozy hub where customers gather to scrapbook, share stories, and unwittingly provide clues. The city’s unique blend of old-world charm, cultural diversity, food, music, and superstition infuses every plot, making the environment as much a character as the people.
Tone & Themes
The tone is lighthearted yet engaging, with a cozy Southern charm that balances gentle suspense, witty banter, and occasional edgier moments reflective of New Orleans’ lively underbelly. Childs’s prose is breezy and descriptive, rich with sensory details—beignets, jazz notes, humid air, glittering beads—while keeping violence off-page and resolutions hopeful. It’s fun and empowering, never dark or grim. Themes highlight creativity as a coping mechanism, the strength of female friendship, community resilience, second chances after personal upheaval, the joy of crafting memories, and uncovering truth amid festive chaos. The books celebrate women taking charge in both art and investigation.
In the end, the Scrapbooking Mystery series enchants as a colorful collage of craft, crime, and Crescent City spirit, where every page turn feels like adding a new layer to a cherished album. Laura Childs crafts cozy whodunits that sparkle with humor, heart, and the magic of memories preserved in paper and ink. Readers close each book refreshed, a little wiser about New Orleans lore, and eager to return to Carmela’s world—proof that even amid murder, creativity, friendship, and a good glue stick can hold everything together beautifully.
FAQ
16 books
No new book is currently scheduled. The latest book, Mumbo Gumbo Murder, was published in October 2019.
Mumbo Gumbo Murder was published in October 2019.
The first book in the series is Keepsake Crimes, published in May 2003.
The series primarily falls into the Cozy Mystery genre.
No, the books do not need to be read in order. Each story stands on its own, but recurring characters and the shared setting connect the series.
The core premise revolves around Carmela Bertrand, owner of the Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter, who becomes an amateur sleuth when murders occur in her orbit. Often discovering bodies or stumbling upon clues during events tied to her craft—scrapbooking classes, holidays, festivals, or client projects—Carmela uses her keen eye for detail, creativity, and network of friends to piece together motives and suspects. Her investigations uncover secrets among New Orleans’ eclectic residents, blending artful sleuthing with the city’s rich culture of parades, voodoo lore, antiques, and high-society scandals. While scrapbooking tools and techniques occasionally aid her deductions (like analyzing photos or memorabilia for hidden clues), the stories emphasize community, friendship, and clever amateur detection in a city where everyone knows everyone’s business.
The series does not currently have a new book scheduled.