Skeleton Letters - Laura Childs

Skeleton Letters

by Laura Childs

Is nothing sacred?

The last thing scrapbooking maven Carmela Bertrand expected to bear witness to in St. Tristan’s Church was a crime.  But now a beloved member of her scrapbooking circle is lying lifeless next to a smashed statue of St. Sebastian – and a mysterious hooded figure had absconded with an antique silver-and-gold crucifix.

With the church, a popular New Orleans tourist site, pretty much open to the public, it looks like the police don’t have a prayer of finding the killer.  Good thing amateur sleuth Carmela and her wacky voodoo shop-owning friend Ava are hot on the trail.  With suspects that range from a deliveryman, to the strange Brother Paul, to the cult group The Seekers, Carmela and Ava comb New Orleans for clues.  And end up in a bayou at midnight, stalked by an enraged killer!

A cross between a cozy and a thriller – a thrillzy! – Skeleton Letters delivers great characters, action, humor, spooky cemeteries, scrapbooking tips, and New Orleans recipes.  This is the Halloween read you’ve been waiting for!

BIOGRAPHY

Laura Childs is the author of the Scrapbook Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries and Cackleberry Club Mysteries.  Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club.  She is a former Cleo Award-winning ad writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

WEBSITE
http://www.laurachilds.com

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/embed/R0WRgk3qCy0

PURCHASE
Amazon
Barnes and Noble


OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

PUBLISHER
Berkley Prime Crime
ISBN 978-0-425-24389-3

Fiber & Brimstone - Laura Childs

Fiber & Brimstone

by Laura Childs
Berkley Prime Crime

Building a Halloween tale around the #1 craft in America today, author Laura Childs sets the stage with scrapbooking maven Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava creating giant puppets for the French Quarter’s Monsters and Mayhem parade. But as blood-curdling screams pierce the night, they soon discover that the captain of the float den has been stabbed by the razor-sharp horns of a giant Minotaur head!

Police quickly cast blame on Carmela’s float-building friend, Jekyl, even though she’s convinced of his innocence and vows to find the real killer. But this is Halloween in New Orleans, an ethereal bewitched city where ghostly intruders are at work. Carmela soon finds herself pursued by a swamp monster, encounters a second gruesome murder at the Ballet Dracula, rubs shoulders with the mysterious Mr. Bones, and ends up an unwitting prisoner in a parade of hearses!

Fiber & Brimstone blends crafting, the vibrancy of New Orleans, spooky cemeteries, vampire crawls, scrapbook tips, and delicious Southern recipes into this 8th book in the bestselling Scrapbooking Mystery series.

With the book set in New Orleans, Childs is keenly aware of the BP oil spill and its destructive effect on wildlife. So she is donating a portion of the proceeds from each book sold at Twin Cities area bookstores during October to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help in the rescue and rehabilitation of loggerhead, hawksbill and leatherback turtles.

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Childs is the author of the Scrapbook Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club. She is a former Cleo Award-winning ad writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

WEBSITEwww.laurachilds.com

BOOK LAUNCH

Saturday, October 9, 2010
A Fiber & Brimstone publication party and tea party
Noon to 2:00 pm
Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore604 West 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-870-3785

Laura Childs - Teaberry Strangler

The Teaberry Strangler
Tea Shop Mystery #11

By Laura Childs

Berkley Crime

ISBN 978-0-425-23245-3

When Laura Childs’ previous book, Oolong Dead, hit the New York Times Bestseller List last year, it yielded a heady blend of tea and talk shows. So it’s with great hope, terror, and fingers crossed that her 11th Tea Shop Mystery launches on March 2, 2010.

The Teaberry Strangler gallops out of the gate with a moonlit alley crawl spearheaded by Charleston tea shop owner Theodosia Browning. But as rain patters down and fog rolls in, customers aren’t the only ones combing the twisted passages, looking for bargains in local shops. Someone strangles a map store owner and Theodosia, who views the terrible deed from afar, vows to seek justice. But who stands to benefit from inheriting a dusty map store, how are the quirky ladies from Jardin Perfumerie involved, and why is a mysterious woman suddenly stalking Theodosia?

As Theodosia plunges into a hunt for the killer, she encounters the treasure hunting Kipling Club, an old love, the mysterious Pinckney’s Castle, and a terrible trial by fire at the Heritage Society. Combining the genteel art of tea with a breakneck-paced mystery, The Teaberry Strangler delivers big time!

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Childs has been a mystery author for the past ten years – writing the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries for a total of 20 books in print and 3 more manuscripts sitting on her editor’s desk. In her previous life she was CEO of Mission Critical Marketing with offices in Minneapolis, MN and Austin, TX. Laura is married to Dr. Bob, a professor of Chinese art history at the University of Minnesota, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs. Interests include art collecting, foreign travel, and serving on the board of directors of various non-profit organizations.

Laura Childs’ Tea Shop Mysteries, Cackleberry Club Mysteries, and Scrapbooking Mysteries have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists.

WEBSITE
www.laurachilds.com

BOOK SIGNINGS/APPEARANCES
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Noon – 2:00 PM
Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore
604 West 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-870-3785
A Teaberry Strangler publication party, book signing, refreshments, and tea basket drawing will be held

Saturday, March 20, 2010
Noon – 4:00 PM
Write of Spring Author Festival
Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore
604 West 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-870-3785

Saturday, March 27, 2010
Formal Teas at 11:00 AM and 1:30 PM
(Reservations required)
Mystery tea and book signing
Mad Hatter Tea Room
300 East Main Street
Anoka, MN 55303
763-422-4160.

Saturday, April 10, 2010
Formal Teas at 11:00 AM and 2:30 PM
(Reservations required)
Mystery tea and book signing
Lady Elegant’s Tea Room
2230 Carter Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
651-645-6676

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Three-course teas beginning at 11:00 AM
(Reservations required)
Mystery tea and book signing
Avalon Tea Room
2179 4th Street
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
651-653-3822

Laura Childs

TRAGIC MAGIC
by Laura Childs

Berkley Hardcover

ISBN-10: 0425229890
ISBN-13: 978-0425229897

Tragic Magic by Laura Childs is the 7th installment in the bestselling Scrapbooking Mystery series featuring scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand. Asked to convert an old mansion into Medusa Manor, a new haunted house attraction in New Orleans, Carmela and her best friend Ava are amped and ready to create spooky set decorations. But their first evening on the job yields a flaming body hurled from the third-floor tower.

As they reluctantly continue the project, Carmela is drawn into a hunt for the killer and finds herself in a haunted asylum, investigating cremation jewelry, and taking part in a séance. This fast-paced book veers between cozy and thriller (thrillzy?) and includes scrapbooking tips and New Orleans recipes. If you like a little fright in your life, Tragic Magic is the perfect Halloween read!

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Childs (the pseudonym of Gerry Schmitt) is the author of three different mystery series, including the Tea Shop Mysteries, the Scrapbook Mysteries, and the Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Her books have made trips to the New York Times, USA Today and Independent Mystery Booksellers bestseller lists. She is the former founder and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic (Oct. 2010)

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold (Dec. 2010)

WEBSITE
http://www.laurachilds.com/

BOOK LAUNCH AND AUTHOR SIGNING
Tragic Magic will be released October 6, 2009

Bookcase of Wayzata - Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009, 7:00 pm
Tragic Magic talk and book signing
The Bookcase of Wayzata
607 Lake Street E.
Wayzata, MN 55391
952-473-8341

Once Upon a Crime - Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009
Book launch, signing and refreshments will be held Saturday, Oct. 10, from noon to 2:00 pm
Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore
604 West 26th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-870-3785