What do you think?
Rate this book
Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-n-Craft Mystery #7
Picture, Perfect, Corpse
An enhanced and newly revised edition of Book #7 (of 13 books) of the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series set in St. Louis, featuring scrapbooker, animal lover, and amateur sleuth Kiki Lowenstein.
Police detective Chad Detweiler is overjoyed to learn he’s having a baby with Kiki Lowenstein. But when his estranged wife, Brenda, is found shot to death with bullets from his revolver, the proud papa-to-be finds himself up the creek without a lawyer. Meanwhile, Kiki and Dodie Goldfader are in for a surprise when an unidentified young woman bursts into their craft store claiming to have killed Dodie’s son. Embarking on a memorial scrapbook project as a ruse to unravel the facts, Kiki can’t stop herself from wondering if the man she loves is tangled up in murder.
Police detective Chad Detweiler is overjoyed to learn he’s having a baby with Kiki Lowenstein. But when his estranged wife, Brenda, is found shot to death with bullets from his revolver, the proud papa-to-be finds himself up the creek without a lawyer. Meanwhile, Kiki and Dodie Goldfader are in for a surprise when an unidentified young woman bursts into their craft store claiming to have killed Dodie’s son. Embarking on a memorial scrapbook project as a ruse to unravel the facts, Kiki can’t stop herself from wondering if the man she loves is tangled up in murder.
314 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2013
385 people are currently reading
408 people want to read
About the author
Joanna Campbell Slan
165 books859 followersNational bestselling and award-winning author Joanna Campbell Slan was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but she grew up in a small town in Indiana. After graduating from Ball State University with a degree in journalism, she worked as a newspaper reporter, a newspaper ad salesperson, a television talk show host, a college teacher, a public relations professional, and a motivational speaker. In that capacity, she was named by Sharing Ideas Magazine as “one of the top 25 speakers in the world.”
Slan's work has appeared in five of the New York Times Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and one of those became a television show. She is the author of nearly 80 books, nonfiction and fiction, including Death of a Schoolgirl, which won the 2013 Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence.
Joanna's personal essays have appeared in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and one was made into a television program on the Pax Network. The college textbook Joanna wrote—Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience—has been praised as an invaluable resource by Benjamin Netanyahu’s speechwriter and endorsed by Toastmasters, International.
RT Book Reviews has called Joanna “one of mystery’s rising stars.” Her first novel—Paper, Scissors, Death—was an Agatha Award finalist. It features Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky single mom who lives in St. Louis. The sixth book in that series will be released Summer 2013.
Kirkus Reviews has said, “Slan’s mysteries are most valuable for the well-developed characters and the issues they raise.” RT Book Reviews has said, “Kiki is so darn entertaining that she’ll keep readers hooked.” A series of short stories featuring Kiki are available on Kindle.
Joanna’s newest series—The Jane Eyre Chronicles—began with Death of a Schoolgirl (Berkley) and continues with the release of Death of a Dowager. The series features Charlotte Brontë’s classic heroine Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth.
As “Lila Dare,” Joanna has penned the fourth book in the Southern Beauty Shop series—Wave Good-bye.
Joanna is married to David Slan. The Slans live on Jupiter Island, Florida.
Website: www.JoannaSlan.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/JoannaCampbel...
Twitter: @JoannaSlan
Slan's work has appeared in five of the New York Times Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and one of those became a television show. She is the author of nearly 80 books, nonfiction and fiction, including Death of a Schoolgirl, which won the 2013 Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence.
Joanna's personal essays have appeared in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and one was made into a television program on the Pax Network. The college textbook Joanna wrote—Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience—has been praised as an invaluable resource by Benjamin Netanyahu’s speechwriter and endorsed by Toastmasters, International.
RT Book Reviews has called Joanna “one of mystery’s rising stars.” Her first novel—Paper, Scissors, Death—was an Agatha Award finalist. It features Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky single mom who lives in St. Louis. The sixth book in that series will be released Summer 2013.
Kirkus Reviews has said, “Slan’s mysteries are most valuable for the well-developed characters and the issues they raise.” RT Book Reviews has said, “Kiki is so darn entertaining that she’ll keep readers hooked.” A series of short stories featuring Kiki are available on Kindle.
Joanna’s newest series—The Jane Eyre Chronicles—began with Death of a Schoolgirl (Berkley) and continues with the release of Death of a Dowager. The series features Charlotte Brontë’s classic heroine Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth.
As “Lila Dare,” Joanna has penned the fourth book in the Southern Beauty Shop series—Wave Good-bye.
Joanna is married to David Slan. The Slans live on Jupiter Island, Florida.
Website: www.JoannaSlan.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/JoannaCampbel...
Twitter: @JoannaSlan
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
December 22, 2017
Love this author
I love this author. She has a writing style that keeps a person interested throughout the book and plants a seed to read the next one ASAP.
I love this author. She has a writing style that keeps a person interested throughout the book and plants a seed to read the next one ASAP.
June 15, 2013
Synopsis (from bn.com): Police detective Chad Detweiler is overjoyed to learn he’s having a baby with Kiki Lowenstein. But when his estranged wife, Brenda, is found shot to death with bullets from his revolver, the proud papa-to-be finds himself up the creek without a lawyer. Meanwhile, Kiki and Dodie Goldfader are in for a surprise when an unidentified young woman bursts into their craft store claiming to have killed Dodie’s son. Embarking on a memorial scrapbook project as a ruse to unravel the facts, Kiki can’t stop herself from wondering if the man she loves is tangled up in murder.
My thoughts: Oh man, I really, really want to say that I enjoyed this book, but I just can’t. To me, somehow this series has lost it’s edge as it continues. What I absolutely loved about the first couple of books in this series is that the main character, Kiki, was absolutely hilarious. The books were light hearted and were focused on the Time in a Bottle, scrapbook store, which after all is what the theme of the book is.
I know that Kiki is going through some very stressful times in the last couple of books, but wow it really has changed the whole tenor of the series in a bad way for me at least. I feel like I don’t even know who Kiki is anymore.
To me, this book felt like it was a little pieced together for me. There was the main murder mystery, with Brenda Detweiler, and then there were a couple other subplots which were mentioned in the beginning and then all of a sudden came up in the end to be solved – i.e., solving what happened to Dodie Goldfader’s son and the storyline involving Anya’s friend, Nicci). These 2 subplots felt completely random to begin with, fell away for most of the book, and then came back to be solved real quick at the end - completely random.
The last page of the book of course introduced a twist of course to intrique you for the next book, but again to me it felt random and pushed like the author needed to come up with something to bring us back to the next book.
And please, please I am hoping that the next book takes us back into the scrapbooking store at least a little bit. This book had almost nothing focused on the store or scrapbooking at all.
I am very, very hopeful that the next book will bring back some of what I loved when this series started.
And remember,
Books Are Life,
My thoughts: Oh man, I really, really want to say that I enjoyed this book, but I just can’t. To me, somehow this series has lost it’s edge as it continues. What I absolutely loved about the first couple of books in this series is that the main character, Kiki, was absolutely hilarious. The books were light hearted and were focused on the Time in a Bottle, scrapbook store, which after all is what the theme of the book is.
I know that Kiki is going through some very stressful times in the last couple of books, but wow it really has changed the whole tenor of the series in a bad way for me at least. I feel like I don’t even know who Kiki is anymore.
To me, this book felt like it was a little pieced together for me. There was the main murder mystery, with Brenda Detweiler, and then there were a couple other subplots which were mentioned in the beginning and then all of a sudden came up in the end to be solved – i.e., solving what happened to Dodie Goldfader’s son and the storyline involving Anya’s friend, Nicci). These 2 subplots felt completely random to begin with, fell away for most of the book, and then came back to be solved real quick at the end - completely random.
The last page of the book of course introduced a twist of course to intrique you for the next book, but again to me it felt random and pushed like the author needed to come up with something to bring us back to the next book.
And please, please I am hoping that the next book takes us back into the scrapbooking store at least a little bit. This book had almost nothing focused on the store or scrapbooking at all.
I am very, very hopeful that the next book will bring back some of what I loved when this series started.
And remember,
Books Are Life,
May 15, 2013
After Kiki had been injured and the outcome left hanging in Ready, Scrap, Shoot, I was glad I had this book already on hand to continue the story!
The various subplots were exposed so closely together, I almost thought I would become as unglued as Kiki, but the workings of each spread out nicely as the storyline continued.
Detective Detweiler has learned that he and Kiki are going to be parents about the same time his wife is found shot to death just over the state line. He is taken into custody and charged with her murder(outside of his jurisdiction) after casings from his gun are found at the crime scene. Kiki uses her connections to find a top-notch lawyer (whose nickname is 'Blood and Guts') to represent Detweiler pro bono.
At Time In A Bottle, owner Dodie is confronted by a young woman who claims to have killed her son years ago. Dodie's ill health forces her to ask Kiki to learn the truth before her health runs out.
Daughter Anya struggles with the taunts of her classmates about her mother's relationship with a still married man and the subsequent pregnancy, her feelings of abandonment of being the only Lowenstein in the family left, and her loyalty to a friend in crisis.
Though Kiki has never felt empowered or strong, you can really see her maturing in this book as she comes to the aid of everyone important in her life, even her mother-in-law Sheila.
Most of the chapters are short, which makes for a quick and delightful read.
The various subplots were exposed so closely together, I almost thought I would become as unglued as Kiki, but the workings of each spread out nicely as the storyline continued.
Detective Detweiler has learned that he and Kiki are going to be parents about the same time his wife is found shot to death just over the state line. He is taken into custody and charged with her murder(outside of his jurisdiction) after casings from his gun are found at the crime scene. Kiki uses her connections to find a top-notch lawyer (whose nickname is 'Blood and Guts') to represent Detweiler pro bono.
At Time In A Bottle, owner Dodie is confronted by a young woman who claims to have killed her son years ago. Dodie's ill health forces her to ask Kiki to learn the truth before her health runs out.
Daughter Anya struggles with the taunts of her classmates about her mother's relationship with a still married man and the subsequent pregnancy, her feelings of abandonment of being the only Lowenstein in the family left, and her loyalty to a friend in crisis.
Though Kiki has never felt empowered or strong, you can really see her maturing in this book as she comes to the aid of everyone important in her life, even her mother-in-law Sheila.
Most of the chapters are short, which makes for a quick and delightful read.
November 16, 2021
My edition of this book says it is the 6th in the series, while other lists say it is the seventh. Whatever the order, I love this series. I have been living in Kiki's world for the last 2 weeks, reading books 1-6 without throwing in a different author to break things up like I usually do. This book actually brought tears to my eyes, something that rarely happens in my reading anymore. While the extreme situations Kiki gets herself into are, well, fiction (duh), her day to day life dealing with her family and friends is spot on with reality. This installment, with the changes in Kiki's life at work as well as Anya's issues, was very well written. The next 3 books are arriving in the mail soon, and I look forward to finding out what happens next!
October 11, 2017
3 stelle e mezza.
Era da un bel po' che non leggevo nulla di questa serie... Il libro non è male, ma mi sembra che l'autrice abbia messo un po' troppa carne al fuoco: ci sono ben tre misteri separati, la protagonista ha appena scoperto di aspettare un bambino e le hanno sparato, la sua datrice di lavoro (e amica) è gravemente malata... E poi? Ancora qualcos'altro? Oltretutto, quello che dovrebbe essere il mistero principale resta alquanto defilato. Forse sarebbe stato meglio lasciare qualcosa per un altro libro è sviluppare meglio in questo solo un paio di cose. Perché le idee non erano male, alla fin fine.
Era da un bel po' che non leggevo nulla di questa serie... Il libro non è male, ma mi sembra che l'autrice abbia messo un po' troppa carne al fuoco: ci sono ben tre misteri separati, la protagonista ha appena scoperto di aspettare un bambino e le hanno sparato, la sua datrice di lavoro (e amica) è gravemente malata... E poi? Ancora qualcos'altro? Oltretutto, quello che dovrebbe essere il mistero principale resta alquanto defilato. Forse sarebbe stato meglio lasciare qualcosa per un altro libro è sviluppare meglio in questo solo un paio di cose. Perché le idee non erano male, alla fin fine.
December 23, 2019
Kiki's developing a backbone - which is mostly a good thing - but then there are the threats of violence.... which the author seems okay with?!? It may be a minor point in the story, but it rather too me aback.... Overall a good addition to this series though. The editing is a bit better. Still needs another round or two of proofreading, but not as egregious as some of the earlier entries in the series. Also a repeated chapter formatting error in the kindle edition I read. Minor annoyance, but still.... 4 stars, dinged a half star for ongoing editing issues.
April 22, 2022
Irritating
I am growing so tired of the unrelenting unhappiness of this series. Everyone is dealing with horrible people in their lives. So the author lets a good friend of Kiki's die and keeps her useless piece of crap of a mother alive? After 7 books can't she let her get some money and stop buying all her stuff from thrift stores? I am just tired of being irritated by the nastiness of so many people in these books. And saying the books can be read as a stand alone? You really have to know the back story to truly understand all the players.
I am growing so tired of the unrelenting unhappiness of this series. Everyone is dealing with horrible people in their lives. So the author lets a good friend of Kiki's die and keeps her useless piece of crap of a mother alive? After 7 books can't she let her get some money and stop buying all her stuff from thrift stores? I am just tired of being irritated by the nastiness of so many people in these books. And saying the books can be read as a stand alone? You really have to know the back story to truly understand all the players.
January 15, 2026
Fast action and a continuation. Kiki is a scrapbooker who is pregnant with a cop bf who is dealing with his murdered ex-wife, who is a druggie. In the end, the father killed the daughter because she was off the chain and he thinks she should be put down like the old dog he shot in his childhood. Lots of stuff is going on with a lady who is dying of cancer and wants to find out how her star child died after a woman comes into the shop and says she killed the son. Kiki goes looking for. her to get the story.
Fast read. I might back to read the rest.
Fast read. I might back to read the rest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2019
I was so glad this book was easily gotten after the finish of the last book where Kiki has been shot. Her friend Johnny was shot and her mother in-law hurt. In this one Chad's wife has been shot and Chad is the logical suspect. This book had lots of twists and turns and I couldn't believe who actually did it. The ending has a great little cliffhanger. I love that after all of this Chad and Kiki are finally getting a chance to see where they could go.
February 28, 2021
I liked most of this book, but the way the two mysteries were wrapped up was too sudden and anticlimactic. There were simple editing errors, as usual in this series, but I could overlook them because I have come to love the characters of Kiki Lowenstein and her friends. The character has been developed throughout the series and is full bodied and relatable. I love the Scrapbooking aspects, as well, and now I want to learn Zentangle.i would give this book 3.5 stars if I could.
August 27, 2023
Another great entry in the Kiki Lowenstein series of books. Kiki and her ex mother-in-law are both injured and it could have been much worse if not for Kiki. Then Detective Detweiller’s estranged wife is killed and he is blamed for the crime. The case is solved and he is cleared only to find out that his first ex-wife has died and left a son that he didn’t know he had. Look forward to seeing what happens next.
September 25, 2023
Kiki Lowenstein
After Kiki kills Bill Ballard who has been after her since she escaped from him in Babler Estates she is shot by her boyfriend's wife, Brenda, that he was separated from. When Detweiler is framed for Brenda's death Kiki tries to help him by getting him a good lawyer and investigating other clues. While she is investigating she stumbles on the answer to Brenda's death. This was a good book in the series. Highly recommend this book.
After Kiki kills Bill Ballard who has been after her since she escaped from him in Babler Estates she is shot by her boyfriend's wife, Brenda, that he was separated from. When Detweiler is framed for Brenda's death Kiki tries to help him by getting him a good lawyer and investigating other clues. While she is investigating she stumbles on the answer to Brenda's death. This was a good book in the series. Highly recommend this book.
April 7, 2020
I don’t mind some darkness in the story because it makes the series and the characters more real and more relatable. But I totally didn’t get the last chapter? How come that Kiki and Detweiler are going to tell her that they are having a baby when in Chapter 10 Kiki tells Thelma that Anya knows and she is happy about it? This HUGE mistake totally ruined the book for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2020
Kiki
Chad is framed for Brenda's murder. Dodie is dying. Sylvia is still recovering from her fractured clavicle. Kiki's sister Amanda is moving to the area, and their Mother Lucia will live with her. Kiki finds them a house to rent from her friend Clancy. Johnny is still recovering from gunshot wound, and his sister still hasn't forgiven Kiki.
Chad is framed for Brenda's murder. Dodie is dying. Sylvia is still recovering from her fractured clavicle. Kiki's sister Amanda is moving to the area, and their Mother Lucia will live with her. Kiki finds them a house to rent from her friend Clancy. Johnny is still recovering from gunshot wound, and his sister still hasn't forgiven Kiki.
April 21, 2021
The saga of Kiki and Detweiler takes the reader for a wild ride before leaving them at the edge of a cliff. There are lots of things, good and bad, going on, with shootings, pregnancies, and new friendships growing as old friends leave. I finished this at 11 p.m. Only the fact that I have to wake early to be at work stopped me from tracking down.the next book and starting it tonight.
September 4, 2022
Wow this has to be the most poorly edited book thus far in the series. Not one but two completely duplicated chapters, as well as tons of grammatical and spelling errors. This was very disappointing. The reason it still got 3 stars is because the actual storyline is pretty decent. No use discussing spoilers if you're this far in the series you're more than likely going to continue reading because you're connected to the characters. If not then the poor editing may make you stop. At this point I'm taking a break from the series for a bit , but will likely come back after a bit.
August 6, 2023
So Much Drama
Book 7 has a lot going on, so brace yourself. Frankly I'm ready to move on. As much as I love Joanna Campbell Slan, I have to read one of my many other books for now. Kiki's a lot of excitement and thrills, but I need some Kathi Daley. As usual many things were resolved in the end and I will be back. 🤔😄😉
Book 7 has a lot going on, so brace yourself. Frankly I'm ready to move on. As much as I love Joanna Campbell Slan, I have to read one of my many other books for now. Kiki's a lot of excitement and thrills, but I need some Kathi Daley. As usual many things were resolved in the end and I will be back. 🤔😄😉
July 27, 2020
Police Chief Chad and Kiki are having a baby, Anya is glad not to be an only child. Kiki getting over having killed a guy. Chad gets a call that his two ex wives are dead. Bullets from his gun killed Brenda. Then finding he has a son he didn’t know about. With Kiki it is never dull.
April 16, 2021
Superb writing. Wonderful characters. Imaginative plot. Another page turner. I don’t care a whit about scrapbooking but I love these Kiki Lowenstein books. They are so much more than cozy mysteries!
May 7, 2021
Better keep reading!
OMG!, just when I thought it couldn't get any better! Did not see this coming! Glad everyone is ok! On to book 8!.I've got to find how how this new twist turns out!
OMG!, just when I thought it couldn't get any better! Did not see this coming! Glad everyone is ok! On to book 8!.I've got to find how how this new twist turns out!
August 16, 2021
Death ,murder
Death and murder. Somehow Kiki seems to always be there. First her husband an from there it keeps going. When Dodie makes her promise to find out what really happened to her son that gets thrown into the mix too. Read.
Death and murder. Somehow Kiki seems to always be there. First her husband an from there it keeps going. When Dodie makes her promise to find out what really happened to her son that gets thrown into the mix too. Read.
August 24, 2021
Picture perfect corpse
Wonderful story and as a scrapbooked I really enjoy these stories. I wish I still had the energy to scrapbook. I need to finish my granddaughter’s wedding album. Go away Covid come back energy b
Wonderful story and as a scrapbooked I really enjoy these stories. I wish I still had the energy to scrapbook. I need to finish my granddaughter’s wedding album. Go away Covid come back energy b
October 28, 2021
Errors.
Big plot error. In previous book Bill Ballard threw away Brenda’s phone. This book discussed Brenda using phone a number of times after the attack. More cultural problems.
Big plot error. In previous book Bill Ballard threw away Brenda’s phone. This book discussed Brenda using phone a number of times after the attack. More cultural problems.
Read
July 6, 2017I really do like her books. It certainly helps that I can see in my mind the places that she writes about.
July 15, 2017
i read this before six so It started off a bit off for me but was able to get right into it anyhow.
Hope Kiki and Deweilter get together totally in the next one!
Hope Kiki and Deweilter get together totally in the next one!
September 13, 2017
Kindle
November 2, 2017
Wow! I don't know how she does it!
Ms Slan just keeps me reading to see what Kiki is up to and what will happen to Time in a Bottle.
Ms Slan just keeps me reading to see what Kiki is up to and what will happen to Time in a Bottle.
January 15, 2018
Good read. I think, I'm addicted to these books. I keep saying I'm not going to buy the next one but I do it anyway.
January 21, 2019
These books are getting better & better. I thoroughly enjoy reading about Kiki & it was wonderful to see her finally standing up for herself!
February 21, 2019
Well she managed to stay out of trouble more in this one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews