Paper, Scissors, Death

Kiki Lowenstein is in her favorite scrapbooking store Time in a Bottle when St. Louis Police Detective Chad Detweiler informs her that her husband George was found dead completely naked in an upscale hotel room. The medical examiner says he died of a heart attack, but Kiki doubts that as George had a physical six months ago with a clean bill of health. She considers investigating but instead has to deal with George's angry partner who insists he took $500,000 out of the business. In order to pay it back and take care of her eleven-year-old daughter Anya and their dog, Kiki sells all their major assets from their upscale home to their car; they move into a rental in a lower class neighborhood. When George's mistress is murdered, Detweiler suspects Kiki as the killer especially in light of the fact that she threatened to kill Roxanne at a public social event in which the drunken mistress acted as if she was George's wife. George's mother wants custody of Anyta and someone breaks into Kiki's home stealing her computer while trying to get CD pictures of the now infamous social event. A malicious woman arranges it so that Kiki is thrown into jail for murdering Roxanne leaving Anya with her mother-in-law. Kiki loses custody of Anya and the mother-in-law from hell gets temporary custody so Kiki has to prove she was framed with only Detweiler and her close friends believing she is innocent. This is an electrifying combination of a family drama within a whodunit. Kiki proves she has deep inner strength that even she did not know she possessed as she goes about what she must do to provide food and shelter for her daughter following the riches to rags scenario and subsequently to regain custody. Detweiler turns from enemy to friend with the possibility of a romantic interest though Kiki calls the shots in their relationship. This adds realism to an engaging cozy as the heroine with no time to breathe let alone grieve sets out to prove her innocence and regain custody of her daughter. Harriet Klausner

I am an avid scrapbooker, and teach nationally. If J. Slan made a mistake, it certainly wasn't to be found in this book. I knew I was going to be sorry I started this book yesterday - I knew I'd read it to the end, and I did! The twists and turns you never see coming! Don't plan on "turning out the lights" at the end of each chapter, it won't happen! Kiki Lowenstein became real instantly. You cheered for her, cried with her, and loved her mothering. You hated all who crossed her, yet wanted them to continue so you could see her evolve. Each person, heck, each ANIMAL became special!! So tomorrow, since I won't have my book to read - I will scrap a page of my new best friend - Kiki Lowenstein. I can't wait for the next book, I'll be awaiting that as much as I did each of the Harry Potter books! Slan has picked up for me, where Rowling left off!

PAPER, SCISSORS, DEATH by Joanna Campbell Slan is a really fun and enjoyable read. I liked the main character, KiKi Lowenstein right from the start and I adore her relationship with both her pre-teen daghter Anya and her beautiful dog Gracie. Her relationships with her relatives and friends are so realistic because none was perfect and to me that is real. Although KiKi is an avid scrapbooker, the reader of this book does not need to know a darn thing about "scrapping" to enjoy this book thoroughly. That being said,I loved the scrapbook hints and ideas at the end of some of the chapters. Now to the core of the book....... the mystery. I adore a good mystery and PAPER, SCISSORS, DEATH is just that. The book kept my interest from start to finish and the suspense was wonderful because, to me, there were many characters who could have been the one to have" dunnit". The descriptions of the characters, the places, the scrapbooking were all so good. I felt like I knew each of them. I especially fell in love with the good looking cop and pictured him looking like...... well I won't say as we all have our own idea of what a good looking cop should look like. When I was a kid I wanted in the worst way to be Nancy Drew and I couldn't wait to go on to Nancy's next adventures. Now as an adult I look so forward to my next Mary Higgins Clark book, my next " Melanie Travis" book and now my next " KiKi Lowenstein" book!!!! Keep up the good work Joanna!!!! We are using PAPER, SCISSORS, DEATH as our next BAD GIRLS BOOK CLUB read!!!!!! Sue Betts, Minnesota

As soon as I started reading Paper Scissors Death, I knew it would be an enjoyable read. It really kept me coming back and the end has quite a twist that I didn't see coming at all. The last sentence in the book will keep you coming back for more. Joanna did a great job with this book. The references to scrapbooking were right on. She hit the ball out of the park with this one. I can't wait for the sequel!

I'm no scrapbooker. In fact, I'm not very crafty at all, so I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy a "Scrap and Craft" mystery. I needn't have worried. Kiki the professional victim drove me a little crazy at first, as I'm more of a (less hairy) Dodie, myself. But I loved the way Kiki's friends Dodie and Mert quickly signed her up for "Tough Tamales University, School of Hard Knocks" and toughened her right up. What I'm saying is that I was hooked from the first line to the last. I finished the book this morning, and have spent the rest of the day still thinking about Kiki's life and imagining what will happen next. The characters were real to me, the sense of place was perfect, and the mystery was solid, deftly handled. One of my favorite things about this book was the setting. I love a good book set in St. Louis, and this one was more so than most. It wasn't just the names of the streets and malls: I know those Ladue moms, and I loved how Kiki held her flashlight like she was Albert Pujols at bat when she was going after the intruder in her house. But it's not just local flavor. Slan is a great writer with a real knack for description. When she's depressed, Kiki sees a November sky like mixed concrete. The whole book is full of great little observations like that. And while most of the book is very fast-paced and funny, occasionally Slan slows things down with some fabulous descriptive prose. I assumed that a scrapbooking mystery would *have* to be a cozy, but I'm not sure if this one is or not. It's definitely a traditional mystery, but there's more heft to this novel than most cozies, weighing in at 327-trade-paperback-sized pages, though it's still a very quick read. That's because there's a bit more action and violence than you might find in most cozies. Not too much violence, and definitely no bad language (Kiki wouldn't stand for it!) but she does find herself in harm's way from time to time. This was a good, fun read. Highly recommended!