{Whatcha Reading?} Cropped to Death

Cropped to Death is the first in the Faith Hunter Scrap This mystery series. A former JAG specialist,  Faith now works at Scrap This, the store owned by her two grandmothers.  As the book opens, the sound of the paper cutter is driving Faith to the brink. Her good friend Marilyn is determined to amputate all pictures of her cheating husband from her scrapbooking project. It seems like harmless therapy, until Michael is found dead and the police discover the mutilated photographs.

Faith is determined to help clear Marilyn's name and to keep the secrets of her own past hidden, all while rearranging the store to make up for the scissors seized by the police and settling disagreements between customers determined to win the store's design contest. I enjoyed reading about her.

Designed to Death, the second book in the series, will be released next month. Faith and her grandmothers are hosting Belinda Watson, one of Making Legacies Magazine's Life Artist Divas, at Scrap This. There are customers lined up out the door, eager to get their magazines signed and attend Belinda's class. But between the diva's ridiculous demands and her cousin Darlene's accusations of scraplifting, things quickly fall apart...and then Belinda's dead body is discovered outside the store.

Once again, Faith finds herself tangled up in the murder investigation. The story is fast paced and filled with twists and turns -- and one scene with rare washi tape had me laughing out loud.

Embellished to Death is due out next April and I'll be watching for it!

This post is linked to It's Monday! What are you Reading? at Book Journey. The publisher provided me with review copies of Cropped to Death and Designed to Death.