Melissa C. (Tazlvr) -
This is a fun and fast read! I love all characters and I love the little Chihuahua Van Gogh. Celeste is an artist who sells her paintings at craft fairs. When someone who has purchased one of her paintings returns the painting saying it was haunted, Celeste didn't believe it at first. Next, throw in a fun loving quirky family and a couple of handsome men along with the paranormal, makes for a great read. I can't wait to get to the next adventures.
Brenda H. (booksinvt) -
Murder Can Mess Up Your Masterpiece is the debut of the A Haunted Craft Fair Mystery series featuring artist Celeste Cabot and set in her hometown of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Even though the Summer Arts & Crafts Fair is just around the corner from her family home, Celeste decides to tow her delightful pink Shasta trailer to the fairgrounds and showcase her paintings.
Celeste is greeted warmly by fellow vendors and sales are brisk, that is until a woman returns one of her paintings claiming that the piece is haunted. Not quite sure what to make of the woman's accusation, Celeste is shocked when another vendor points out that there are hidden, haunted images in all of Celeste's art pieces. Why is she painting these images without even realizing that she's doing it?
Things quickly go from bad to worse when she is startled awake in the middle of the night by the ghost in one of her paintings. Eager to get away from the ghost and her trailer, Celeste takes a walk through the festival grounds with her chihuahua, Van Gogh only to stumble upon the dead body of grumpy festival manager, Evan.
With fingers pointing her way as the killer, Celeste soon finds herself in the midst of something dangerous. Not only is there a killer on the loose, but someone is stealing money from the vendors and now the once friendly group of artisans are no longer speaking to her. Determined to clear her name, Celeste teams up with the friendly ghost, Elizabeth, who it turns out is actually a relative, and the hunky woodworker, Caleb and his delightful German Shepherd to solve the mystery.
A fun read but the reader is left with more questions than answers - and the dreaded love triangle seems to be on the horizon. Celeste seems to have a quirky family whose antics will have you chuckling aloud, I hope we get to know them better in future installments.
Celeste is greeted warmly by fellow vendors and sales are brisk, that is until a woman returns one of her paintings claiming that the piece is haunted. Not quite sure what to make of the woman's accusation, Celeste is shocked when another vendor points out that there are hidden, haunted images in all of Celeste's art pieces. Why is she painting these images without even realizing that she's doing it?
Things quickly go from bad to worse when she is startled awake in the middle of the night by the ghost in one of her paintings. Eager to get away from the ghost and her trailer, Celeste takes a walk through the festival grounds with her chihuahua, Van Gogh only to stumble upon the dead body of grumpy festival manager, Evan.
With fingers pointing her way as the killer, Celeste soon finds herself in the midst of something dangerous. Not only is there a killer on the loose, but someone is stealing money from the vendors and now the once friendly group of artisans are no longer speaking to her. Determined to clear her name, Celeste teams up with the friendly ghost, Elizabeth, who it turns out is actually a relative, and the hunky woodworker, Caleb and his delightful German Shepherd to solve the mystery.
A fun read but the reader is left with more questions than answers - and the dreaded love triangle seems to be on the horizon. Celeste seems to have a quirky family whose antics will have you chuckling aloud, I hope we get to know them better in future installments.
Kristina A. reviewed Murder Can Mess Up Your Masterpiece (Haunted Craft Fair, Bk 1) on + 1528 more book reviews
Murder Can Mess Up Your Masterpiece is a charming new cozy mystery with intriguing paranormal elements. The story contains Rose Pressey's conversational writing style which makes the story easy to read. There is humor sprinkled throughout that will have you giggling. Celeste Cabot loves the color as we can tell from her adorable trailer. She wants to succeed as an artist and Celeste's bumbling family has helped her get ready. Celeste has a patient mother, a father who means well (creates more chaos than a two year old) and two blundering big brothers. Thank goodness she has her best friend, Sammie Sutton. After a customer returns a painting claiming the piece is haunted. Celeste figures the client was a loony until a nearby vendor wearing glasses notices images hidden within all of her creations. Then she begins hearing a woman's voice and that night the ghost appears from the painting in Celeste's trailer. Celeste wonders if those rumors about her grandmother are true. The mystery was straightforward with a limited suspect list. Celeste begins nosing around the craft fair digging up information on her fellow vendors. She gets help from her friendly spirit. The secondary mystery revolves around the ghost who appeared from the painting. There are travel trailer tips at the beginning of each chapter that are amusing. There are two lines that I enjoyed from Murder Can Mess Up Your Masterpiece. The first is you are âas useful as a pogo stick in quicksandâ. The second line I liked was âChihuahuas might be small, but they always want to protect the people they loveâ. I thought that was sweet. There are two romantic interests for Celeste. At the end of the book, I had a couple of unanswered questions especially regarding Celeste's newfound abilities and her ghostly friend. Murder Can Mess Up Your Masterpiece is a witty cozy mystery with peculiar paintings, an animated apparition, a caring Chihuahua, a dead dictator, and an active artist.
