Paper, Scissors, Death: Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series, Book 1 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Joanna Campbell Slan (Author), Nicole Blessing (Narrator), Spot On Publishing (Publisher)

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Every scrapbook tells a story. Memories of friends, family...and murder?

Mousy housewife Kiki Lowenstein has two great loves: scrapbooking and her young daughter, Anya. But her happy family album is ruined when her husband, George, is found naked and dead in a hotel room.

As Kiki tracks down George's murderer, she discovers his sordid secret life. Cruel taunts by George's former flame compel Kiki to spout an unwise threat. When the woman is murdered, Kiki's scissor-sharp words make her the prime suspect. She could be creating scrapbook keepsakes for the rest of her life - behind bars.

Supported by her loyal friends along with a little help (and a lot of stomach flutters) from the dashing Detective Detweiler, can Kiki cut the true killer out of the picture and design a new life for herself and Anya?

Listening Length

8 hours and 1 minute
Author

Joanna Campbell Slan
Narrator

Nicole Blessing
Audible release date

December 21, 2018
Language

English
Publisher

Spot On Publishing
ASIN

B07LH6MQVR
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	8 hours and 1 minute
Author	Joanna Campbell Slan
Narrator	Nicole Blessing
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	December 21, 2018
Publisher	Spot On Publishing
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07LH6MQVR
Best Sellers Rank	#158,566 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #2,767 in Cozy Mysteries (Audible Books & Originals) #21,566 in Cozy Mysteries (Books)

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

1,424 global ratings

5 star		63%
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3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Kindle Customer

5* 'Paper, Scissors, Death: Book #1 in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series'

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 20, 2023

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5* 'Paper, Scissors, Death: Book #1 in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series' is a very delightful book to read with a good story-line, and characters. This book is appropriate for most ages.

Helpful

Elisabeth Carey

Scrapbooking, dogs, and murder

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 2, 2022

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Kiki Lowenstein is married to a very successful businessman, mother of an eleven-year-old girl named Anya, and an enthusiastic scrapbooking hobbyist. She's good enough that Dodie, the owner of her favorite scrapbooking shop has tried a couple of times to recruit her to teach classes.

Then her husband, George, is found dead in a hotel room, apparently of a heart attack. And yet, the circumstances are strange. He'd just had a full medical exam that found him completely healthy, including no signs of heart trouble. The housekeeper who found him seems to have left the area. He was seen earlier in the day in a high-end restaurant, with two young women.

It gets worse. George has apparently "borrowed" a half million dollars from the real estate development company he was a partner in. His life insurance goes not to Kiki, but to his mother, Sheila, who loves Anya, but intensely dislikes Kiki. Kiki has to sell their house just to pay back the money George owed to the firm, and be able to move to much more modest, even slightly edgy, neighborhood. (Somewhere during this process she impulsively adopts a rescue Great Dane puppy, whom she names Gracie.) And there's still the question of how George really died, and who the two young women were.

Kiki finally takes that job teaching scrapbooking, and starts learning more about her husband and his activities from the women who were once her neighbors and are now her scrapbooking students and clients. She's also doing some supplementary dog-sitting, for extra income from her former housekeeper's other business. The housekeeper/dogsitter, Mert, has become a good friend, and she's smart and clever, and helps Kiki find more information, too.

It is, of course, sadly predictable that Gracie, being a big dog and a rescue, is perfect, and the little dogs Kiki sits for Mert are, at best, comic relief. The two chihuahuas are described as "useless," and are clearly untrained. The Pomeranian, is treated like a doll by her owner, and by Anya, with an extensive wardrobe of "cute" clothes that a Pomeranian in a Missouri summer has no need of. (Yes, dogs sometimes need clothes, and a little dog like a Pom, even with all that hair, likely needs clothes in a Missouri winter. That's not what's happening here; it's all about using the little dogs and their never-seen owners as comic relief.) (Why, yes, I do have a small dog! She's an eleven-pound Powderpuff Chinese Crested, sitting with me as I type. She's also my service dog, and better behaved than either most of the kids we encounter, or many of the big dogs we meet.)

I do like Kiki, and a number of the other characters, including Mert and Dodie, are likable and interesting. My crankiness about the little dogs being used as comic relief aside, though, there are other problems. Kiki is at one point verbally told by her new landlord that he's evicting her. She never gets a written notice. Is Missouri one of those states where tenants have zero rights? Also, Kiki never gets around to telling anyone until all the other excitement is over. Even given her acknowledged passivity that she struggles against, that's just bizarre. If tenants have no rights, or if Kiki just isn't going to fight it, she has to have a new place to move by the end of the month. She's overly passive at first, but waiting and risking having no place to go when her stuff gets put out on the street, is beyond passive, and not consistent with how Kiki behaves otherwise.

On the plus side, though, Kiki no only gradually gets smarter about what questions she's asking about what's really going on; she also gains confidence in herself through the success of her scrapbooking classes and commissions. This is the first book in the series, and I'm sure the Kiki of subsequent books is stronger and more confident, because that groundwork has been laid.

So I have mixed feelings about this book. I like the characters, and the story overall is good, but there are some irritating aspects. However, all the dogs who appear in the book are alive at the end, so that's a plus!

I bought this book.

2 people found this helpful

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Anna J

This book is definitely worth reading.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 25, 2022

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The mystery was replete with turns and twists, leaving the reader in suspense until the book's conclusion.

The death of Kiki's spouse causes her and her daughter's lives to be turned upside down. She is forced to sell everything she owns, including her home, furnishings, and vehicles, and must find a new place to live and a job to support herself and her small daughter. She has not the slightest belief that he suffered a heart attack. She employs her scrapbooking skills to aid in the search for the real murderer.

Overall great murder mystery!!!

Helpful

Loved it!!!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 2, 2013

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Paper, Scissors, Death (Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-n-Craft Mystery #1) by Joanna Campbell Slan is the first full length book I read by this author and it won't be the last! This is one of those books that have you turning page after page wondering what is going to happen next and you just don't want to put it down. What even makes it more interesting is that I am a Scrapbooker so I can relate to it all the more than someone who isn't. This doesn't mean it is for Scrapbookers only because it is not. Everything is explained in such a way that even someone who never visited a scrapbook isle would understand it. What I mean by this is like being a photographer and the book mentions things like shutter speeds and going on a 'shoot'. We all, or at least most of us, know what these things are but someone who is a photographer can relate all the more than say I can (someone who never was on a 'shoot' and uses the automatic setting on a camera). This book is part of a mystery series and everyone who likes mysteries might enjoy this.

I shouldn't say mystery as far as the story goes, I should say 'mysteries' because it not only has the main mystery but in search of solving that, the main character, Kiki ends up with several mysteries but never lost sight of wanting to solve who killed her husband and why. (Since the author has this information in her book details, I don't consider it a spoiler.) Some of these mysteries are the kind when you read about them you think you already know who done it and where the story is going. Forget it! The most logical is not always the answer. There are many twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

Speaking of the main character, Kiki is a very well developed as a person. She has a life, memories, and hopes and dreams for the future. She has a daughter and someone she is 'attracted to'. Then of course she has a mother-in-law that basically blames her for her son's death and doesn't get along with her. There are also the friends she has, some very good ones as well as not so good. In other words, her 'life' in this book is very full and real as is she (as well as all the characters). Not everything happens to her is good nor bad. She is living a life full of family problems, real problems, and of course her mystery and all that goes with that.

Keeping with this author's style, there are instructions, suggestions, and information on scrapbooking scattered throughout the story. Not random stuff either! If one of the chapters is about Kiki making a scrapbook, at the end there might be suggestion on what basic supplies you need to make a scrapbook. It all relates to that chapter in some way but it is not at the end of every chapter so don't think you have to read a bunch of stuff you will never use or already know. It is only a select few chapters and clearly marked so you can skip over it if you already know or are not planning to ever make a scrapbook. It in no way interferes with the story nor is there so much of it that a quarter of the book is this information. It is not! As I said, it is just a few times throughout the story and I just think of it as a bonus. Also, I know I said this is the author's first full length book I read but the key words are 'full length" here as I did read the short stories which is how I got hooked. The problem is I read them in a row so now I don't remember if any are in this book or if they were only in the short stories but if someone is cooking something in the chapter, you might find a recipe at the end instead. (Another favorite hobby of mine!)

Speaking of ends....that was some cliffhanger!

14 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer wisdom seeker

Great story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 27, 2022

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Really enjoyed this book great plot very relatable characters. Not too predictable lots of unexpected twists and turns. Give a little insight into how little some people view others just because of a lack of money or causes blindness in others with so much money they don't know what to do with it. So sad...looking forward to the next book.

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Jane Van Horn

Great book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 15, 2022

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This is a great start to what I hope is a great series by Joanna Campbell Slan. Man Kiki has some bad luck.

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Deborah Akins Italiano

Collecting

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 18, 2022

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Yes, I almost have the entire set, now starting over while waiting. ......
The story of these characters, friends and the weirdness of the murders is Extremely Clever and believable, dry and amusing Wit !

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Renee Arthur

Wow!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 26, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book started out as a good read, but once the mystery started I was hooked. This had all the right touches of a cozy mystery, but it had that extra oomph that made me hate to put it down. I'm definitely going to read the next book as soon as I get a chance.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

willomjasphen

Scrapbooking, a not so mysterious craft!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 12, 2020

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Paper, Scissors, Death is the first book, by Joanna Slan I have read and Oh My Goodness it will NOT be the last.
I was with poor Kiki from the start, don’t give up girl there’s something fishy going on here. It was a joy to read the ups and downs of Kiki’s life, I could have certainly sent in the boys to deal with Sheila!
However, I was one of the regular attendees at Kiki’s crop, in actual fact I lived in the back room so that I didn’t miss one. How I wish the shop was nearby. I adore scrapbooking and I am certainly looking for Joanna’s book on ideas.
The climb to the crescendo with Chad was just superb.
I am now going online to Amazon to buy the rest, I can’t believe that I have not come across Joanna before - I am so behind!
Love, Love, Love this book and I cannot recommend it enough.

If you like scrapbooking you might enjoy this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 18, 2021

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This book is the first I have read by this author. It seemed very odd that Kiki accepted the claim that her husband had stolen money from his business so she had to repay an enormous amount to his partner. We were told that all the life insurance went to her mother-in-law, but there is no mention of a will. The detective reports the police cannot trace what happened to the cheques to "orb" - the bank would have been able to provide details of where the money had gone.
The book was about scrapbooking, not really anything else.

Julie

Paper and scissors can be deadly

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 13, 2018

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This was a very different murder mystery set around Kiki a scrap book teacher and the murder of her husband, but that is just the start of her problems and boy does she have problems from spiteful mother in laws, a daughter to raise on her own, angry bees, wedding plan woes (and its not even her wedding), burglaries, no money,no home oh and a killer who wants her out of the way. There was so much going on to keep it entertaining and even though I did guess who the killer was and why it was fun getting there.

One person found this helpful

Eils Williams

Makes me want to give scrapbooking ago

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 4, 2020

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Brilliant book. Giving an insight into the hobby of scrapbooking. However it wraps scrapbooking around murder, intrigue, lies and deception in such a way that it makes for superb reading with an artistic twist. Who would have thought sticking pictures in a book could open up a good thriller window. Thank you Joanna. I am eager to start book 2

Mrs. V. O'Connor

Good story with a few red herrings

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 25, 2022

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A good read about a wife who is sure her husband didn't die of a heart attack. Lots of intrigue and red herrings before the truth comes out but then a cliffhanger ending.
Definitely downloading the next one.

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Paper, Scissors, Death: Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series, Book 1 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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