False Impressions [Mass Market Paperback]

If not for a very upsetting event towards the end. *****SOMEWHAT OF A SPOILER ALERT***** Typically in cozies the murder victims are either unlikeable people or "strangers" to the reader and hence their deaths are not traumatizing to the reader. Unfortunately, that unwritten rule is broken in this book and it was so sad (and really unnecessary to the story)that it kind of spoiled the book for me. I really liked the first books in the series. April is an interesting and relatable character as are her parents, boyfriend and the Stamping Sisters. I didn't completely figure out the mystery until the end and I really enjoy the sense of place in these books. But this book was a heavy enough subject matter to begin with and the unexpected loss at the end of the book was just too much for a cozy :(

April can't understand the family dynamics of one of her Stamping Sisters. She can't fathom not claiming the ashes of a loved one.

Mary-Lou doesn't want to talk about her brother. April can't get it out of her mind. She simply doesn't understand. When Mary-Lou's daughter calls out of the blue, April learns more than she wanted to know.

J.B. isn't dead, he's in hiding. He's not proud of his past.

Not much later, April discovers his body left out in the cold. Someone wanted to shut him up for good.

April digs into his past to uncover what he knows and who wanted him dead.

I couldn't put this one down - it was so engrossing. I never saw the ending coming. I really love the bits about the stamping circle. There's also one stamping project in the back of the book. The only part that doesn't ring true to me is the friendships of the stamping circle. April seems to be often on the outside of the circle.

This is the 3rd book in the Stamping Sisters Mystery Series
RELEASE DATE
AUGUST 3, 2010
Berkley Prime Crime

This series features April Buchert who is trying to create a new life for herself as a professional rubber stamper/creator and restoration expert after leaving her donkey of a husband back in San Francisco and moving back home to Aldenville, Pennsylvania.

She has moved into a restored barn owned by her father and his partner Vince. In the 2nd book, Inked Up, she is joined in the barn my Vince's parents and is basically relegated to living in the loft, giving the 80+ old roommates the lower level, but Charlotte, Vince's mother is a wonderful cook and likes taking care of April, so there is an upside.

Now in book 3, April's restoration work is put on the back burner. Her father, Ed and Vince, her bosses, have left Pennsylvania for the warmer temps of Florida, so she has taken a job working for her best friend Deana and her husband Mark, the local funeral directors. Her job is organize and archive old files stored in their basement. While doing this she opens a cabinet and finds a beautifully decorated box, using many stamps and techniques that April recognizes. She learns from Deana that the cabinet hold cremains that have not been picked up by family members. After pressuring Deana, she finds the stamp decorated box belongs to the brother of one of her Stamping Sister friends, Mary Lou.

Of course April cannot help herself, she has to learn the story of these cremains. Why hasn't the family taken them? Are they hiding something? So as April works to create special stamps for the upcoming Ice Festival, she also has to find out about the scandal that no one is talking about, the death of Mary Lou's brother. As she starts to put the pieces together not only puts herself in danger but other people she truly cars about. This will be one winter the people of Aldenville will never forget.

I LOVED IT!!!!!

All three of the books in this series are well written and each one is better than than the last. The characters are so relate-able. The plots are current especially in this last book as it takes on the issue of all the foreclosed homes in this country and how homeless people may be "living" in them to stay out of the cold or others that may be using the homes for illegal operations. This is a wonderful series and you do not have to be into stamping to enjoy these stories, but for those that do there is a bonus project at the end of each book. I also have learned that stamps are for so much more than making cards and scrapbooks. This is definitely a series I want to continue reading. I am anxious to see what the author comes up with next.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Berkley Prime Crime, a division of Penguin Publishing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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