Reviewed by Brenda Casto for Readers' Favorite

Cropped to Death by Christina Freeburn creates a cozy mystery that left me itching to learn the art of scrapbooking! The author transports the reader to the tiny town of Eden, WV where everything comes down to family. No one gave it a second thought when Faith Hunter left her career in JAG, the US Army's special forces group, to return home to help her grandmothers Hope and Cheryl run their scrapbooking store called Scrap This. Something happened though, that sent Faith home to the hills of WV, and she is determined to keep that something a secret! When Marilyn Kane, a store employee and friend, is accused of murdering her cheating husband, she asks Faith to help prove her innocence. After all, it was Faith's statement to the police that sort of pointed the finger at Marilyn. As Faith tries to figure out Who-dun-It, she realizes that the secrets she has guarded might come to light, but soon exposed secrets are the least of her worries, because her snooping just might cause her to be the next victim!

I love well written cozy mysteries, and when they are set in my home state of WV they then become a must read for me. With Cropped to Death, we know from the beginning that we are dealing with a cheating husband, and soon he winds up dead. Thing is, in addition to the murder we get hints of Faith's past that left me wondering what secrets she was holding. The hunky next-door neighbor Steve is an assistant prosecuting attorney, and Faith's grandmothers have high hopes that he and Faith might strike up a relationship. In addition to the slow embers that are threatening to spark between Faith and Steve, the interactions between Detective Roget and Faith kept me guessing about a relationship between the two. Hope and Cheryl, the two grandmothers, were often funny, and they along with several other supporting characters really added depth to the story.

I loved the small town feel of the story,and the shop was a great setting for meeting some of the townsfolk. I loved the scrapbooking aspects of the story, and it really seemed as if the author knew quite a bit about the hobby. Overall, a very well written story where the plot flows well, the characters are really likeable, and a mystery that isn't easy to solve made this a great little cozy read, one that left me anxious to read the next book in the series!