A decent mystery that doesn't involve a current body - rather, it involves a discovered skull that's years old, and the book waits to discover this until after page 45. The story is focused heavily on the protagonist's life and struggles, as well as the small town residents. It's entangled especially with her father, who left them when she was younger because he was gay, and his struggling business. There's also the side-story involving her mother, a woman who never quite let go of the past. The nursing home story was a little confusing and seemed to be thrown in either as a wrench to the reader guessing what's going on, or else the author was originally going to do something else with that storyline and then changed her mind.

The ending offers a convenient wrap-up, with the murderer but also with a personal problem involving a job renovation. As far as mysteries go, it's semi-decent but it's hard to feel invested. I couldn't care about the victim since I never met them, they weren't introduced until much later in the story, and the motives were all old ones that didn't become clear till the end. Hard to care much about it, other than the worrying about the protagonist's father being unreasonably indicated. Still, it's clear he would never have charges stick long since there was no evidence at all, only suspicion from a paranoid cop.

While the mystery part wasn't strong, it was intriguing how the author put so much controversy in the personal lives of the characters. As a series, this would hold promise for future installments. The writing style is well-done and focused, characterization realistic enough, but there's not much warmth here other than some brief insights into April's life. The set-up with the love interest is rather obvious from the start, and I didn't care much about what happened with it.

The townsfolk are okay - the parents are not typical, so that's a refreshing change. It was funny how everyone kept treating her differently since she had previously been living in San Francisco. She even compared it to being compared to a Martian. I also liked the author's ballsy move to throw in the husband woes - she left a bad marriage with a gambler, not something touched upon enough for this kind of story. They usually get something more direct and clean, here it was realistic without being melodramatic or wishy-washy.

Nothing original really - and stamping isn't my idea of fun for a cozy theme - but it was not a bad book. The sequels will probably be better now that the introductions are out of the way. ( )

I have had this book on my shelf for a long time and finally read it. I needed a break from all of the quilting, design and creativity books I have been reading.

I was really pleased with this book! I don't know that much about rubber stamping, so I was concerned I wouldn't get main portions of the book.. I think that [a:Terri Thayer|515743|Terri Thayer|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] did a great job writing about stamping in a way that didn't talk down to people who weren't stamping experts. Yes, I still have questions; this isn't a how to stamping book, after all and I wasn't bored by stamping detail. I also didn't finish it thinking that the author was talking down to me.

I liked the relationship between April and Deana as well. Not perfect, but a committed friendship. I felt that Thayer wrote well about April's relationships with her parents. I think a lot of times authors make everything ideal. This book was more interesting, because the relationships were more realistic without the 'gore' of real life. ;-)

I think that Thayer's hard won writing experience shows as well. She had a few books under her belt by the time she wrote this one and I felt it was a lot clearer. I liked the way it started. It drew the reader in without a crisis. I had enough information about the characters to know what was happening and want to keep reading. Throughout the book I did not feel as confused as I have felt reading other mysteries.

I don't have the sequel, but may have to buy it. ( )

After the bitter breakup of her marriage which left her penniless and her professional reputation in shatters, April Buchert reluctantly moves back home to Aldenville, Pennsylvania to work with her father. April is desperate for money and to get her life back together, but Aldenville has painful memories for her. She tries to bury those memories, but some come rushing back when, while helping her father on a job, a human skull is found. All signs point to murder and April's father quickly becomes the main suspect. Now April is not only fighting to rebuild her reputation but to clear her father's name as well as her growing attraction to Mitch Winchester.

"Stamped Out" is the first book in the new Stamping Sisters mystery series and it is a pretty good beginning. Author Terri Thayer populates the book with some of the most interesting and complicated character I've seen in a mystery, including April herself; her parents Bonnie and Ed who are also divorced for a reason that bothered April for years; Ed's partner Vince; her best friend Deanna; the Stamping Sisters, and more. Thayer does an excellent job of portraying what life in a small town is like, where everyone seems to know your secrets yet somehow dark secrets remain hidden, where it is impossible to escape your past, and friends are fiercely loyal. April is a richly developed character as she struggles with the breakup of her marriage, living close to her parents, creating a new life, and dealing with past events that still haunt her. Most of the characters are realistic although some, like Barbara Harcourt, are a bit of a stereotype and over the top. The mystery itself is intricately plotted, although I did figure out who the killer was. If I have any complaints about the book it is that April is a little too trusting of her father's workers (surprising since her husband was less than trustworthy) and she never asks questions when she should, instead standing by passively. Hopefully her character will develop a bit more in future books. Also, the stamping aspects of the book could've been explained better.

"Stamped Out" is a nice start to what looks like a promising mystery series. ( )

April Buchert decides to head back to her roots when she discovers that her husband is a no goo scoundrel. She leaves everything in San Francisco and heads to her hometown of Aldenville, PA to try to put her life back together. Her father, owner of a construction company, offers her a job and a place to live in an old barn that he has restored and modernized. Besides the living space, he uses it for his office and it is just down the road from her mother's house.
The big job that Ed Buchert hires April is to restore a mural for an extremely particular client and April has difficulties since she's never doe this type of work before. Her father, working for the same client nearby, runs into his own difficulties when during demolition, a skull is found. Since her father's company did the original construction, he is a suspect.
April turns to her best friend Deana, and her Stamping Sisters Club to help her find out what happened so long ago and clear her father's name.
The book was enjoyable but not terrific. I had numerous issues -- the characters (some were never completely identified, April's appearance was never really fleshed out, names were not complete), the craft aspect was not very integral to the story other than getting the characters together, some of the characterizations were very trite, and insufficient clues. I doubt that I will read another in this series any time soon. ( )