Rose Pressey's Haunted Vintage books are some of my favorite cozy mysteries! I like her writing style, humor, and fun plotlines. So, I jumped right on this new series! I'm glad I did! This first book in the Haunted Craft Fair series was a very enjoyable read!

Celeste Cabot longs to ditch her regular job and sell her paintings full time. The Summer Arts & Crafts Fair at Gatlinburg, TN is her first foray into living off sales of her art. She moves in her cute pink travel trailer, sets up her booth, and hopes for the best. Things almost immediately go wrong.....strange foreboding figures appearing in her paintings, stolen money, bad vibes, a ghost and.....a dead body. While sales are going well, things at the craft fair seem to be getting increasingly dark and dangerous.

What a cute book! Celeste is a fun main character. Her family is a hoot, and I just love the idea of a chihuahua named Van Gogh. :) I have a chihuahua and a pomchi, so I can identify with the ins and outs of owning one of the little bundles of fierce. Chihuahuas can stuff a lot of courage into their tiny bodies. The front cover art featuring Van Gogh is just incredibly cute!

I live near Gatlinburg, TN and have been there many times. A cozy set in the mountains of Tennessee in that huge tourist area is definitely appealing, especially since Celeste is a local not just a visitor. She isn't there for miniature golf and a hotel with a lazy river pool....but she's selling her artwork to tourists at Gatlinburg's many holiday/seasonal/touristy events. I can see how that will have plenty of plot possibilities!

Great start to a new series! I am eagerly awaiting the next adventure! Luckily, I won't have too long to wait. The next book in the series, Murder Can Confuse Your Chihuahua, will be out soon!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

I'm not sure that I'm really into a paranormal artist but it was interesting to read. In this first Haunted Craft Fair mystery, Celeste Cabot is an artist who seems to be able to paint spirits into her artwork, without knowing it. And in one instance, the spirit starts to haunt her literally stepping out of the portrait and helping her to find out who murdered the fair coordinator.

I think that I'll have to try one or two more of this series to see if this type of paranormal suits me. ( )

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 “as useful as a pogo stick in quicksand”. The second line I liked was “Chihuahuas might be small, but they always want to protect the people they love”. 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. ( )