Small Town Crafting

Retirement is bliss—or is it? Newly retired music teacher, Susan Wiles, puts her natural nosiness to work and discovers a talent for solving murders. In Murder is Elementary, Susan finds her former principal dead on the office floor, a half-eaten funfetti cupcake on the desk, and a list of suspects rivaling pre-pandemic lines at Disney! In book two, a dead body is discovered in a construction site behind a school. Susan puts her sleuthing skills into action to save her husband’s best friend, Tank, who is accused of the crime. While Susan works to solve this mystery and exonerate Tank, ...

A dead biker. A missing aspiring writer. A life changing decision. In the first in the series, A Deadly Course, married couple Emily and Henry Fox move to Vermont seeking covered bridges and antique shops but instead find themselves knee deep in a murder investigation. Can the sleuthing doctor and true crime writer use their skills to bring peace back to Sugarbury Falls? Murder of Course is the second clever cozy in the Sugarbury Falls Mystery series set in Vermont. A midnight knock by their neighbor stirs Henry and Emily into action. Who is the mystery dead girl on the rental cabin floor? ...

There isn't much crime in Lilyvale, Arkansas, but local authorities have their hands full with Ms. Sherry Mae Stanton Cutler and her housemates - a crafty group of retirees who've dubbed themselves the Silver Six. But when Sherry Mae's niece, Nixy, arrives to keep them in line, Lilyvale also plays host to a killer.

Mischief and vandalism escalate, putting lives at risk. Is the sabotage linked to Sue or the town’s founder? As the stakes rise with each incident, often forcing the closure of Sue’s new garden shop in the town founder’s historic log cabin, she can’t imagine the reason. Even after the health department blames the taffies sold at Butterflies and Blooms for the recent foodborne illness in Aspen Notch, Sue feels certain that someone has orchestrated a scheme to close her business permanently. But why? The Garden Shop Mystery is a cozy mystery that combines an engaging whodunnit with ...

What’s going on at the senior retirement community of Shady Acres? Isabel Steinway, one of the residents, hires the SAJ Detective Agency to determine who has pilfered treasured belongings from her apartment. Before long, her friends admit that they, too, have missing items. Although Sue and Alan expect a speedy resolution, their investigation uncovers more than simple thievery. A complex web of duplicity envelops Shady Acres. Sue digs below the surface to speculate something more sinister than the disappearance of residents’ mementos. Can she find the missing piece of the puzzle before ...

A young man disappears… Police find his smashed car in a deep ravine two years later. Could he have survived? Sue and Alan begin the SAJ Detective Agency’s first investigation with a missing person case that the police closed eight years ago. After viewing photos of the crash scene, Alan believes they have little chance of finding the young man alive, but Sue wants to try. The case stymies both of them, despite the family’s cooperation and numerous interviews with the man’s friends. No one has seen or heard from Warren Clark in 10 years. Can Sue find the missing piece of the puzzle ...

As the new co-owner of Tundish Montana's stationery shop, Delta Douglas knows how to organize a killer crafting event. Creativity and cardstock are all she needs to move one step closer to her ultimate dream: developing her own line of crafting products. But on the night of the workshop, at the swanky hotel venue, glitter isn't the only thing found sprawled on the floor. A hotel guest is discovered dead in the bar, and amid the confusion, Delta's best friend is suspected of the crime.

Meg is relaxing in the hammock, taste-testing Michael’s latest batch of Arnold Palmers and watching the hummingbirds at their feeders when her hopes for a relaxing early summer morning are dashed. First her father recruits her to help him install a new batch of bees in the hive in her backyard. Then Mayor Shiffley recruits her to placate the NIMBYs (Not in my backyard), as she calls them—a group of newcomers to Caerphilly who have built McMansions next door to working farms and then do their best to make life miserable for the farmers.

Question: What does a bestselling author’s stolen manuscript, a string of intentionally set fires, and prize winning apple strudel have in common? Answer: Tabitha Clive! The year is 1995 and Tabitha Clive is content to spend her days quietly running the family farm in Kornville, Nebraska, baking prize winning apple strudel and working on her long-awaited novel. The quiet routine of tending to the animals, helping in the cornfields, baking sweet treats, and spending a few hours a day at her typewriter is fine with Tabitha. The quietness is shattered when renowned mystery writer Theodore ...

A strong summer storm, a cold murder case, and a cameo necklace seem unrelated… but danger lurks! A particularly fierce summer storm strands Ryan and his young son in Aspen Notch after a tree crushes their RV. Sue and her police chief husband, Alan, offer their assistance, only to learn that Ryan’s parents died in a botched robbery in town 24 years ago. The cold case catches Sue’s attention, though Alan follows the mayor’s directive to leave the incident unsolved. Sue enlists her visiting daughter and granddaughter to join in her covert investigation. Surprisingly, the cameo ...

A tragic accident, an unknown artist, and a discovery below the landscape. Can Sue connect the random details before her granddaughter becomes another victim? Sue Jaworski comforts garden club member, Ruth, after her nephew dies in a tragic accident that seriously injures four other high school band members. While paying her respects, Sue notices oil paintings by the same person as those she purchases at Trinkets and Treasures, only to learn that Ruth’s fiancé, missing for 40 years, is the artist. The closed case catches Sue’s attention, especially after granddaughter, Jessica, shows ...

Eerie noises scare away guests who assert that Ridgeton Manor is haunted. Is it a hoax, or do spirits actually wander the halls? When Sue’s granddaughter considers Ridgeton Manor for her wedding reception, Sue checks out the rural venue, but receives a ticket for speeding and an unwarranted inspection of her car. Alan investigates, only to find cocaine hidden in her trunk, and suspects that the person who planted it had impersonated a police officer. Irene MacDougal enlists Sue’s help to determine why some guests at Ridgeton Manor claim they’ve heard or seen evidence of a ghost, ...

A sleuth who sees spirits, a chef who reads tea leaves, and a cat who knows all the games. Murder doesn’t have a ghost of a chance. For Staley Stoneybrook, life has been turned upside down. As the beneficiary of her long lost uncle’s will, she finds herself the owner of the historic Paradise Bay Station & Inn. But in a strange twist, the beautiful oceanfront property will only be hers when she posts a profit at the end of a year—something she’s determined to do. But as she’s about to make her first report to her uncle’s lawyer, he’s killed in front of his office. It’s only ...

Welcome to the Palace movie theater! Now Showing: Philandering husbands, ghostly sidekicks, and a murder or two. When Nora Paige’s movie-star husband leaves her for his latest co-star, she flees Hollywood to take refuge in San Francisco at the Palace, a historic movie theater that shows the classic films she loves. There she finds a band of misfit film buffs who care about movies (almost) as much as she does. She also finds some shady financial dealings and the body of a murdered stranger. Oh, and then there’s Trixie, the lively ghost of a 1930’s usherette who appears only to Nora and...

After a year of hard work in her Texas hometown, Harlow Jane Cassidy’s dreams are finally within reach—if she can just get it all done in time… Harlow’s designs will be featured in a big magazine spread, but she only has a few days to finalize her collection. Plus she’s busy helping to plan her mother’s upcoming wedding, playing host to her old friend Orphie, and avoiding a competitive Dallas designer set on stealing Harlow’s ideas. Harlow’s making it all work—until someone breaks into Buttons & Bows and the rival designer is found dead. But when a near miss makes it clear...

It’s Christmastime in the quiet Los Angeles County city of Vista Beach, home of computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson. The magic of the season fills the air as residents enjoy school concerts, a pier lighting ceremony and the annual sand-snowman contest. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Rory plans on painting ornaments to sell at the local craft fair and joining in on the holiday fun. But she finds the season anything but jolly after the house across the street is torn down, revealing a decades old crime. Past meets present when her father is ...

October brings a message from Beyond The Grave... Halloween is fast approaching in the quiet Los Angeles County city of Vista Beach, home of computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Rory Anderson. While her painting chapter prepares to open its annual boutique house, Rory receives an unexpected email from Beyond The Grave, a company that automatically sends out messages when someone dies. “I think I have a stalker,” the message reads. “If you’re reading this I’m either missing or dead. My life may depend on what you do. Please find out what happened to me.” Haunted by ...

The Yarn Studio’s Seaside Knitters have their hands full designing new classes for vacationers, as well as testing each other’s originality by creating a single blanket together. Birdie’s teenage granddaughter is also visiting for the season. Meanwhile, the Lazy Lobster and Soup Café’s local fare is gaining newfound attention with the addition of a well-known Boston chef. It’s sure to be another beautiful, busy time in their tight-knit town… Until Birdie spots a huge blaze from her balcony one evening, frighteningly close to knitter Cass’s lobster business.

Classic Movies, Ghostly Mischief, and Murder! Nora Paige is settling into her new life as manager of the Palace movie theater. She only has a few things to worry about. Like keeping the theater safely out of the clutches of an evil real estate developer, dealing with her staff of movie-obsessed misfits and their daily meltdowns, and hiding the fact that her new best friend Trixie is the ghost of an usherette who died in 1937. It would also be helpful if she could figure out whether she wants to take her charming-but-cheating husband back. But when someone close to the Palace is murdered, ...

Leslee Stanton Nix-a.k.a. "Nixy" - thought moving to small-town Lilyvale, Arkansas, would be about as thrilling as watching paint dry. But keeping up with her retired Aunt Sherry and her troublemaking housemates - collectively known as the Silver Six - has proven to be as exciting as it is exasperating. To kick off the grand opening of their craft shop, the Handcraft Emporium, Nixy and the Silver Six invite Doralee Gordon to teach a gourd painting class.