A Crafter Quilts a Crime (A Handcrafted Mystery #3)

Author:  Holly Quinn
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643852904
Crooked Lane Books
[Pages TBA]
$26.99; $12.99 Amazon
February 11, 2020

⭐⭐⭐

Snowcapped pines and glittery dusted sidewalks adorn tranquil Heartsford, Wisconsin, while residents cuddle beneath heirloom quilts in front of cozy wood fires.  But come the next day, the below-zero temperatures won't keep the locals away from Heartsford's annual Fire & Ice event.  To boost customer traffic at Community Craft's one-night-only sale, Samantha "Sammy" Kane persuades a few of the craftspeople who sell their wares at the store to participate in a live mannequin window display contest.

Local quilter Wanda Wadsworth emerges as a favorite to win the contest, as she manages to not move a muscle for an unusual amount of time.  Onlookers outside the window try everything to get her to crack -- tapping on the glass and making funny faces -- but nothing disrupts Wanda's stillness.  When the eagle-eyed spectators realize Wanda isn't breathing, a blanket of grief and fear descends upon the wintry town.

Detective Liam Nash can't seem to piece the clues together.  Fortunately, Sammy's cousin Heidi, and her sister, Ellie, are on hand to reconvene their detective team, S.H.E.  They set out to solve Wanda's untimely death before the case grows as icy as a sub-zero Wisconsin winter.  But they are all too aware that the killer is too close for comfort.

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It's the one night of the Fire and Ice event, and every store in town stays open until midnight, including Samantha "Sammy" Kane's craft store.  She has a unique idea to bring people into her store: she's invited the craftspeople to take part as being live mannequins, for twenty minutes each, and the person with the most votes for best one will get a gift certificate.

Everything seems fine when the first contestant - her cousin Heidi - manages to get through, but the second contestant - Wanda Wadsworth - seems to outdo Heidi.  That is, until Heidi notices Wanda's lips have turned blue and calls an ambulance.

Then no one can reach Wanda's husband Marty, and now the search is on and they're wondering if he killed her, and why.  So Sammy decides that she, her sister Ellie and Heidi - the members of S.H.E. - need to get back together to solve a murder and find a killer...

I have hidden below in a spoiler things that bothered me because I do not wish to ruin the book for those who haven't as yet read it:

I have to be honest and say that I almost didn't read this book all the way through - almost. This is the third book in the series and I'm really getting tired of Sammy saying Heidi dyes her hair blonde. So what? Millions of women dye their hair. It's not novel and it's not a sin. Why does it bother Sammy so much? Is she jealous? Really, no one cares if she dyes her hair or not. I can honestly say I've never met a woman who told me that another woman dyes her hair. It's just never come up as a subject.

The second thing that bothered me is I'm also getting really tired of Heidi's "jazz hands." What adult in their right mind does 'jazz hands' on a regular basis? Seriously? Like she wants everyone to know she's a big deal? Heidi needs someone to give her a reality check.

Then Sammy hadn't seen Detective Liam Nash in a couple of weeks, and he shows up as the paramedics are there and appears not to notice this fact. He's a homicide detective. What is the first thing he says to Sammy? "Have you missed me?" Not, "where's the body?" or even "what happened here?" Then he starts flirting with Sammy and eats a cookie. That's right. Eats. A. Cookie. He mentions how good they are then, and only then, does he ask Sammy questions about the deceased. What kind of detective is he? Meanwhile, he's also playing with jars of jam - he's actually shopping! Okay, I get that he didn't know it was a homicide at that time, but it's as if he didn't care what was going on around him, and any homicide detective's instincts would have kicked in. So yeah, this bothered me. (And the next day Sammy notices Wanda's travel mug of tea and does Nash take it from her as possible evidence? Nooo...he comforts her and totally blows it off; then hears from Sammy's employee about an argument Wanda had the night before and then he decides to take the tea. After. Not right away.) I also thought it was odd that Nash wanted Sammy to answer Wanda's phone and pretend to be her. That's not how it works.

There are also people shopping in her store while all this is going on and she actually has to tell them to put down their merchandise and leave. Really? In a small town, where everyone probably knows everyone else, a person just dies while you're in a store and you continue shopping? What kind of people live in this town?

I also found it sad that Ellie's four-year-old son Tyler doesn't have any friends. He had a birthday party and the only people attending were his parents, Sammy, and Heidi. So he has no friends and his mother won't allow him to even have a pet. Very sad. My own children have always had cats or dogs, even fish and turtles...and friends - lots of friends.

Then came the kicker - someone kidnapped Sammy and left her dog to run outside in the bitter cold and snow. Sorry, but I will NOT love any book that deals with animal cruelty of any kind. This was completely uncalled for. A dog can die in the cold as well as the heat in a matter of minutes, and I don't care how desperate someone is, there is not reason for this at all. I guess I'll never understand why things like this don't bother people when it just makes me angry and I don't like it at all.

However, the mystery itself was written well, I liked the plot, and it seemed that the members of S.H.E. weren't really involved in this one, and it was Sammy alone who happened to come across evidence which was fine with me, as it more or less brought Sammy and Nash to a better understanding of each other.

When the ending comes and the killer is revealed it's rather sad; but the clues were there to follow and that's the main thing.  Although I enjoyed the first two books in the series more, I will read another because of that reason alone.

https://smile.amazon.com/Crafter-Quilts-Crime-Handcrafted-Mystery/dp/1643852906/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2947997730

More on Holly Quinn's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/q/holly-quinn/

A Crafter Hooks a Killer (A Handcrafted Mystery Book 2)

Author:  Holly Quinn
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643850122
Crooked Lane Books
$26.49; $12.99 Amazon
June 11, 2019

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Community Craft proprietor Sammy Kane suspects that a tantalizing thread links the deaths of her best friend and a bestselling author.  But can she weave together the clues?

Samantha "Sammy" Kane is settling into her new life in idyllic Heartsford, Wisconsin, running her late friend Kate Allen's craft shop, Community Craft when one early June day, bestselling crochet author Jane Johnson devotes a chapter in her new book, Behind the Seams, to the store.  Sammy is honored, though satisfaction quickly turns to shock when she finds Jane strangled to death - her cold hands clutching a copy of her most recently published book, with the words "THE END" raggedly scratched into the cover.

Heavens to Etsy!  Not only must Sammy contend with the author's inauspicious demise, she has to untie some knotty details from her own past.  It turns out Kate's death was not what it seemed, and instead somehow hooked to Jane Johnson's demise.  Handsome Detective Liam Nash is on the "skein", more than happy to see the shop owner again, if less than enamored by her sleuthing interventions.  But this was Sammy's best friend - she has to know.

Fortunately, Sammy has a "lace" in the hole.  As a child, she formed the S.H.E. detective team with her cousin, Heidi, and her sister, Ellie.  Having already reconstituted their partnership, the S.H.E. team  searches for a pattern behind the latest death.  As the case starts to unravel, will Sammy and team be able to sidestep Liam quick enough to stitch together the clues?

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Samantha Kane owns the craft shop, Community Craft.  She bought it after the previous owner, her friend Kate, died in an accident.  She's doing well and helping the community by displaying their items for sale.  She's also excited to be having a famous author of craft books come to her shop to sign copies of her newest book.  Jane Johnson is devoting a chapter in her book to Sammy's store, and she's pleased that the author is going to interview her.  But she's surprised, not unpleasantly so, when Jane shows up early and unannounced.  Jane looks around the store until she's noticed by others in the town and is soon feeling cornered.

Sammy shows her the back way out, but before she leaves she tells Sammy that she has information on Kate, and wants to talk to her.  Sammy, stunned, tells her she will meet Jane down by the river.  When Sammy arrives, she finds a book on Jane's lap, with a chilling message "THE END" scratched in pencil; and a very dead Jane.  After calling the police, she begins to wonder who killed the woman and why.

When Detective Liam Nash arrives, he naturally tells her to stay out of the investigation.  But Sammy has a personal reason for wanting to be involved - Kate.  She wants to know what Jane wanted to tell her, and if the two deaths might be related.  So she decides to get together with her sister Ellie and cousin Heidi and between the three of them - the S.H.E. team - she's hoping she'll be able to find the truth before a killer finds her...

This is the second book in the series and I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit with Sammy and her family and friends.  This time out, she's found her place in Heartsford, and is looking forward to hosting a famous author.  But unfortunately things don't go as planned and she's left with more questions than the ones Jane was going to ask her.

She's also got other things which are hindering her - her parents are in town for a week and want to spend time with her, and an old crush named Bradley has come back to visit his mother and he, too, wants to spend time with her.  So now she's trying to keep her mother from finding out what she's doing (the woman would not be pleased) and trying to pump Bradley for information on Kate's death, since he was living in Heartsford while she was elsewhere.

But along with this she has to deal with Detective Nash.  He's not pleased that she's involving herself, telling her she's too impatient and too impulsive.  Stung with the truth, Sammy still goes on with her investigation and hopes to find out the truth about Kate.  If she unmasks a killer in the process, so be it.

I truly enjoyed reading this book.  Ms. Quinn has written characters that have a life of their own.  Sammy has a fierce loyalty to her family and friends, and when she does something she knows she shouldn't, she has an immediate sense of remorse (although it doesn't stop her from doing something else next time).  Detective Nash is closed off and stoic, but in this book we are given a bit more insight as to why, and it might be a break in whether these two can ever find the grounds to venture toward a future relationship.

The plot is taut and woven through with a few red herrings and plenty of clues; it was intriguing and written well.  Watching Sammy sift through the information she received and try to puzzle the pieces together was a pleasure indeed, as I also was doing the same.

When the ending came and the murderer was revealed, while it wasn't a surprise to me, it was done well and the reasons why were plausible; everything meshed together nicely and it was an enjoyable venture into Heartsford and its people.  I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Crafter-Hooks-Killer-Handcrafted-Mystery/dp/1643850121?

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2732191462

More on Holly Quinn's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/q/holly-quinn/

A Crafter Knits a Clue (A Handcrafted Mystery #1)

Author:  Holly Quinn
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781683317715; 9781683319948
Crooked Lane Books
336 Pages
$17.70; $15.99; $12.99 Amazon
October 9, 2018 (Trade 2019)

✮✮✮

When a heartbroken Samantha "Sammy" Kane returns to her hometown of Heartsford, WI for her best friend Kate's funeral, she learns that Kate's much-loved craft store is in danger of perishing with its owner.  Confounding all her expectations of the life she would live, Sammy moves back home with her golden retriever and takes over Community Craft.  A few doors down Main Street, fellow new arrival Ingrid Wilson has just opened the Yarn Barn, a real "purl" of a shop.  But when Sammy strolls over to see if Ingrid could use a little help, she finds Ingrid's dead body - with a green aluminum knitting needle lodged in her throat.

Detective Liam Nash is thrown for a loop as every single citizen of Heartsford seems to have a theory about Ingrid's murder.  And nearly everyone in town seems to be a suspect.  But the last time Sammy did any sleuthing was as a little moppet.  And this is not fun and games.  Sammy is eager to help the handsome Liam - who seems to be endlessly inventive in finding reasons to talk with her - and when Liam arrests affable woodworker Miles Danbury, Sammy puts everything on the line to help clear Miles.

As the case comes dangerously close to unraveling, Sammy must stitch the clues together.  But the killer has other plans -- and if Sammy's not careful, she may wind up in a perilous knot.

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Sammy Kane took over ownership of the local craft shop after the unexpected death of her best friend Kate.  She has a part-time employee in Kate's younger brother, Carter.  One day when he's helping her at the shop he receives a call from Ingrid Wilson, who has a yarn store just down the street.  Ingrid wants his help at her shop, but after talking with Sammy, she tells Carter she'll go instead.  Ingrid is not well-liked in the town, so Sammy decides to make her wait for a bit.  But when she arrives at Ingrid's shop she finds the woman dead, stabbed with a green knitting needle.

With a killer on the loose, and a new detective in town, Sammy wants to stay out of the investigation.  But when one of her friends is implicated in the crime, she decides that the only thing to do is enlist the help of her cousin Heidi and sister Ellie to find the right killer before the wrong one is jailed for something he didn't do.  But will she be able to find the truth before it's too late?...

This is the first book in a new series and really wanted to love it; but unfortunately, I didn't.  While it had some nice things going for it, there were a lot of things that irritated me.  Heidi, for one.  Who walks around saying, "I am here" and then does 'jazz hands'?  Are you really that self-important that you have to gesture when you enter a room?  Not to mention Sammy made it sound as if Heidi 'had work done,' which I just found odd.  (Also mentioning that her hair was dry because she dyed it didn't make any sense.  Women all over the country dye their hair, and it's not dry.  What is she using?  Cheap stuff?)  It also really seemed as if she was making 'digs' at Heidi with these remarks.  Plus, it doesn't say much about what Heidi thinks of herself if her boyfriend Tim cares more about 'the girls' than he does what she thinks or says.  Throughout the book Heidi comes off as thinking she's one hot chick, and pretty egotistical about it.  Just sayin'.

Then there were the little things, which are, in fact, the things that make up the book as a whole, of which some examples are as follows:  How many times Spring Fling was mentioned - over and over.  We got it.  Who wears pantyhose anymore?  I thought Bara was a dog but she calls him puppy?  I don't call my cat my kitten, so I'm just wondering about this.  Alpaca yarn isn't cheap.  It's about $10-$11 a ball, and it takes 2 balls to make a pair of socks, so I have a hard time believing women were just tossing pairs of $20 socks to parade watchers.  If people knew that giving Tyler candy made him hyperactive but upset her mother, why would they keep giving it to him?  Is it really funny to watch a mother get upset?  Plus, her sister won't own a pet because she's "meticulous" but has a two-year-old son.  Riiiight.  We're supposed to believe that her son is spotless?  What does she do?  Follow him around with a wet washcloth and a dust buster?  Kids are messy.  It's part of life.  When Nash called in the Crime Scene Unit to dust for prints, instead of sending the three women home he should have taken them to the station to get their prints so they could be eliminated.   Anyway, it's little things like this that make up the whole of a book, and if it's only one or two things, fine; but when it's time and time again it becomes irritating.

As to the big things, you have to like your characters, and I didn't like Sammy.  She was self-righteous and acted like a teenager, being sometimes snarky even.

Liam told Sammy that she needed to pay attention to details; well, I do, and that's one thing no one has ever accused me of not doing.  Unfortunately, it was these things that kept me from completely enjoying the book.  That, and the climax, which I have hidden in a spoiler below:

So the killer just grabs her at a garage sale, which is full of people. She finds out that the house is being sold because the killer owes money to his drug dealer who will kill him otherwise, and his parents are willing to sell all their belongings to save him. I guess they never heard of rehab for their son or turning the drug dealer into the cops, right? They were willing to lose everything they'd gained throughout their life to protect their son who wasn't worth protecting in the first place? Did they think he would just give up drugs if they did this? I guess I wasn't impressed by this ending at all.

As it stands, I'm giving a pass because this is the first in a new series, and I like to give the author time to hone the characters, so we will see where the next book takes us.

https://www.amazon.com/Crafter-Knits-Clue-Handcrafted-Mystery/dp/1683317718/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2564144192

More on Holly Quinn's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/q/holly-quinn/