Deadly Row to Hoe

Things are getting serious between Sophie Mae and Detective Ambrose. But Sophie Mae has a new love in her life—spinning. Pursuing her newfound passion is great fun . . . until her fellow co-op member, Ariel, is found strangled to death with Sophie Mae's very first skein of yarn.

Young and pretty, Ariel used her feminine charms and sexual magnetism to lure married men. Was the murder victim truly a gold digger in hot pants? Or just a troubled girl who met a bad end? With a tangled weave of suspects to wade through and Barr's ex turning up, it's all Sophie Mae can do to unravel this tightly knitted mystery—without coming undone herself!

Praise for Spin a Wicked Web, book three in the Home Crafting Mystery series:

"Cozy up for a finely crafted mystery-lots of twists and tangles, a most entertaining yarn."-Laura Childs, author of Death by Darjeeling: A Tea Shop Mystery

"A fast-paced contemporary cozy."-Monica  Ferris, author of Thai Die: A Needlecraft Mystery 

Something is brewing in Cadyville, and it's not only dandelion wine. Sophie Mae is intrigued by a recently discovered cassette recording in which a therapist fearfully contemplates her client's murderous threats. When the same therapist ends up dead, Sophie Mae is lured—despite her husband Barr's warnings not to get involved—into an intoxicating investigation that explores the age-old art of mead and wine making.

Featuring recipes you can try at home, including one for Homemade Ginger Beer!

Praise for the Home Crafting Mystery Series:
"This series continues to add depth to its engaging cast of characters, and the home-crafting details remain a delight and an inspiration."—BOOKLIST

"The writing is sharp and skilled and Sophie Mae is an appealing, smart character."—RT BOOK REVIEWS

"Fans of Rosemary Harris and Maggie Sefton will appreciate McRae's crafty series."—LIBRARY JOURNAL

Love—and smelly cheese—are in the air. Sophie Mae has accepted Barr’s marriage proposal, and they’re trying to keep her mother, Anna Belle, from taking over their no-fuss, no-muss wedding plans. But when Mom finds a cryptic suicide note that Sophie Mae’s brother wrote two decades earlier, Sophie Mae reluctantly makes a trip back to her hometown of Spring Creek, Colorado, to suss things out. 

As she pokes around in other people’s business while learning the finer points of artisan cheese making, a murderer strikes—with a glass bottle of milk. Soon, Sophie Mae discovers that aging cheese isn’t the only thing in Spring Creek that doesn’t pass the smell test.

Includes cheese-making tips!
Complete recipes on author’s website: www.cricketmcrae.com

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Cocoa butter soap, check. Lemon lip balm, check. A dead body?

That's just what Sophie Mae Reynolds finds in her workroom: the corpse of Walter Hanover, the neighborhood handyman. He died from drinking lye, something she has in good supply. But the police don't suspect Sophie Mae, a thirty-something widow who makes and sells beauty products. Instead they call it a suicide. But why would a man with lottery cash and a loving fiancée kill himself?

No one can stop the impulsive Sophie Mae from answering this riddle, not her sensible best friend Meghan or Detective Ambrose, who incites annoyance as well as stomach flutters. Sophie Mae's big mouth and sharp nose lead her to a peppermint-scented trail of arson, bigamy, and a shocking family secret that reveals a personal connection to Walter . . . and his killer.

This crafty new series features real recipes and a blundering, yet lovable, amateur sleuth who brings a fresh face to cozy mysteries.

Praise for Lye in Wait, the first Home Crafting Mystery:
"McRae crafts strong characters [and] spins a credible, enjoyable plot." —Library Journal

"[A] wonderful start to a mystery series." —Cozy Library

Wine jelly. Watermelon pickles. And a suicidal stalker? Great.

Thirty-something crafter extraordinaire Sophie Mae Reynolds makes preserves by day and answers a crisis center help referral line by night. What better way to help people while still keeping a low profile? But on her very first night, she gets a call from a man who is threatening suicide . . . and her. Angrily deeming the caller a crank, her boss, Philip Heaven, disconnects the line. Days later, Philip dies from a nasty case of botulism. Now, as a stalker singles out Sophie Mae, Philip's eerie last words keep coming back to haunt her: Threat. Meant it.

Stirring up the town with talk of murder by preserves, can Sophie Mae and her handsome boyfriend Detective Barr Ambrose spoil a mad murderer's poisonous plans?

This dangerously delicious second book in the Home Crafting Mystery series also includes recipes for preserves and beauty products!

Illegally Iced

Jessica Beck

Donut shop owner Suzanne Hart knows how to treat her customers. But sometimes life can get a bit sticky. When a spat she has with a local blacksmith—one that could have been solved with a handshake and a mixed dozen—ends with his murder, Suzanne is caught dead in her tracks. Suddenly everyone in April Springs has their eyes on her. And they’re hungry with suspicion.