Thursday, November 20, 2014

It's
THROWBACK THURSDAY!

Ready to learn about a new old series?

Today's new, old series is by an author 
I'm sure you all know
Bailey Cates
author of the Magical Bakery Mystery series. 

Did you know, not so long ago, 2007 - 2012, Bailey wrote the  
Home Crafting Mystery series as 
Cricket McRae 

There are 6 books in this series

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 fiancĂ©e 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 nose leads her to a peppermint-scented trail of arson, bigamy, and a shocking family secret.

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!

Things are getting serious between Sophie Mae and Detective Ambrose. But there's another love in her life - spinning. Pursuing her newfound passion is great fun . . . until fellow co-op member Ariel is found strangled to death with Sophie Mae's first skein of yarn. Every male in Cadyville noticed Ariel. Young, pretty, and a pro at wielding her sexual powers, she preyed on married men. Was the murder victim truly a gold digger in hot pants? Or a troubled girl who lost her parents at the age of sixteen? Can Sophie Mae unravel the truth and solve this tightly-knitted murder mystery?

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!

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.

Harvest time in Cadyville, Washington, finds Sophie Mae Ambrose volunteering at the local organic farm--and trying to make a little sprout of her own with Barr, her police detective husband. A dead body found in the farm's compost heap is enough to cast dark clouds over Sophie Mae's sunny mood, and when Barr's boss lets her know they need help identifying the body, a reluctant Sophie Mae presses her network of friends and neighbors into action. When a farmhand is found unconscious with a shovel-shaped bump on his head, Sophie Mae turns up the heat on their crop of suspects. If she and Barr don't root out the killer, it's only a matter of time before another victim is squashed.

Have you read this series?


Only Books 2 - 6 are still available in paperback.
Check with your local used book stores or online sellers.

All titles are available on 


and 


Remember to check back every Thursday 
for more great Throwback cozy titles!

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Please continue reading for the solution to this week's Wednesday Whodunit.

???????????????????????????????

Answer to Whodunit Wednesday


BUDDY BROWN
 SOLUTION

   "I don't want to turn you in," Sherman said softly. 

   It was two days later and the family was walking away from the burial site, heading back to the funeral home's limousine parked by the cemetery's gravel road. 

   Sherman had maneuvered his way to Susan's side. They were out of earshot of the others and would be for the next minute or two. 

   "I don't want to turn you in," he repeated. "Why did you do it?"

   "For the kids," said Susan. Her tone was eerily calm. "You saw how it was. All the time he pushed them down, controlled everything. Maybe now they can live their own lives. Me, too," she added as an afterthought.

   "You poisoned the napkin." Sherman had to show her that he knew. "Every time he went to wipe his mouth, he inhaled a little poison. Then after he collapsed and no one was looking, you replaced it with a clean napkin. That's what I noticed. A clean napkin---that should have been covered in butter." 

   "You can't prove it," Susan said with a thin smile. "Even if you dig up the body and check for poison, that napkin no longer exists. You can't prove a thing."

 Wow. That Susan is something else. 
Sherman is going to have a hard time living 
with that knowledge.

Check back next week, when 
Whodunit Wednesday
will be hosted by author
Terrie Moran representing
Sisters In Crime! 

9 comments:

  1. More for me to look for
    Sigh. Lol!

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    1. LOL I know Dawn! I want to read these. But when? Where do I find more time? ;-)

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  2. Oh, I was so far off on the Whodunit Wednesday. I need more practice see you next Wednesday.

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    Replies
    1. Terrie, your brain is occupied with your own mysteries! You keep writing those for us! :-D

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  3. Thanks, Lisa. I did have the right answer to Whodunit...just didn't want to believe it, I guess...and the ending, wow!

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    Replies
    1. Then ending, right? Couldn't you see that being played out on TV. And the episode ends fading out on Sherman's torn face. LOL Loved it!

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  4. Thanks for introducing me to this series. Can't wait to check it out. And YES! I got the whodunit right!!

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  5. I want to read it too. And YAY! You go it right!!!

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  6. Thanks so much for letting folks know about the Home Crafting Mysteries! One of these days I hope to be able to write more of them :)

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