Needlecraft Mystery

When Betsy Devonshire arrived in Excelsior, Minnesota, all she wanted was to visit her sister Margot and get her life in order. She never dreamed her sister would give her a place to stay and a job at her needlecraft shop. In fact, things had never looked so good-until Margot was murdered. In a town this friendly, it's hard to imagine who could have committed such a horrible act, but Betsy has a few ideas. There's an ex-employee who wants to start her own needlework store. And there's the landlord who wanted Margot out. Now Betsy's putting together a list of motives and suspects to figure out this killer's pattern of crime…

When the historic Hopkins ferry was raised from the bottom of the lake, who would have thought they were literally raising the dead? But there it was-a skeleton-right before their eyes. Unfortunately, the evidence is slim and soggy: the boat sank in 1949, the victim on board was a woman, and near the body is a piece of unidentifiable lacelike fabric. Sounds like a job for Betsy Devonshire. Betsy knows there's more to this story than what's on the surface. And once she and patrons of her needlecraft shop start lending a hand, they are sure to stitch together the details of this unnerving mystery.

The cold, blustery Midwest winters don't exactly agree with Betsy Devonshire, but since moving to Excelsior, Minnestoa, she sure has met a lot of warm, friendly people. So she isn't too surprised when the town's most talented needleworkers volunteer to restore a damaged tapestry that was found in the basement of a local church. Betsy even offers to donate materials for the project, thinking that the free publicity will boost sales at her financially troubled needlecraft shop. But soon Betsy is afraid of losing more than her business-because her good intentions have unleashed some deadly secrets.

Betsy Devonshire has settled into her new home in Excelsior, Minnesota, as owner of the town's needlecraft shop. So why is she suffering from terrifying nightmares? She hasn't a clue-but thinks maybe it would help to get away for a while. With her friend Jill in tow, she heads north for a "stitch-in" at a remote, rustic lodge. But her nightmares only get worse-especially after she finds a dead woman no one else had seen. Then the body disappears-and she knows she won't get any rest until she untangles the mysterious threads of the crime.

Heavens to Betsy Devonshire! She never intended to get so caught up in this year's antique car race. But as sponsor of one of the entrants, she can't help but keep a close eye on the outcome-and it's not pretty. One of the drivers never makes it to the finish line. His car is found exploded in flames. Now Betsy and her crafty friends must determine if it was an accident or the work of a jealous competitor. The answer may be in a piece of needlework, but pinning down a suspect won't be easy.

Betsy is still new enough to Excelsior, Minnesota, to not know a scandal when she causes one. So, when she hires Foster Johns to fix her roof, the resulting uproar has her needled. The whole town has pinned a five-year-old unsolved double murder on him. Betsy believes Johns when he says he isn't guilty. But she'll have to use every stitch of her sleuthing skills to tie up all the loose ends that will prove his innocence once and for all.

Almost everyone in Excelsior, Minnesota-craftsy and noncraftsy alike-has turned out for the art fair. So when an artisan is murdered there, the list of suspects is practically endless. Betsy Devonshire wants to help out in the police investigation. Her best friend, Officer Jill Cross, confides that they have a lead: a bloody footprint in the woodcarvers' booth matches that of a local youth. But when Betsy can't keep the news to herself, Jill gives Betsy the cold shoulder. Everyone's on pins and needles-and when the family of the kid in question asks Betsy to prove his innocence, she must first regain Jill's trust, then figure out who had designs on the dead designer...

Snow is not the only thing falling this December-spirits are, too. That's because this year's needlework convention in Nashville is tragically interrupted when Milwaukee shop owner Belle Hammermill tumbles nine stories to her untimely death. At first, Betsy Devonshire thinks the fall was just an unfortunate accident. The trouble is, Belle's unsavory reputation causes suspicions to flare. She has plenty of enemies with more than enough motive. Leave it to Betsy and the other knitting hands to unravel the clues that will put the killer to rest for a long winter's night.

After her good friend Godwin has a nasty quarrel with John, his significant other, full-time needlework shop owner and part-time sleuth Betsy Devonshire finds herself with a roommate. Betsy doesn't mind having company, though Godwin is restless and unhappy over the sudden break-up. But sadness turns to grief when Betsy and Godwin discover John dead in his home, and Godwin is arrested for the murder. Betsy knows her friend couldn't be the killer, and sets out to prove it. What she learns is that John had a cat's cradle of secret dealings that had made him a bundle of money, and a lot of enemies. Now, Betsy has to untangle a web of lies if she's going to save Godwin-and find the murderer.

When adoptee Lucille Jones comes to town researching her roots, Betsy Devonshire notices that she bears a remarkable resemblance to local Jan Henderson. Betsy introduces the look-alikes and they quickly hit it off. But then Jan's wealthy great-aunt is found dead, helped to her grave by a stiff metal wire-a double-zero knitting needle, in fact. Just like the kind Jan knits with.Lucille begs Betsy to help clear her new friend's name. And while going through her aunt's effects, Jan finds an old pillow lined with an embroidered map of Lake Minnetonka. Betsy intends to follow the threads. Who knows-it could just possibly lead to buried treasure. Or, perhaps, to a secret that someone will kill to keep buried.

The stitchers of the Embroiderers Guild raised over twenty thousand dollars for charity-but the representative who accepted the check at the annual convention disappeared with it. It turns out that he's the husband of the local chapter president, Allie Germaine, who insists on his innocence. But if Bob Germaine didn't pocket the check, who did? And where is Bob now? Since needlework shop owner Betsy Devonshire has broken her leg horseback riding, solving the latest crime will have to be a group project.

As owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth, Betsy Devonshire has become skilled at weaving suspicious threads together. Just back from a trip to Thailand, Doris Valentine is eager to show her stitching friends her souvenirs, which includes dazzling Thai silk. She also has a small stone Buddha that she agreed to deliver to an antique store in St. Paul. It's wrapped in a dirty rag, which she throws away. When she meets the dealer, he is surprised that she unwrapped it, though relieved the statue's delicate hands aren't damaged. The next night, Doris's apartment is broken into, and the things she bought in Thailand are taken. The antique shop owner is found murdered and his shop ransacked. The Buddha is gone. Then someone confronts Doris with a gun, demanding the "Thai silk." Meanwhile, Betsy starts to wonder about the dingy wrapper she retrieved from the trash.

There's a witch running loose in the town of Excelsior, Minnesota, and her brew is …  beer. Actually, Leona Cunningham, co-owner of the Barleywine, is a practitioner of Wicca, the nature-based religion that many mistakenly believe to be sorcery or black magic. But that doesn't bother the thirsty crowds-or the Halloween Committee members who have fallen under the spell of Leona's tasty ales. Then, after one too many pints, local alcohol aficionado Ryan McMurphy accuses Leona of being a real witch, blaming her for the series of accidents that have happened throughout town. When Ryan ends up dead, without a mark on his body, Leona is not only the target of a witch hunt but also the prime suspect. But with Betsy on the case, the murderer doesn't have a ghost of a chance of getting away with it…

Owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth Betsy Devonshire heads for the Minnesota north woods to renovate an old cabin. But beneath the awful linoleum is something even uglier-the skeleton of a Nazi. Betsy's investigation yields the site of a former German POW camp, a mysterious crocheted rug, and an intricately designed pattern of clues to a decades-old crime.

When an elderly homeless woman is found dead on the shore of Lake Minnetonka, she's wearing something that holds the key to her identity but also opens up a mystery. Embroidered on her blouse is her will, in which she bequeaths everything she owns to her niece-Emily Hame, a member of the Monday bunch at Betsy Devonshire's Crewel World needlework shop! Emily's aunt turns out to be the second homeless woman to be found dead under mysterious circumstances. It's up to Betsy to discover the common thread between the deaths-and to determine if a murderer may strike again.

Betsy Devonshire, full-time owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth, has hooked more than a few crooks in the USA Today bestselling Needlecraft Mysteries. Now Betsy learns the hard way that a murder is still murder, any way you color it. Betsy is a natural-born yarnsmith-so it's only fitting that some of her favorite items to stock come from the dye-works of Hailey Brent. Hailey makes hand-dyed knitting wool, silk, soy, and corn yarns. She uses only natural vegetable dyes, creating soft and beautiful colors. Which means her yarns are expensive but well worth it. Unfortunately, someone thinks they're worth killing for. When Hailey's body is discovered shot dead in her workshop, Betsy discovers that there was a lot about Hailey she would have never guessed. Like her penchant for stealing other's property for her own use, her use of dangerous additives to create her so-called all-natural fibers-and a scheming mind that had made her more than one enemy. Now, Betsy must wring the truth from a bevy of colorful suspects because the truth just might mean the difference between living-and dyeing.

A young woman is found floating in Watered Silk's therapy pool, and Betsy's sleuthing skills are immediately called upon to figure out who drowned her. But the list of suspects is more twisted than any Betsy has encountered before. The young woman had three lovers. and each had their own motive for the murder.

After a tree falls on Tom Riordan's house, landing him in the hospital, the police discover a mountain of junk piled high in his home. Locals in Excelsior, Minnesota - including Betsy and her Crewel World Monday Bunch - offer to help with the cleanup while Tom recuperates. But when Tom is found murdered in his hospital bed, the sole heir to his property - his cousin Valentina - becomes the number one suspect. Betsy believes there's more to the case than meets the eye, but finding clues to the killer's identity in the clutter Tom left behind will be like looking for a needle in a haystack...

The Monday Bunch and other local knitters are participating in a fundraising auction to save a community center, creating a growing pile of stuffed animals and toys right in front of the auctioneers as they bid. Among those contributing the most knitted goods is temperamental businesswoman Marsha Hanover, who keels over halfway through the event. After she is pronounced DOA at the hospital, an autopsy reveals that Marsha had been poisoned. One of the prime suspects is her ruthless business rival Joe Mickels, who lost a bitterly contested property bid to Marsha. When Mickels pleads his innocence, it is up to needlework shop owner Betsy Devonshire to stitch together the clues of this murder mystery.