A Crafter Quilts a Crime: A Handcrafted Mystery

A Crafter Quilts a Crime by Holly Quinn is the third A Handcrafted Mystery. Sammy Kane has Community Craft ready for the town’s annual Fire and Ice event. Sammy dreamed up a live mannequin contest that will take place in her front display window. Sammy goes to check on Wanda’s progress and notices her lips are blue. Wanda is dead and her husband is MIA. When Ellie’s husband, Randy becomes a suspect, the S.H.E. team convenes. Sammy, Heidi and Ellie work to stitch together the clues that will reveal Wanda’s killer. A Crafter Quilts a Crime can be read as a standalone for those new to A Handcrafted Mystery series. I like the close, heartwarming relationship between Sammy, Ellie and Heidi. They get along well together and make a formidable team. I admit that I prefer Ellie and Heidi to Sammy. Sammy is nervy and lacks understanding of Liam’s position. She does not understand when the police cannot share information with civilians. Holly Quinn captured the feeling of winter with her word imagery. I could feel the cold tingling my ears and nose from her descriptions. I remember what that bitter cold feels like. I enjoyed the images of Community Craft with its beautiful handmade items inside. I wish my town had such a place where people can learn a craft and sell their handmade wares. The live mannequin contest was a unique event that had an unfortunate end. The investigation progressed slowly for Detective Liam Nash because he had limited clues. He is searching for Wanda’s husband as well as a reason why someone would want to harm Wanda. Sammy feels Liam is moving too slow. When her brother-in-law is brought in for questioning, Sammy quickly calls Ellie and Heidi. The three of them (S.H.E.) will do what it takes to prove Randy is innocent. Sammy’s sleuthing methods could use some finetuning. She is a little reckless and is quick to break the law as well as obstruct justice. I like how quilts tied into the mystery. There were some interesting clues to help readers solve this whodunit. A Crafter Quilts a Crime is a cute cozy mystery that interweaves Sammy’s daily activities with the mystery of Wanda’s death. A Crafter Quilts a Crime has a big bonfire, wintry weather, quilt clues, a spouse gone astray, and the snoopy S.H.E. squad.

Once again, Sammy and her S.H.E. Squad are up to their eyebrows in trouble, and this time it might mean the end of everything. I am thoroughly enjoying this series. It’s sweet and funny, filled with dramatic tension and awe-worthy small-town moments. This story had so many wonderfully diverting twists, I never saw the ending coming – I was completely surprised by the villain. And as frustrating as the dynamic between Sammy and Liam is to me, I love watching the friction between them. Their chemistry is palpable, and it hurt my heart to see the distance between them in this book. I also think it’s wonderfully appropriate that while I read this book, I’m surrounded by my own blizzard-y weather after several weeks that made us all wonder if spring would make an extra early appearance. This is kind of important to me, because the weather’s almost a character of its own in this story. (And anyone who’s ever survived a northern “prairie” winter can attest that winter weather is an entity all of its own.) Already I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for Heartsford next after they dig themselves out from beneath this storm. I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book through NetGalley.

I definitely enjoyed this 3rd in the Handcrafted Mystery series! To me, the characters are like visiting with delightful friends active in their community. It is a challenging whodunit that includes the charm of historic farms and crafts of the Midwest and plot twists that kept this reader on her toes. I am already looking forward to coming back again! Sammy is preparing for the evening’s Fire and Ice Event, an annual town festival in January every year. Shopkeepers at the downtown Heartsford stores, including her Community Crafts store, celebrates with special sales. The stores stay open late and everyone gathers at the bonfire to finish out the night. Community Crafts offers various needlework-related classes and sells goods made by specialty crafters in the community that include anything from knit socks to woodworking. Its importance in town includes people coming together as friends as well as to plan and make things to help others in the community. Sammy will captivate shoppers’ this year with special mannequins in the display window. Those who make and sell their crafts will display them in the window, as real-life, albeit still, mannequins. Heidi, Sammy’s cousin, is the first person in the display window in a gorgeous Ice Princess costume, and next will be Wanda, an excellent local quilter and yoga instructor. Wanda, who isn’t feeling well, sits with her heirloom-quality lap quilt. Ellie, Sammy’s sister, oversees the cash register. Sammy and Heidi step outside to see how Wanda looks. Wanda seems to be doing a great job of sitting without moving. Until Heidi, a nurse, notices Wanda’s lips are turning color, and knows that it is not cold in the display. They race to see if she is okay, which she is not. Wanda is dead. The next day they learn her husband is missing. On the case are Tim, a police officer and Heidi’s boyfriend, and Liam, a detective who may have an interest in Sammy, and she in him. When Sammy, Heidi, and Ellie get into full S.H.E. mode (Sammy-Heidi-Ellie), they sometimes step on the men’s toes but often get leads that the police can’t. S.H.E. is a group started when the sisters/ cousins were growing up and went on adventures to solve mysteries in the neighborhood. Sammy is typically the ringleader, but Heidi and Ellie willingly participate. This time they may have met their match, especially when they are trying to protect Ellie’s husband from being a suspect and become privy to information that they are told to keep from the police. Heidi and Tim might be over for good this time, and Sammy and Liam may never make it to a first date. What a great plot! The twists and turns point to only a couple suspects, but something doesn’t feel quite right. Watching the S.H.E.’s, especially Sammy, wind their way through the town in the below zero Wisconsin winter! This is a riveting adventure as the cousins try to determine the role of an heirloom-quality lap quilt and a vast number of farms have lost many of their crops. I was surprised to discover the real whodunit and just how wrong a terrible plan played out. The end is very satisfactory with all loose ends tied. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy challenging cozies set in the deep, cold, Midwest winter, quilts, and women who work well together! From a thankful heart: I received a copy of this from the publisher through NetGalley and this is my honest review.