Women Craft

Two years after the tragic death of her mother, Taylor is living her best life. She’s got a steady boyfriend, stable business, and the coup of hosting a hugely popular quilt expo in her small town. If that weren’t enough good news, outtakes of her mom’s old YouTube show have exploded online, bringing fame and money to everyone involved.

Everybody keeps saying it’s time to send Grandpa Ernie to an old folks home, but Taylor Quinn isn’t sure she agrees. As Grandpa says, “Everyone who moves there dies.” And since the latest death at Bible Creek Care Home was the chaplain who was stabbed in the back during the annual resident tea party, Taylor is beginning to believe her grandpa.

A tattoo parlor on Victoria Square? Some of the merchants get hot under the collar at the proposal, but could they be driven to kill to stop it? That's what the sheriff's office and Katie Bonner want to know when the building's owner is electrocuted with his own saw. Meanwhile, tensions rise when a hot chef takes over the square's tea shop. Will Katie have three men vying for her affections, or will her rival take the tea cake?

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.

Iris Buckley is sew ready for a change. After the death of her beloved grandfather, Iris decides to stay in her Maine hometown to help out her widowed grandmother, Anne-and bring her online hand-made apron designs to real-time retail life. Her and Anne's shop, Ruffles & Bows, is set to include all the latest and vintage linen fashions, a studio for sewing groups and classes, and a friendly orange cat. The only thing that they were not planning to have on the property? A skeleton in the basement.

As the new co-owner of Tundish Montana's stationery shop, Delta Douglas knows how to organize a killer crafting event. Creativity and cardstock are all she needs to move one step closer to her ultimate dream: developing her own line of crafting products. But on the night of the workshop, at the swanky hotel venue, glitter isn't the only thing found sprawled on the floor. A hotel guest is discovered dead in the bar, and amid the confusion, Delta's best friend is suspected of the crime.

There isn't much crime in Lilyvale, Arkansas, but local authorities have their hands full with Ms. Sherry Mae Stanton Cutler and her housemates - a crafty group of retirees who've dubbed themselves the Silver Six. But when Sherry Mae's niece, Nixy, arrives to keep them in line, Lilyvale also plays host to a killer.

With hundreds flocking to her inaugural garden party, meticulous Lilly Jayne hasn't left a single petal out of place. But the picture-perfect gathering turns unruly upon the arrival of Merilee Frank, Lily's ex-husband's catty third wife. Merilee lives for trouble, so no one is surprised after she drinks too much, shoves a guest into the koi pond, and gets escorted off the property. The real surprise comes days later - when Merilee is found dead in a pile of mulch.

Yarn shop owner Kath Rutledge is looking forward to the grand opening of the Blue Plum Vault, a co-op of small shops on Main Street. In the week before the grand opening, Kath and her needlework group, TGIF, hear rumors of an unpleasant rivalry developing between two of the new shopkeepers: Nervie Bales and Belinda Moyer. The opening is a success - until Belinda is found dead, stabbed in the back with a pair of scissors from Kath's shop.

With her shy manner and baggy jeans, Rose Malone becomes an unlikely superhero the night she stumbles into Izzy Chambers' shop and inadvertently saves a shipment of yarn from water damage. When the Seaside Knitters help the enigmatic handywoman settle into town and find work at a popular real-estate company, Rose proves she can fix just about anything - until a potential homebuyer is killed, and she becomes entangled in murder.

It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand is excited to be attending the Pluvius Parade along with her best friend, Ava. Carmela's ex-husband, Shamus, rides by the duo on his float at the head of the parade, when suddenly the revelry turns to disaster. Shamus' float crashes and explodes, and although Shamus escapes unhurt, a member of his krewe is killed. Carmela and Ava plunge into an investigation of the krewe member's death, but as they dig deeper, it starts to look less like an accident and more like a murder...and Shamus seems like a suspect.

There are two social functions in Savannah guaranteed to get people talking: weddings and funerals. And just as consignment shop owner Reagan Summerside agrees to marry the hunky Walker Boone, her neighbors, sisters Annie Fritz and Elsie Abbot, step up their business as professional mourners. They are so successful that the Sleepy Pines Retirement Center has hired them as a part of their retirement package. But then the residents at Pines suddenly begin dying at an alarming rate. And the sisters are the first suspects.

Antiques picker and PI Jane Wheel returns to her hometown to find a comedian's TV special has turned deadly in the eighth of Sharon Fiffer's charming mystery series. With her divorce final, Jane must clear out her antique collection and sell her house. Now homeless, Jane heads to Kankekee, IL, her hometown, to find it, too, has been turned upside-down. Lucky Miller - a little-known comedian - is staging a comeback. Suspicious, Jane's mother Nellie hires Jane to investigate.

It's Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and the giant puppets from the Beastmaster Puppet Theatre are parading through the French Quarter. Some are very spooky and veiled, others are tall and gangly, like strange aliens. As the parade proceeds, Carmela Bertrand and her best friend, Ava, follow behind, down Royal Street and past the food booths. Suddenly, they hear a terrible crash from Devon Dowling's antiques shop. They rush inside to find Devon collapsed with blood streaming down the side of his face.

Delta Douglas is settling into small-town life in Tundish, Montana, and her stationery shop is thriving. But when Delta asks well-known Montana artist Tilly Tay to display a miniature version of a mining town in her shop, Wanted, trouble soon comes into the fold. Tilly is obsessed with getting everything just right before the unveiling, but when her grand reveal showcases a tiny murder, an element Tilly swears she did not add, confusion sweeps the crowd. That's when a body is discovered perfectly mirroring Tilly's display.

The scissors are sharpened and the cardstock stacked for Delta Douglas' latest workshop: a 3D cardmaking event at socialite Lena Laroy's birthday extravaganza. As co-owner of Wanted, the local stationery shop, Delta is ready to wow her guests with her one-of-a-kind crafts. But at this party, paper isn't the only thing bent out of shape. When a threatening present is unwrapped and the guest of honor's sister-in-law is discovered dead by the trees, Delta realizes another killer is loose in her small town.

Between hosting a haunted house on her lawn, serving on the town’s 400th Anniversary Planning Committee, and prepping for the Fall Festival’s 10k fundraiser, Lilly has her hands full. She doesn’t have time for prickly newspaper reporter Tyler Crane, who’s been creeping around town, looking for dirt on Goosebush’s most notable families...until he’s found dead on the race route moments before the start. An unfortunate accident? Or did Tyler unearth a secret that someone in Goosebush is willing to kill to keep?

Iris Buckley is hoping for a bit of rest and relaxation now that the summertime rush is winding down in Blueberry Cove, Maine. Her apron shop Ruffles & Bows has been a huge success, her friendships are stronger than ever, and now she's ready for all of the end of summer cookouts on the beach that she can handle. But before Iris can even turn on the grill, Bella's latest fling, former Olympian sailor and gorgeous bad boy Lance Pederson, is killed in a hit-and-run while jogging at dawn - and all the evidence points to Bella herself.

Iris Buckley is busier than ever this July, with the town's annual Lobster Festival fast approaching. In just a matter of days her apron shop, Ruffles & Bows, will be jam-packed with tourists eager to lay eyes on its world-class collection of aprons and linens - and Iris' inventory is running low. Then, just when all hope seems lost, Iris gets a call from Eleanor Brady, a wealthy, reclusive spinster who just happens to have trunks full of vintage fabrics. Before long Iris is on the scene - and on the case.

This book is for and about the women who kicked in doors, as pioneers of their craft or making politics central to their sound: those who offer a new way of thinking about the vast spectrum of women in music. In this radical departure from the historic narrative of music and music writing being written by men, for men, This Woman’s Work challenges the male dominance and sexism that have been hard-coded in the canons of music, literature, and film and has forced women to fight pigeon-holing or being side-lined by carving out their own space.