Spin a Wicked Web (A Home Crafting Mystery) [Paperback]

Cricket McRae (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Home Crafting Mystery | Publication Date: March 8, 2009

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 

 

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Soapmaker Sophie Mae Reynolds and police detective Barr Ambrose are back in their third enjoyable adventure in small-town Washington State. Sophie has become involved in the Cadyville Regional Arts Co-op (CRAC), where she is learning how to spin wool from one of the other crafters. Then a fellow member of the co-op is strangled—using Sophie’s first skein of yarn. To make things worse, Barr wants to have a “talk.” While the first two mysteries in this series involved crimes that looked like accidents, this time it is a straightforward murder, and it looks like the killer is going to get away with it. Ultimately, of course, Sophie and Barr sort it all out, and along the way, we learn more about fibers, weaving, and soap lore, and we are entertained by McRae’s clever analogies linking weaving yarn and unraveling the clues that will unmask the murderer. The wide variety of interesting hobbies represented among the co-op members leaves the door open for Sophie Mae to explore additional crafts and more lovably eccentric small-town characters in her future outings. --Judy Coon

About the Author

A former resident of the Pacific Northwest where her novels are set, Cricket McRae has always dabbled in the kind of practical home crafts that were once necessary to everyday life. The magical chemistry of making soap, the satisfaction of canning garden produce, and the sensuous side of fiber arts like spinning and knitting are just a few of the reasons these activities have fascinated her since childhood. As a girl she was as much a fan of Nancy Drew as of Laura Ingalls Wilder, so it's no surprise that her contemporary cozy series features a soap maker with a nose for investigation.

For two years Cricket managed her own soap making business, including all product design, manufacturing and marketing. She has also worked at a variety of other jobs, ranging from driver's license examiner to program manager at Microsoft. This fulfills her mother's warning that she'd never have a "regular" job if she insisted on studying philosophy and English in college.

Now she lives in Colorado, fitting her interest in all things domestic around writing, hiking, biking and, currently, learning how to hate the game of golf.

Visit Cricket online at www.CricketMcrae.com or at www.HearthCricket.com.

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: MIDNIGHT INK (March 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738711233
• ISBN-13: 978-0738711232
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 4.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #910,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A former resident of the Pacific Northwest where my mystery novels are set, I've always dabbled in the kind of practical home crafts that were once necessary to everyday life. The magical chemistry of making soap, the satisfaction of canning garden produce, and the sensuous side of fiber arts like spinning and knitting are just a few of the reasons these activities have fascinated me since childhood. As much an early fan of Nancy Drew as of Laura Ingalls Wilder, it's no surprise that my contemporary cozy series features a soap maker with a nose for investigation.

For two years I managed my own soap making business, including all product design, manufacturing and marketing. I've also worked at a variety of other jobs, ranging from driver's license examiner to software program manager. This fulfills my mother's warning that I'd never have a "regular" job if I insisted on studying philosophy and English in college.

Now I live in Colorado, fitting my interest in all things domestic around writing, hiking, biking and, currently, learning how to play golf.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Mystery Reading, April 12, 2009

By 

Sally Charette (Howell, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spin a Wicked Web (A Home Crafting Mystery) (Paperback)

This was the first book I had read from this author. It was very good, I would recommend this to others to read. It is very much like the Terri Thayer mysteries.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wicked good read, June 1, 2009

By 

Jane Isenberg (Issaquah, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spin a Wicked Web (A Home Crafting Mystery) (Paperback)

Couldn't put this one down. And when I finally finished it, I missed being in Cadyville. McCrae really gets the Pacific Northwest and makes her little town so real I was actually homesick for it. I missed the people there, especially Sophie Mae and her housemates and, of course, her cop boyfriend. And as a mechanical moron, I got a kick out of all the car-savvy women in Cadyville. McCrae's dialogue is so realistic that whatever the characters are talking about seems entirely plausible. She spun this yarn so cleverly that, unlike Sophie Mae, I was clueless as to who the killer was until the very end. The next one can't come too soon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another great SM Reynolds mystery, March 29, 2009

By 

Woody Bombay (The Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spin a Wicked Web (A Home Crafting Mystery) (Paperback)

Great characters, a tense, tidy plot, plenty of conflict, a surprising and very satifsying finish. In other words, vintage McRae. I'm already looking forward to the next one.