This is the first book in a new series by Agatha nominated author Mollie Cox Bryan, who I recently interviewed.   I love her Cumberland Creek Mystery series which focuses on a scrapbooking circle, so I was anxious to read this new one.

Like the Cumberland Creek Mystery series, the strength of this series lies in the interesting characters that Mollie creates.  She offers the reader strong interesting women.  Women who have struggled, but are working their way through their problems.  Women that you want to spend time getting to know better.

The main character is Cora Chevalier, a craft blogger, who has bought an old Victorian mansion in Indigo Gap, North Carolina.  She is working to transform the mansion into a crafter’s paradise to host retreats.  She is looking for a less stressful life than her one as a counselor at a women’s shelter.  Cora is helped by Jane, a close friend and potter, who has suffered through a nasty divorce. Jane lives in an out building with her young daughter, London.  Another resident is Ruby, an older herbalist whose son is a lawyer, which she raised as a single mother.

When Jane’s fingerprints are a match for those found at the crime scene of a beloved school librarian, Cora worries about her friend and her new business’s reputation. Of course this occurs right before the first retreat she is hosting in a mansion that isn’t even finished being redesigned.  So Cora decides to help her friend and save her fledgling enterprise.

I was fascinated by the crafts in the story and I’m not a crafter.  But for those that are there is an appendix in the back with many directions for some of the crafts mentioned.  As I understand it the various books in this series will feature different crafts.

The book offers the reader an interesting puzzle mystery with fascinating and struggling suspects as well.

A thoroughly enjoyable read and one that I will remember.

Five stars out of five.

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In accordance with FTC guidelines for reviewers, I would like to clarify that this book was provided to me by the publisher free of charge.  I am not compensated by the author or publisher for my review. All they expect is an honest review of the work.