Murder Most Crafty

Idle hands are the devil's workshop... ...which is why so many of us like to keep them busy, with everything from knitting to crocheting, embroidering, wreath making, basketry, and gourd decorating. But for some, their skill, patience, and creative expression is lent to darker pursuits-like murder. In this inventive anthology, writers with a gift for sculpting great mysteries turn their talents toward the most homicidal of handiworks... When Susan Wittig Albert's herb shop owner China Bayles finds her paper-making neighbor dead at the bottom of the stairs, it looks like an accident-until the victim's secret penchant for blackmail leads China to search for a killer, in "The Collage to Kill For"... In "Strung Out", Monica Ferris and Denise Williams spin a knotty yarn as her intrepid needlework maven Betsy Devonshire comes to the aid of a friend whose stitch-slinging son is being blamed for a bag of marijuana seeds that mysteriously appeared in his room ... EdgarR and Agatha Award-winning author Margaret Maron weaves an intricate tale in which crime-busting Judge Deborah Knott spends New Year's Eve making celebratory wreaths with her oddball family-and trying to tie together a rash of burglaries that has hit rustic Colleton County in "Bewreathed" ... And in EdgarR Award winner Jan Burke's "Call It Macaroni", a reluctant sleuth must uncover the secrets of a highbrow crafts club, whose membership may be hiding a murderer... Each story features a different kind of artistic medium-from mosaic flowerpots to candlemaking-and is followed by instructions on making your very own special creations. For anyone with an eye for arts and crafts, or just a well-crafted mystery, this collection of stories is sure to keep your hands busy-turning the pages, that is.Bruce, Maggie is the author of 'Murder Most Crafty', published 2005 under ISBN 9780425202067 and ISBN 0425202062.