MJG

Lacy Marie Crocker has settled into a comfortable groove back home in New Orleans, and with Valentine's Day right around the corner, she's busier than ever running a thriving pet boutique, helping her mother organize the upcoming National Pet Pageant, and untangling her complicated love life. But when delivering a king-sized order of dreidel-shaped doggy biscuits for a Saint Berdoodle's bark-mitzvah, Lacy stumbles into yet another murder scene - and the last person to see the victim alive was her own father.

In this prequel to the international best seller The Ruin, set 10 years prior, bright-eyed Carrie Ryan is at the very start of her career. When she has a hunch about an ongoing murder investigation, she knows it could be her only chance to prove herself and truly break into the “boys' club” of Dublin’s police force.

The Monday Bunch and other local knitters are participating in a fundraising auction to save a community center, creating a growing pile of stuffed animals and toys right in front of the auctioneers as they bid. Among those contributing the most knitted goods is temperamental businesswoman Marsha Hanover, who keels over halfway through the event. After she is pronounced DOA at the hospital, an autopsy reveals that Marsha had been poisoned.

Celebrated author and newspaper columnist Rick Bragg brings us an ode to the stories and history of the Deep South, filled with “eclectic nuggets about places and people he knows well” (USA Today) and written with honesty, wit, and deep affection. A collection of wide-ranging and endearingly personal columns — from Bragg’s love of Tupperware (his mother preferred margarine tubs and thought Tupperware was “just showing off”) to the decline of country music, from the legacy of Harper Lee to the metamorphosis of the pickup truck.

After a tree falls on Tom Riordan's house, landing him in the hospital, the police discover a mountain of junk piled high in his home. Locals in Excelsior, Minnesota - including Betsy and her Crewel World Monday Bunch - offer to help with the cleanup while Tom recuperates. But when Tom is found murdered in his hospital bed, the sole heir to his property - his cousin, Valentina - becomes the number-one suspect.

Even though running Crewel World keeps Betsy plenty busy, a little extra cash on the side doesn't hurt. So when the local senior complex, Watered Silk, asks her to teach a class on the tricky punch needle technique, Betsy jumps at the opportunity to win over some new customers.

Owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth Betsy Devonshire heads for the Minnesota north woods to renovate an old cabin. But beneath the awful linoleum is something even uglier--the skeleton of a Nazi. Betsy's investigation yields the site of a former German POW camp, a mysterious crocheted rug, and an intricately designed pattern of clues to a decades-old crime.

There's a witch running loose in the town of Excelsior, Minnesota, and her brew is…beer. Actually, Leona Cunningham, co-owner of The Barleywine, is a practitioner of Wicca, which many mistakenly believe to be sorcery or black magic. Then, after one too many pints, local alcohol aficionado Ryan McMurphy accuses Leona of being a real witch, blaming her for the series of accidents. When Ryan ends up dead, without a mark on his body, Leona is not only the target of a witch hunt but also the prime suspect.

The stitchers of the Embroiderers Guild raised over 20,000 dollars for charity - but the representative who accepted the check at the annual convention disappeared with it. It turns out that he's the husband of the local chapter president, Allie Germaine, who insists on his innocence. But if Bob Germaine didn't pocket the check, who did? And where is Bob now? Since needlework shop owner Betsy Devonshire has broken her leg horseback riding, solving the latest crime will have to be a group project.

When adoptee Lucille Jones comes to town researching her roots, Betsy Devonshire notices that she bears a remarkable resemblance to local Jan Henderson. Betsy introduces the look-alikes and they quickly hit it off. But then Jan's wealthy great-aunt is found dead, helped to her grave by a stiff metal wire—a double-zero knitting needle, in fact. Just like the kind Jan knits with.