A Crafter Quilts a Crime (A Handcrafted Mystery #3) by Holly Quinn

source: free ARC via NetGalley / Crooked Lane Books
title: A Crafter Quilts a Crime: A Handcrafted Mystery
author: Holly Quinn
published: Crooked Lane Books (February 11, 2020)
genre: cozy mystery
first line: Sammy Kane clutched the navy scarf closer to her neck, hoping to rebuff the frigid air threatening to penetrate any air pocket in her winter coat.

blurb:
Perfect for fans of Betty Hechtman and Maggie Sefton, Holly Quinn’s third Handcrafted mystery aspires to wrap you in its warmth.

Community Craft proprietor Sammy Kane must piece together a patchwork of clues when a “live” mannequin ends up stone-cold dead.

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.

Local quilter Wanda Wadsworth emerges as a favorite to win the contest, as she manages to not move a muscle for an unusual amount of time. Onlookers outside the window try everything to get her to crack–tapping on the glass and making funny faces–but nothing disrupts Wanda’s stillness. When the eagle-eyed spectators realize Wanda isn’t breathing, a blanket of grief and fear descends upon the wintry town.

Detective Liam Nash can’t seem to piece the clues together. Fortunately, Sammy’s cousin, Heidi, and her sister, Ellie, are on hand to reconvene their detective team, S.H.E. They set out to solve Wanda’s untimely death before the case grows as icy as a sub-zero Wisconsin winter. But they are all too aware that the killer is too close for comfort.

my thoughts:
A Crafter Quilts a Crime is book 3 in author Holly Quinn’s A Handcrafted Mystery series. This was my last read for 2019.

In this installment Sammy Kane sets up a live mannequin display in her shop for the annual Fire & Ice event in her town. The event is a big deal and all the shop owners participate and the townspeople come out to see. Sammy sets up a live window display contest but one of the contestants, a quilter named Wanda Wadsworth, winds up dead in the display after being poisoned. Soon enough police discover Wanda’s husband is missing and this makes him a prime suspect in her murder. Sammy decides to do some investigating along with her sister Ellie and her cousin Heidi.

The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott

source: free review copy via Amazon Vine
title: The Daring Ladies of Lowell
author: Kate Alcott
published: February 25, 2014
pages: 304
genre: historical fiction
first line: Alice stepped gingerly into the darkened dormitory, holding her breath against the unexpected.
rated: 4 out of 5 stars

blurb:
From the New York Times bestselling author of THE DRESSMAKER comes a moving historical novel about a bold young woman drawn to the looms of Lowell, Massachusetts–and to the one man with whom she has no business falling in love.

Eager to escape life on her family’s farm, Alice Barrow moves to Lowell in 1832 and throws herself into the hard work demanded of “the mill girls.” In spite of the long hours, she discovers a vibrant new life and a true friend—a saucy, strong-willed girl name Lovey Cornell.

But conditions at the factory become increasingly dangerous, and Alice finds the courage to represent the workers and their grievances. Although mill owner, Hiram Fiske, pays no heed, Alice attracts the attention of his eldest son, the handsome and reserved Samuel Fiske. Their mutual attraction is intense, tempting Alice to dream of a different future for herself.

This dream is shattered when Lovey is found strangled to death. A sensational trial follows, bringing all the unrest that’s brewing to the surface. Alice finds herself torn between her commitment to the girls in the mill and her blossoming relationship with Samuel. Based on the actual murder of a mill girl and the subsequent trial in 1833, THE DARING LADIES OF LOWELL brilliantly captures a transitional moment in America’s history while also exploring the complex nature of love, loyalty, and the enduring power of friendship.

My Thoughts:
I found The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott to be fantastic historical fiction.
The story is centered around women working in Lowell in 1832 in a mill. I think the Industrial Revolution is a fascinating time period as so much was going on during that time in history.

The main character, Alice Barrow, has left life on the farm with dreams of making her own money and helping her father out. When she arrives at the boarding house where the women mill workers are housed, she is intimidated but still eager to work. Among the women workers she makes friends with Lovey, a high-spirited girl who breaks all the rules.

Joyland (Hard Case Crime) by Stephen King

source: purchased
title: Joyland
author: Stephen King
genre: crime/mystery/thriller
published: June 2013
pages: 288
rated: 3 out of 5 stars

Blurb:
Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

“I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts. That combo made Hard Case Crime the perfect venue for this book, which is one of my favorites. I also loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we’re going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book.” – Stephen King

My Thoughts:
I read Joyland a few months ago and being that King is one of my favorite authors, I thought this would be the perfect ‘kick-off’ review post for my new blog.

Joyland is hard case crime mainly set in an North Carolina amusement park in the early 1970’s. The protagonist is college student Devin Jones who lives with his father, his mother passed from cancer a few years ago. Devin takes a part-time summer job at Joyland in order to make some extra cash, but ends up staying full-time in order to forget the girl who broke his heart.

Devin learns the amusement part lingo, dresses up as the mascot and finds that he enjoys actually working at Joyland. This is an enchanted world for Devin, one where he feels he fits right into but the amusement park has a dark secret. A woman was murdered in a ride called Horror House and her ghost is said to haunt the ride. The murderer was never found but the woman who was killed can sometimes be seen during the ride at night.