9 Crafting Cozies by Barbara Emodi

The first in Emodi’s cozy Canadian reads sees seamstress and empty-nester Valerie Rankin newly arrived in the close-knit town. 

Valerie is determined to set up a crafting co-op in Gasper’s Cove. Her plans are thrown off when a local radio presenter is found dead. 

She decides to investigate, helped along the way by some of the community's many quirky residents, including an animal-loving ex-con, Duck, and a highly intelligent golden retriever.

Valerie’s crafting co-op has finally opened. It’s proved a huge success. Our heroine is also helping out her cousin, Darlene, at the local recycling depot. 

But talk about donated fabric and yarn and speculation on where a World War Two parachute might have come from is soon put on hold when a bus driver is killed. 

Valerie’s pal, ex-con Duck, is quickly hauled in by the Mounties and charged with the slaying. Helped by Darlene and her crafting cronies, our heroine sets out to clear Duck’s name and find the real murderer.

Corrupt local politico Mighty Mike Murphy is in Valerie’s sights. She and the Gasper’s Cove Crafters are running a campaign to get Darlene elected as the town’s new mayor. 

When Murphy opts to fight dirty by spreading malicious and false rumors about his rival, Valerie confronts him with a few home truths. 

Their public row garners local headlines, so when Murphy turns up dead, the finger of suspicion points straight at our heroine.

The Gasper’s Cove Crafters are planning a sewing week at the town’s newly opened B&B, the Bluenose Inn, run by Valerie’s cousin, Rollie. Things go awry when the inn ends up triple-booked. 

In the midst of a food truck rally, a corporate retreat, and lovers’ trysts, a body turns up in the kitchen. With the fate of a week of crafting fun hanging by a thread, and Rollie a prime suspect in the slaying, Valerie sets out to catch the killer.

The Gasper’s Cove Crafters close ranks to protect a senior member whose embarrassing secret seems about to go public. 

The white lies they tell to help one of their own soon spiral out of control, and when a murder is stirred into the mix, it starts to look like the scandal could put an end to the group altogether. 

With Valerie caught up in what looks like a felony offense, there’s only one thing to do—help the Mounties get their killer.

The long, icy winters of Nova Scotia provide the perfect environment for folk who love crafting around a roaring log fire. Valerie and her crafting cohorts are looking forward to a few months of doing just that. 

However, a violent storm smashes through Gasper’s Cove, revealing dark and long-buried secrets that point to a possible solution to an unsolved murder from the town’s past. Can our canny crafters find the killer?

The prestigious Spring Craft Show is sending the Gasper’s Cove Crafters into a frenzy of activity. Pushy entrepreneur Murray Nunn is convinced he can take the event to the next level and turn it into a global phenomenon. 

Valerie isn’t convinced by his big talk, but she’s hardly expecting her brusque rejection of his schemes to end with him dropping dead in front of her live on TV. The list of suspects includes the entire local crafting community. 

Valerie will soon discover a tapestry of lies, secrets, and thwarted romances that must be unpicked before the killer can be revealed.

Winter has settled over Nova Scotia, and Valerie is looking forward to spending some crafting time with her pals from the Seaside Sewists. 

Any hope of a quiet time quilting ends when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police come knocking at the door. There’s been a killing, and the coroner has identified the murder weapon: a seam ripper. 

Could the murderer be someone from within their midst, or is somebody laying a false trail? Valerie and the crafters have only one way to find the answer—investigate!

The Gasper’s Cove Crafters volunteer to take part in a plan to clean up the local beach. Their mass litter pick quickly turns up some intriguing items, including a message in a bottle dating from 1962. 

Valerie dismisses the message’s contents as typical small-town gossip, but then a visiting lawyer plunges to her death from a cliff, and one of the crafters is arrested with her quilting tool held up as a key piece of evidence. 

Our heroine sets out to clear her friend’s name and finds herself getting tangled up with a nosy ghost hunter, a haunted lighthouse, and a furtive heritage officer. Meanwhile, the town’s folk wait anxiously in fear that the killer may strike again.