Description
Shop owner and part-time sleuth Betsy Devonshire has a knack for unraveling mysteries—and it’s entangled her in more than one knotty situation. Here, for the first time in one volume, are the first three Needlecraft Mysteries.
CREWEL WORLD: When Betsy arrives in Excelsior, Minnesota, she winds up settling in—and taking a new job at her sister Margot’s needlework shop. It seems things are finally going her way—until Margot is murdered. In a town this friendly, no one seems like they could have done something so horrible. But Betsy isn’t going to rest until she finds her sister’s killer.
FRAMED IN LACE: The historic Hopkins ferry is raised from the bottom of a lake—and everyone is stunned when a skeleton is found on board. But the evidence is a bit soggy: the boat sank in 1949, the victim was a woman, and an unidentifiable lacelike fabric was found nearby. Still, with a little help from her needlecraft shop patrons, Betsy intends to sew up this mystery.
A STITCH IN TIME: Minnesota winters may be freezing, but Betsy’s heart is warmed when the best needle-workers in Excelsior volunteer to restore a damaged tapestry found in a church basement. Betsy even donates the materials for the project, hoping the publicity will boost her shop’s sales. But she soon realizes that her good intentions may have uncovered secrets that someone will kill to keep.
About the Author
Has published asMary Monica Pulver(real name)Mary KuhfeldMargaret Frazer(with Gail Frazer)[from the author's own website)Mary Monica Pulver (her maiden name) is an incidental Hoosier — Terre Haute, Indiana, had the hospital closest to her parents’ home in Marshall, Illinois. She spent the later part of her childhood and early adult life in Wisconsin, graduating from high school in Milwaukee.She was a journalist in the U.S. Navy for six and a half years (two in London), and later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is married to a museum curator.Mary Monica sold her first short story, “Pass the Word,” to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, in 1983, and has since sold more than two dozen short stories to anthologies and magazines, including some in Germany, England, Italy and France.She has appeared in such anthologies as The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives, The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits, Shakespearean Mysteries, Royal Whodunnits, Unholy Orders, Murder Most Crafty, and Silence of the Loons. Her first mystery novel, Murder at the War, appeared from St. Martin’s Press in 1987 and was nominated for an Anthony as Best First Novel. The Unforgiving Minutes and Ashes to Ashes followed in 1988; but Original Sin was sold to Walker, who also presented the fifth book, Show Stopper, in May of 1992. Berkley Diamond brought these mysteries out in paperback. They feature detective Peter Brichter – a cop one reviewer said was “a hardboiled sleuth who’s somehow landed in a cozy mystery”.Berkley published six medieval mysteries Mary Monica wrote in collaboration with Gail Frazer under the pseudonym Margaret Frazer: The Novice’s Tale, The Servant’s Tale (nominated for an Edgar as Best Original Paperback of 1993), The Outlaw’s Tale, The Bishop’s Tale, The Boy’s Tale, and The Murderer’s Tale. The detective in the mysteries is a nun, Dame Frevisse, a niece by marriage of Thomas Chaucer, the legendary Geoffrey’s son. The stories take place in England in the 1430s. Gail presently continues the series alone.In 1998 Mary Monica began writing a new series for Berkley featuring amateur needleworking sleuth Betsy Devonshire. Set in Excelsior, Minnesota, Crewel World came out in March and was followed by Framed in Lace, A Stitch in Time, Unraveled Sleeve, A Murderous Yarn, Hanging by A Thread, Cutwork, Crewel Yule, Embroidered Truths, Sins and Needles, Knitting Bones, Thai Die, Blackwork, and Buttons and Bones. Threadbare will appear in December of 2011, and she is at work on And Then You Dye. The first six were paperback originals. Subsequent books were hardcovers followed by paperback editions. These light and traditional novels are written under the pseudonym Monica Ferris, and all have gone to multiple printings – the first one is in its eighteenth printing!Mary Monica has taught courses on mystery writing to children at North Hennepin Community College, gifted children in District #287, and adults at one-evening seminars at Hennepin and Ramsey County libraries. She does lectures and signings, and has appeared on panels at mystery and science fiction conventions, including Bouchercon, Minicon, Diversicon, Magna Cum Murder, and Malice Domestic.She has spoken to stitchery guilds on local, state, and national levels. She has won a place on national and local best-seller lists, including USA Today and the independent mystery bookstore compilation. She is a member of Sisters in Crime (a national organization that promotes women who write mystery fiction), remains a paid speaker on the life of a mystery author, and is a volunteer for Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, and in
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