Home Crafting Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Home Crafting Mystery Books

The Home Crafting Mysteries is a series of highly interesting novels based on the mystery & thriller and craft & hobbies genres. It is written one of the popular authors of The United States, Cricket McRae. The series consists of a total of 6 novels published between the years 2007 and 2012, all of which feature very interesting and intriguing plots based on the life of the primary character Sophie Mae, hailing from the tiny town of Cadyville in Washington, United States. Sophie is depicted in the series as an amateur sleuth, who frequently gets involved in many murder cases and carries out investigations in order to clear her name make the real culprits pay for their crimes. Other than carrying out the investigations, Sophie Mae also runs a shop named ‘Winding Road Bath Products’, which is her primary job. She does a variety of jobs for her customers, including preserving the foods, make cheese, spinning, as well as learning to make mead, which she considers important as an age old art. In her attempts of doing the investigations about the murder cases, Sophie is helped by a few of her friends. One among them is Barr Ambrose, who is described by the author as a hunky and tough person. The pair of sisters Meghan and Erin Bly also come to her aid when she needs them, along with several others. Meghan Bly is depicted as the best friend of Sophie Mae. With the help of all these friends, she tries to track down the killers and bring them to justice by making them speak the truth, and tries to make small town of Cadyville and peaceful place to live.

The first novel of the Home Crafting Mystery series written by author Cricket McRae was published in the year 2007 by the Midnight Ink publishing house. It was titled ‘Lye in Wait’ and featured the main characters in the form of Sophie Mae Reynolds, Barr Ambrose, Meghan Bly and Erin Bly. The plot of the novel is set in the small town of Cadyville, situated in Washington, United States. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Sophie Mae Reynolds is depicted as a hardworking woman, who runs a shop named ‘Winding Road Bath Products’. On one fine morning, she was verifying the checklist of her inventory in the workroom of her store when she saw a dead body. This event turned her peaceful and busy life upside down as the people of the town began to see her as a suspect in the murder. Prior to this incident, Sophie Mae Reynolds used to be a hardworking widow in her thirties and running her shop by selling beauty products. It is revealed that the dead body is of a handyman from the neighborhood named Walter Hanover. The initial investigation showed that he had died from drinking lye, which was abundantly available in Sophie Mae’s shops. She thought that she would be held as a suspect for killing Walter Hanover, but to her surprise, the police declare it as a suicide and allow Sophie to walk out free. However, she doubts the way this whole event had turned up. Sophie Mae finds out that Walter had just won a lottery worth lots of cash and also had a very loving fiancee. And having all this in his life, suicide seemed to be out of the question.

In order to get to the bottom of the case, Sophie Mae Reynolds begins to carry out the investigation of the murder of Walter Hanover on her own. During the investigation, she frequently thinks about her simple and peaceful life as a soap maker, which was very much different from her current difficult situation. She used to live with her best friend named Meghan Bly and her 10 year old daughter Corgi. Sophie Mae used to like the single malt Scotch and was dedicated towards her work. But now, she seems to be disturbed by the appearance of the dead body of Walter Hanover in her shop and is determined to get to to the depth of the truth and bring out the real killer. In her investigation, Sophie is helped by her friends Meghan and Erin Bly as well as by the handsome detective named Barr Ambrose. She used to get distracted by the hunky and handsome personality of Detective Ambrose, but she seemed to be heading towards the pursuit of the trail, which makes her surrounded by trouble. The novel went on to become the finalist for the Book of the Year Award by the ForeWord Magazine in the year 2007. Author Cricket McRae was also praised by the readers and her fellow authors for her efforts in depicting the strong characters and an interesting mystery plot. The plot of the novel also seemed enjoyable to the critics, who appreciated her writing and gave very good reviews for the novel. This motivated author Cricket McRae to write a few more interesting novels in the mystery series.

The second novel of the Home Crafting Mystery series was published under the title ‘Heaven Preserve Us’. It was published by the Midnight Ink publishing house in the year 2008. The plot of this novel continues to show Sophie Mae Reynolds as a soap maker and owner of the shop ‘Winding Road Bath Products’, and at the same time getting involved in murder investigations. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Sophie is depicted as making preserves for her shop during the day and then running a crisis center referral line for helping the needy during the night. She finds it a better idea to help people while still keeping a low profile. Soon, she gets a call from a man who threatens to commit suicide and destroy her. Sophie’s boss Philip Heaven considers the man to be cranked up and disconnects the phone angrily. But, after a few days, Philip is found dead due to botulism. Before dying, Philip’s last words were a warning to Sophie that the threat was not a hoax and the man meant what he said. Now, she feels singled out by a stalker and needs to think of a solution quickly before becoming another victim. She begins her hunt for a mad and poisonous murderer along with Detective Ambrose, who has become her boyfriend. The novel was very appreciated for its interesting murderous plot as well as for the various recipes of preserves and the beauty products.