The art of needlecraft requires patience, discipline, and creativity. So too does the art of detection. Just ask Betsy Devonshire, who’s learning that life in a small-town needlecraft shop can reveal an unexpected knack for knitting—and a hidden talent for unraveling crime.When Betsy Devonshire arrived in Excelsior, Minnesota, all she wanted was to visit her sister Margot and get her life in order. She never dreamed her sister would give her a place to stay and a job at her needlec...

Poul Anderson was one of the seminal figures of twentieth-century science fiction. Named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1997, he produced an enormous body of standalone novels and series fiction and was equally at home in the fields of heroic fantasy and hard SF. He was a meticulous craftsman and a gifted storyteller, and the impact of his finest work continues, undiminished, to this day.Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson's Worlds is a rousing...

Betsy is still new enough to Excelsior, Minnesota, to not know a scandal when she causes one. So when she hires Foster Johns to fix her roof, the resulting uproar has her needled. The whole town has pinned a five-year-old unsolved double murder on him. Betsy believes Johns when he says he isn't guilty. But she'll have to use every stitch of her sleuthing skills to tie up all the loose ends and prove his innocence once and for all.

Heavens to Betsy Devonshire! She never intended to get so caught up in this year’s antique car race. But as sponsor of one of the entrants, she can’t help but keep a close eye on the outcome—and it’s not pretty. One of the drivers never makes it to the finish line. His car is found exploded in flames. Now Betsy and her crafty friends must determine if it was an accident or the work of a jealous competitor. The answer may be in a piece of needlework, but pinning down a suspect won’t be easy...

When an elderly homeless woman is found dead on the shore of Lake Minnetonka, she’s wearing something that holds the key to her identity but also opens up a mystery. Embroidered on her blouse is her will, in which she bequeaths everything she owns to her niece—Emily Hame, a member of the Monday bunch at Betsy Devonshire’s Crewel World needlework shop! Emily’s aunt turns out to be the second homeless woman to be found dead under mysterious circumstances. It’s up to Betsy to discover the com...

Almost everyone in Excelsior, Minnesota—craftsy and noncraftsy alike—has turned out for the art fair. So when an artisan is murdered there, the list of suspects is practically endless. Betsy Devonshire wants to help out in the police investigation. Her best friend, Officer Jill Cross, confides that they have a lead: a bloody footprint in the woodcarvers’ booth matches that of a local youth. But when Betsy can’t keep the news to herself, Jill gives Betsy the cold shoulder. Everyone’s on pin...

Creator of the modern female private eye story, Marcia Muller has been writing novels and short stories about Sharon McCone since 1977. In the process, McCone has gained a host of associates and formed her own detective agency. Some seven years ago, Marcia Muller decided to show readers different views of her sleuth by relating cases through the eyes of McCone's colleagues. McCone and Friends contains three stories told by McCone herself, as well as a novella and a short story nar...

The cold, blustery Midwest winters don’t exactly agree with Betsy Devonshire, but since moving to Excelsior, Minnestoa, she sure has met a lot of warm, friendly people. So she isn’t too surprised when the town’s most talented needleworkers volunteer to restore a damaged tapestry that was found in the basement of a local church. Betsy even offers to donate materials for the project, thinking that the free publicity will boost sales at her financially troubled needlecraft shop. But soon Bets...

When the historic Hopkins ferry was raised from the bottom of the lake, who would have thought they were literally raising the dead? But there it was—a skeleton—right before their eyes. Unfortunately, the evidence is slim and soggy: the boat sank in 1949, the victim on board was a woman, and near the body is a piece of unidentifiable lacelike fabric. Sounds like a job for Betsy Devonshire. Betsy knows there's more to this story than what's on the surface. And once she and patrons of her ne...

Unlikely partners bound by circumstance … or by fate?Being rescued by a good looking, bad-boy firefighter isn't how Samantha Bennett expected to start her stay in Knights Bridge, Massachusetts. Now she has everyone's attention—especially that of Justin Sloan, her rescuer, who wants to know why she was camped out in an abandoned New England cider mill.Samantha is a treasure hunter who has returned to Knights Bridge to solve a three-hundred-year-old mystery and salva...

In snowy Swift River Valley, unexpected romance is just around the corner …Heather Sloan has landed her dream job—the renovation of Vic Scarlatti's stately 1912 country home overlooking the icy waters of Echo Lake in Knights Bridge, Massachusetts. It's the perfect project for the family business, but for once, Heather is in charge.Diplomatic Security Service agent Brody Hancock left Knights Bridge at eighteen, a few steps ahead of arrest and the wrath of Heather's ...

Nantucket was her paradise—until reality came barging in.Mae Benson was happy—a beloved wife, beloved mother, beloved neighbor. But even she wasn’t ready for the tragedy looming around the corner. The accident that claims her husband’s life rocks the whole family. And it’s not the only thing stirring up trouble.Mae’s oldest, Eliza, is facing an unexpected pregnancy with a fiancé she no longer wants to be with. Her daughter Holly is caught in a marriage on t...