Death Among the Doilies by Mollie Cox Bryan (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"For thirty-something blogger Cora Chevalier, small-town Indigo Gap, North Carolina, seems like the perfect place to reinvent her life. Shedding a stressful past as a counselor for a women’s shelter, Cora is pouring all her talents—and most of her savings—into a craft retreat business, with help from close pal and resident potter Jane Starr. Between transforming her Victorian estate into a crafter’s paradise and babysitting Jane’s daughter, the new entrepreneur has no time for distractions. Especially rumors about the murder of a local school librarian . . .

But when Jane’s fingerprints match those found at the grisly crime scene, Cora not only worries about her friend, but her own reputation. With angry townsfolk eager for justice and both Jane’s innocence and the retreat at risk, she must rely on her creative chops to unlace the truth behind the beloved librarian’s disturbing demise. Because if the killer’s patterns aren’t pinned, Cora’s handiwork could end up in stitches . . ."

My Thoughts:

I've been meaning to give this series a try for some time now so I'm glad that I finally did just that.  This book was an enjoyable cozy mystery although I did have a few issues with it.  Let's start off with the positives first though!  This author has created some really great characters with Cora and Jane.  I adore cozy series where I also adore the main characters.  In this book, Cora has started a new business by opening a "craft retreat" where fellow crafters can go and spend the weekend crafting all types of things together.  I don't know that I would consider myself a crafty person necessarily but I do enjoy trying different things (when I have the time).  I've been wanting to learn to knit for years but haven't yet taught myself - my plan is to learn by watching YouTube videos.  I'm getting off track here but I loved the idea of a mystery series featuring crafting so on to the never-ending TBR list this went.  I really felt like this was a unique set-up to this cozy mystery series which made it stand out to me.  I loved reading about the different arts and crafts - my favorite was actually the candle and soap making which sounds like something I would definitely enjoy doing!  I need to learn how to do this as well now!

One of the things though that I didn't care about with this series though is kinda difficult to put into words.  In this book one of the characters falls into bed with another (no this wouldn't be considered a spoiler at all I wouldn't think), and I didn't care for the way that this was portrayed.  There was a kind of judge-y feel to it and I can't really describe it any better than that.  All I know is that it took me out of the story while I was reading which is why it bothered me.  I was able to get sucked back in though so ultimately I enjoyed this book.  Just a few minor quibbles which maybe lowered my rating from 4 stars to 3.5 stars.  I found the mystery portion of this book to be very well done.  I didn't guess any of the ending which is always a good thing!  I also found myself unable to stop reading at the end.  I just had to know how everything was going to turn out!

All in all, I ultimately did enjoy this beginning to a new to me mystery series.  I'm planning on reading the second book soon and have already added it to my TBR list.  I'm always looking for new cozy mystery authors to follow and I do think that Mollie Cox Bryan will be one of those authors that I continue to read.  I really enjoyed reading about the crafts and am inspired to try to teach myself knitting yet again.  I feel like this would be the perfect winter hobby for me!  I would recommend this book to cozy mystery and mystery fans as well with only a slight hesitation.  Recommended!

Bottom Line:  A good beginning to this cozy mystery series and I will be reading more!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.