A new novella Panic in the Pansies the spring edition of The Seasons of Gasper’s Cove 2023

The snow’s gone. It’s springtime in Nova Scotia. It’s house selling, bulb planting, and transplant buying time. Stay at home mom and canning aficionado Krista Willett is happy to be out of the house. But her new job at the garden center has its challenges. After all she knows nothing about gardening, her boss is AWOL, and her best customers turn out to be dead or crooked, or both. Can she keep this job? Does she want to? Does she have a choice? Her children, a stray cat, and her brother-in-law the failed inventor, all believe in her. Who can let a team like that down? Not Krista Willett, not this time of year.

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Beware! A crafty killer lurks in Gasper’s Cove
Seamstress, crafter, and empty-nester Valerie Rankin has plans to open a crafter’s co-op that will put Gasper’s Cove, Nova Scotia on the map. One month before opening day, she still has to pin down a venue, patch up the family business, iron out corruption in the town council, and unravel why anyone who tries to help her ends up dead. With the help of her Golden Retriever, an ex-con who loves cats, and a community of first, second, and third cousins, she just might pull it off.

• All-new cozy mystery series set in the world of the fictitious yet immersive Gasper’s Cove where crafting and community collide
• Mystery lovers and crafters alike will adore immersing themselves in this warm, quirky mystery featuring empty-nester Valerie Rankin and her efforts to re-invigorate the family business and her hometown.
• A perfect gift for anyone who loves crafting, sewing, or simply a great read

A Campsite of Culprits

As I work on my first series, I have continued to write for anthologies. I find working with other authors a great way to test out my characters and my locations. My story for this one, “Made in the Woods” is set in Austin, Texas. We have a son there and have visited the wonderful McKinney State Park, a few miles out of town, many times in our RV. Austin is such a cool spot. I miss it. When the pandemic we don’t need to talk about is over, we will be back. In the meantime I am doing my traveling in my stories.

This one was particularly interesting for me as it allowed me to revisit a time, many, many years ago when one of my sisters and I made wedding dresses. It was a short-lived venture, and one that ended dramatically. I will never forget the morning we arrived at a big house to deliver dresses for the bride, bridesmaid, flower girl, and grandmother of the bride and we were nearly knocked off the front step by the groom as he shot out through the door, having just called the entire wedding off.

Nothing like that happens in this story, but plenty of other things do.

Here’s a preview:

What’s a traveling bridal dressmaker to do when her dresses and place of business go missing?

Not anyone can run a bridal dressmaking business from a campground picnic table but Hazel Rollings does just that. The question is, can she solve a mystery too? With her business, her family’s reputation, and a wedding on the line she has to. Can this seamstress from Nova Scotia find her way around Austin Texas fast enough to solve a crime or will a clever opponent force her to pack up her scissors and thread and head back home in defeat?

Enjoy,

Babs