Ink, Red, Dead

AS MANY SECRETS AS PILES OF STUFF -
MURDER IN A HOARDER'S HAVEN...

The phrase "hostess with the mostest" takes on a whole new meaning when crafty amateur sleuth Kiki Lowenstein finds herself stuck in the middle of a hoarder's crime scene in the third installment of the Joanna Slan's cozy mystery series. But proceed with caution: this one's as littered with surprises as it is clutter.

Scrapbook maven Kiki happens to be a card-carrying Episcopalian - but she respects the power of intuition. So when she has a "bad feeling" en route to Marla Lever's house for a scrapbooking crop, she heeds her instincts. Something is definitely very wrong. Marla's nowhere to be seen, although her car's in the garage - buried under a heap of garbage and lawn furniture. Tip of the iceberg, sadly. Because the potential horror of scrapbooking in a hoarder's paradise pales in comparison to the body the cops find in Marla's freezer.

Marla's nearly dead herself - passed out from heat stroke, no thanks to the suffocating aroma of her 101 feline friends. Or so it seems... But the hoarding and the human popsicle aside, something about her circumstances just doesn't seem right to Kiki - whose insatiable curiosity and endearing persistence make her an ace amateur sleuth. For one, why would Marla turn off her A/C in the thick of a heat wave when she's expecting company?

Alongside her coworkers at Time in a Bottle scrapbooking store (some more delightful than others), and with a helping hand from her longtime crush Detective Chad Detweiler, Kiki digs deep into a treasure trove of clues - from Marla's semi-estranged children to her barely-touched inheritance - meticulously gluing the pieces together as only a scrapbooker could. But it's only a matter of time until curiosity kills the cat - or until Kiki's spidey sense winds her down a path even more treacherous than one of Marla's hallways.

To say that "Ink, Red, Dead" is a page-turner is an understatement. Readers will tear through these pages like a fashion addict at a sample sale. And we dare you not to fall in love with Kiki--whose fearlessness would make her intimidating, were she not so adorable. Plus, her delectable romance with Detective Chad would provide a delightful relief - if it weren't so steamy. The duo's tension heats up in this outing ever-so subtly, one longing glance and another brush of the hand at a time--sure to make the toes curl! A sure thing for craft cozy fans of Brianna Bates, Laura Childs, Lois Winston, and Mollie Cox Bryan.

Includes free bonus file with recipes and projects!


Genre: Cozy Mystery