Crafts and Life

Down south, the holidays mean family—and for Yankee librarian Tori Sinclair, family means the Sweet Briar Ladies Society sewing circle. It may not be a white Christmas, but it’s one she’ll never forget—no matter how hard she tries… Instead of spending a nice, relaxing Christmas with her fiancé, Tori Sinclair has been drafted into Sweet Briar’s holiday Decorating Committee. And the season has brought sad tidings as well: Charlotte Devereaux, a sewing circle founding member who unraveled after her storybook marriage fell apart, has passed away. Charlotte’s last days were foggy, distressed, and feverish… except for the sketches she produced. One detail in particular jumps out at Tori and leads to a shocking revelation: Charlotte’s husband didn’t leave her—he was murdered! And as she gets closer to the truth, Tori will discover that just about everyone in town has got notches on the naughty list this year.

Tori and the rest of the Sewing Circle are stunned to learn that Margaret Louise has been dumped from the Christmas Decorating Committee in favour of a Councilman's new girlfriend/fiancee, and this woman (who soon gets the nickname The Grinch) is determined to make changes, LOTS of changes, gone are the Dickensian wreathes and swags in rich reds and greens, in are some pink and silver, blink and you miss them decorations. Gone is the Christmas Tree with the decorations partly picked out by the Councilman's late wife, in comes a cartoon tree on a screen! The Grinch is all sweetness and light whilst the Councilman is around, when he isn't she is busy making everyone's lives a misery, in particular Kyle, the Councilman's young son, The Grinch want's to erase any trace of the previous wife.

Whilst all this has been going on there has been a death, a lady whose husband ran off, and then she got dementia, the only thing that seemed to bring her joy was sketching, and it is one of these sketches that leads to the rather gruesome discovery that the husband didn't run away after all but was buried in the grounds of the library! Now Tori and her friends have to figure out what happened, why it happened and make sure that The Grinch is pushed out of Sweet Briar for good!