Crafting Trouble
Second Chances Op Shop Mystery, Book 3
Tash Carmichael has never made a card, but she's already planning the business.
A two-day card-making workshop promises professional techniques, market-ready products, and the chance to turn her forgotten op-shop supplies into profit.
Then award-winning teacher Simone Vale fails to arrive for Sunday's session. Tash calls the Nuntin Hotel—and staff find Simone dead in her room.
Tash isn't ready to pack away her questions.
Behind Simone's polished success story are old designs, unfilled orders, family arguments, and a business deal that could cut someone out completely. Senior Constable Brad Jenkins tells Tash to leave the investigation to the police, but every carefully arranged layer hides another person with something to lose.
Can Tash peel back the layers before the killer covers the truth for good?
Includes 8 bonus puzzles inspired by the story. They're completely optional and not required to solve the mystery, but they're a fun way to investigate alongside Tash. A printable puzzle pack is also available for readers who prefer pencil and paper.
Crafting Trouble is the third book in the Second Chances Op Shop Mystery series—an Australian cosy mystery filled with small-town secrets, amateur sleuthing, creative rivalries, and plenty of second chances.
Things You'll Love
- Australian small-town cosy mystery
- Female amateur sleuth
- Card making and paper craft
- A two-day creative-business workshop
- Creative rivalries and old designs
- Family arguments and small-business secrets
- Op-shop community and recurring characters
- Off-page violence and a cosy tone
- Eight optional story-inspired puzzles
- A self-contained mystery within an ongoing series
Behind the Story
Crafting Trouble gives Tash another hobby to embrace with maximum enthusiasm before she has mastered the basics. The card-making workshop adds colour, texture and creative-business ambition to the mystery, while Simone’s carefully polished public success hides old designs, unfilled orders and relationships with more layers than a handmade card.
The third Second Chances Op Shop Mystery keeps the series’ cosy Australian setting, recurring Nuntin Creek community and eight optional puzzles. The papercraft theme runs through the clues and language of the investigation, but readers never need to solve a puzzle to follow Tash as she peels back the carefully arranged layers.
Read a Sample
About the Author
Macie Ryan is the not-so-secret pen name for an Aussie author who plots fictional homicides to creatively kill off the people who annoy her.
Title: Crafting Trouble
Author: Macie Ryan
Publisher: Hey Said Renee Publishing
Release Date: January 1, 2027
Series: Second Chances Op Shop Mystery (Book 3)
Genre: Australian Cosy Mystery / Amateur Sleuth Mystery / Small-Town Mystery / Craft Mystery / Interactive Mystery
Themes: Card making, creative rivalry, small-business secrets, family conflict, community, second chances and amateur sleuthing
Setting: Nuntin Creek, Gippsland, Victoria, Australia
Target Age: Adult
Format: Kindle ebook
Availability: Available for preorder before release and for purchase after publication via Amazon and other retailers.
ASIN: B0HCPMY7X1
Books2Read: https://books2read.com/u/477MZ7
Search Keywords: Australian small-town cosy mystery, card-making craft murder mystery, female amateur sleuth whodunit, interactive mystery with puzzles, creative-business secrets mystery, op-shop mystery
Summary for Search: Crafting Trouble is an Australian cosy mystery set in Nuntin Creek. When the teacher of a two-day card-making workshop is found dead in her hotel room, amateur sleuth Tash Carmichael investigates creative rivalries, unfilled orders, family arguments and carefully arranged lies. The third Second Chances Op Shop Mystery includes eight optional bonus puzzles.