Algernon Beecham had made a fortune publishing what could best be described as “hobby mysteries” — books that dish up details on everything from croissant baking to candlemaking, needlework to crossword puzzles — while the bodies pile up.
When he had met Emily at a local dog show last year, they had chatted about the two things they both loved the most: purebred dogs and murder mysteries. That’s when he offered her a job editing a new series he had just dreamed up on the spot: the Kennel Club mysteries.
One morning, as she raced up the creaky oak staircase of Beecham’s offices, she mulled over possible new titles: “Dogged to Death?” “The Mastiff Murders?”
But when she peeped into Algernon’s office, she realized that he had been caught in the act of crafting a mystery. And he was dead. . . .
Recognize that formula? The detailed descriptions, the characters who are ordinary Janes, trying their best to live ordinary lives while pursuing their quiet passion for sewing, cooking, whatever. Then bam! A dead body falls out of the sky to ruin their best-laid plans.
A formula that works
Yes, it’s a formula.
But both writers and fans of this mystery subgenre — the hobby mystery — believe it’s a formula that works.
“I was an English major,” says Joyce Greenfield, a Gig Harbor, Wash., fan. “I read a lot of serious literature. But it’s like a balanced diet — the protein, the carbs. And every once in a while you have an ice cream.”
For Greenfield, reading one of Diane Mott Davidson’s culinary murder stories (complete with recipes) or a needlecraft mystery by Monica Ferris (pattern included) is like snacking on a sinful dessert.
“I read the serious books,” says Greenfield, who used to work in a library. “Then I read the fluff.”
When she’s not reading, she’s knitting, quilting or doing needlework.
Or logging on to her online needlework news group — the same group that includes Monica Ferris.
She and Ferris have chatted online about thread and fabric over the years. Greenfield even thought up the title of Ferris’ 2004 book, recently published in paperback. It’s called “Crewel Yule,” the title a play on the embroidery term crewel.
As a reward for thinking up the clever title — a must in this genre — Greenfield earned an autographed copy.
The book sends needlework shop owner Betsy Devonshire to a national convention in Nashville, where another shop owner plunges to her death. It’s up to Betsy to solve the crime. Readers get not only a pleasant yarn, but also a free “Crewel Yule” tree ornament pattern, complete with instructions.
Bifurcated appeal
Ferris says one of the beauties of writing hobby mysteries is that she has two audiences to appeal to: mystery readers and needlework fans.
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Other titles in her series include “A Stitch in Time,” “Hanging by a Thread” and, most recently, “Embroidered Truths.”
But here’s some unembroidered truth from the author: Before Ferris started writing about needlework, she knew next to nothing about the intricate craft.
She had been writing under other names, turning out stories that featured a police detective and his wife raising horses, then another mystery series set in medieval England. They sold, Ferris says. But it wasn’t until she tapped into the needlework market that her books really took off.
It was her editor, a needleworker, who thought up the idea for the mystery series.
“I knew how to do a little embroidery, and I thought that would get me through the first book,” says the 62-year-old Ferris, who lives in a suburb of Minneapolis.
But she soon learned how wrong she was.
So she began to do her homework, visiting shops, learning the craft and learning about the people who delight in working with needle and thread.
“They’re the nicest people in the world,” Ferris says. And one of the reasons her books are so much fun for them, she says, is that these nice people would never dream of doing someone in.
Readers say they love “double-dipping,” reading books that feed both their love for their hobby and their craving for escapist plots.
These books tend to be set in tea shops, spas and other female-centric locales.
“They definitely tilt toward the cozy end of the spectrum,” says Kate Stine, editor and publisher of Mystery Scene Magazine. She says their appeal is mainly to middle-age women.
There’s danger in these books — but not too many details about the actual bloodletting.
“The reason I like them is they’re not gory mysteries,” says Mary Jo Stoliker of Tacoma. She has never made a recipe or a craft from the books. She just enjoys their frothy flavor.
“I think the attraction is the lightness of it,” Stoliker says. “What appeals is that it’s not real life. You can just escape.”