by: Betty Hechtman
Series: Crochet Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: September 26, 2023
Publisher: Beyond the Page
When a baby girl is dropped off on Molly Pink’s doorstep, her life is thrown into disarray as she is putting together a troublesome author event at the bookstore where she works.
The author is a demanding former Hollywood columnist whose book is filled with upbeat stories, but who wants to promote a true crime podcast she is about to launch based on the dark side of what she left out of her columns.
At the same time, Molly’s son has asked her to investigate a potential investor in his production company. The baby, who happens to be Molly’s estranged granddaughter offers her an opening into an elite mommy group, a member of which is the wife of the person Molly is to investigate.
When the columnist dies suddenly, Molly finds herself in the crosshairs of an unfamiliar detective who considers her the prime suspect. Molly recruits the help of the Tarzana Hookers to help with all.
I’m glad to have a few minutes off from my hectic life to spend with you.
I’m new to you, Betty, and the Crochet Mystery series you are a part of. Can you please tell me about yourself?
I have passed over the big 5-Oh, but who cares since 50 is the new 30. I’m a widow and started a whole new chapter in my life when I got the job at Shedd & Royal Books and More. It led to me learning how to crochet and joining the Tarzana Hookers who are now all good friends of mine. My house is full of family and pets. Between all that and my investigating, I don’t have much time for anything else. As for my love life—it’s complicated.
Why do you feel the need to put on your sleuthing hat and investigate murders?
It wasn’t my plan to play Nancy Drew, but I kept finding myself in the middle of murders. More than once I’ve been a person of interest which is a nicer way of saying suspect. What could I do but clear myself by finding out who really did it.
When you aren’t investigating murders, what do you like to do?
As I mentioned, I work at a bookstore. I’m the event coordinator and assistant manager. It is like a second home to me particularly since the Tarzana Hookers meet in the yarn department that was added to the bookstore a while back.
I also like to hang out with my best friend Dinah Lyons. She teaches freshman English at the nearby community college. I’m always hearing about what crazy things her students are trying to get away with now—like using emojis in their term paper or writing in text talk.
She’s my helper in crime solving and we often play what we call the Sherlock Holmes game to deduce clues from what we find out.
Can you tell me a little bit about what’s happening in Killer Hooks, the latest installment of your life?
It all started when a baby was dropped off on my doorstep. She wasn’t a random baby, but my estranged granddaughter. And then my older son, who had been mortified by my sleuthing, suddenly wanted me to investigate a potential business partner. The next thing I knew I was balancing work with caring for a houseful of animals, letting my mother and her singing group practice in my living room and taking the baby to an elite mommy group, while looking for information for him. I barely had time to hang out with the Hookers, though I did manage to learn a new technique called Granny Square Stripes.
It got more complicated when an author died in the middle of her event at the bookstore and I found myself a person of interest in her demise. The only way to get the heat off of me was to find the real killer.
What’s next for you?
I don’t want to give anything away but by the end of this adventure, I’m offered something too exciting to turn down.
Molly, thank you so much for your time.
Thanks for having me. It’s always fun to tell the world about what I’m up to.
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Betty Hechtman is the national bestselling author of the Crochet Mysteries, the Yarn Retreat Mysteries, and the Writer for Hire Mysteries. Handicraft and writing are her passions and she is thrilled to be able to combine them in all of her series. Betty grew up on the South Side of Chicago and has a degree in Fine Art. Since College, she has studied everything from improv comedy to magic. She has had an assortment of professions, including volunteer farm worker picking fruit on a kibbutz tucked between Lebanon and Syria, nanny at a summer resort, waitress at a coffee house, telephone operator, office worker at the Writer’s Guild, public relations assistant at a firm with celebrity clients, and newsletter editor at a Waldorf school. She has written newspaper and magazine pieces, short stories, screenplays, and a middle-grade mystery, Stolen Treasure. She lives with her family and stash of yarn in Southern California. See BettyHechtman.com for more information, excerpts from all her books, and photos of all the projects of the patterns included in her books. She blogs on Fridays at Killerhobbies.blogspot.com, and you can join her on Facebook.
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Thanks for interviewing Molly!
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