#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA—M. E. BAKOS WRITES ABOUT CRAFTS, MURDER & OBSESSION

M. E. Bakos writes the Home Renovator Mysteries. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and a spoiled Morkie. If she isn’t plotting new mysteries, she’s planning home projects. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Once upon a time, I craved learning to crochet and the needle arts. With new project enthusiasm, my undertakings were lengthy afghans, which may or may not have been completed. Eventually, I put unfinished items aside, and donated the unused yarn, or gave to friends with nimbler fingers and whose crocheting or knitting looked awesome. Mine, not so much.

But there are times you yearn for small craft projects. The pandemic is one of those times. Earlier, I had discovered round and flat knitting looms, which made my stitches look more professional. I made scarves, caps, etc. but again, stashed the items away in closets or drawers. Now craving a simple soothing diversion from the stresses of life, I dug out the round looms. Thus, the cozy knitted cowl emerged. With our cold Minnesota climate and possessing few turtlenecks, it was a perfect solution to enhance crew sweaters and keep my neck warm. 

 

Even the craft-challenged, such as myself, can complete them. I casted on and used a single knit stitch. I followed directions courtesy of YouTube videos and knitted away. The cowls took a few hours as opposed to the large afghans attempted earlier. It became a sort of obsession.

 

Note: Not all were knitted on round looms. The burgundy cowl started out as a scarf on a flat loom and put aside. I stitched the ends together, and it became another cowl. 

 

Along with the simple knitting, I indulged two other obsessions, watching murder investigations, and home renovation shows. From rehabbing houses, to tiny dwellings, to staging homes for sale, I’m fascinated with what people accomplish with a ‘can do’ spirit. This is where Katelyn, my main character, enters. She does what I choose not to. But, like plans in real life, her projects have pitfalls, contractors don’t perform, mirrors break, and quirky characters abound. Add in a murder that the feisty home flipper is determined to solve, and buckle up for a fun ride.

In Lethal Flip, the third book in the Home Renovator Mysteries, Katelyn continues renovating houses and solves a murder to boot. Could her neighbor across from her easy breezy rehab really have killed his wife? While everyone is absent from Katelyn’s life, his soulful eyes and attentiveness mesmerize her as she rehabs the house. In a nod to current social conditions, loneliness and obsession can strike at any time. So, relax, read a cozy, laugh, and see how characters deal with their challenges.

 

To celebrate the release of her third cozy novel, the first two e-books in the series, Fatal Flip and Deadly Flip, are now on sale. 

 

Lethal Flip 

A Home Renovator Mystery, Book 3

 

Flipping houses can be LETHAL!

 

Katelyn takes on an easy breezy house renovation in Crocus Heights, Minnesota, in the third volume of The Home Renovator cozy mystery series. It’s a breath of fresh air after flipping a house in the crowded Hiptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. No drama or bad juju.

 

But wait, who killed the woman across the street from her newest rehab?

What else can a Home Rehab Specialist do, except play detective? 

 

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