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77th out of 235 books
—
255 voters
Lye in Wait (Home Crafting Mystery #1)
by
Cricket McRae (Goodreads Author)
Cocoa butter soap, check. Lemon lip balm, check. A dead body? That's just what Sophie Mae Reynolds finds in her workroom: the corpse of Walter Hanover, the neighborhood handyman. He died from drinking lye, something she has in good supply. But the police don't suspect Sophie Mae, a thirty-something widow who makes and sells beauty products. Instead they call it a suicide....more
Paperback, 324 pages
Published
2008
by Midnight Ink
(first published October 1st 2007)
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With two kids, a husband, a full-time job, it's not often that I read a book in under a week anymore. Which I think says a lot for both the tone of this book and how engaging it was. I found it straddled that fine line between being light, and breezy, but also having a nice amount of suspense and mystery to it. There were definitely moments when I would have advised Sophie Mae to be more careful, but I was also able to read it one evening when my husband was away on a trip without getting the he...more
Initially I quite enjoyed this book, it was clearly not anything great or profound but for a cheap murder mystery I was reasonably impressed. And then the cliches started. This book contains no original thought, the reader was even "treated" to the traditional 'I can't have you involved in this, it's too dangerous' speech.
McRae is sloppy with language, she included descriptions of exactly how dinner was prepared on several occasions, and asides on the processes behind making soap. And the snooke...more
McRae is sloppy with language, she included descriptions of exactly how dinner was prepared on several occasions, and asides on the processes behind making soap. And the snooke...more
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Sophie Mae finds the neighborhood handyman dead in her workroom and office. She smells the unmistakeable (to her) smell of lye mixed with peppermint. She's a soap and cosmetic maker with a growing home business so she knows lye when she smells it. The police think its suicide. Yet Sophie wonders.....
Sophie Mae is curious as the proverbial cat and wonders about the life of an acquaintance and why did he die in her workroom. As she seeks the answers to these questions, she wanders into more troubl...more
Sophie Mae is curious as the proverbial cat and wonders about the life of an acquaintance and why did he die in her workroom. As she seeks the answers to these questions, she wanders into more troubl...more
Jan 25, 2013
XxForeverXx_Xxvampire_diariezxx
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like mystery books.
Recommended to XxForeverXx_Xxvampire_diariezxx by:
public library, Goodreads.com
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
If I were to top myself, drinking Drano wouldn’t be at the top of my list of ways to go. But handyman Walter Handover apparently did: he’s lying dead as a (corroded) doornail in Sophie Mae Reynolds’s workroom. Sophie’s not only aghast to find a dead guy in her home, but she’s further concerned when she’s pressed about her particular line of work–where caustic solutions such as Lye feature heavily. But Sophie isn’t convinced that Drano could possibly be Walter’s drink of choice–nor that he might...more
Really bad. Starts off with no introduction of characters, just a murder of someone no one knows or cares about. Then the protagonist, soap maker Sophie, inserts herself into the investigation with absolutely no reason. She makes two middle of the night trips to an abandoned house and we're not even on page 50. I couldn't go on. Will not finish.
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With zero expectations for this one, I picked it off the bookshelf and was pleasantly surprised. It reminded me of an old Agatha Christie story - of which I was a huge fan as a kid... Fun, easy, entertaining.
Interesting storyline and characters. Soaps and lotions maker,Sophie Mae, discovers a body in her home workshop in a house she shares with friend, Meghan, and her daughter, Erin. No one knew much about Walter,the handyman, while he was alive, but he soon proves to have been a complex man as they dig into his life. He was a recovering alcoholic, won lottery but gave all his money to charity, and had a mentally ill fiancé with a creepy brother,Jerome. Lots of nasty secondary characters and a stran...more
Solid 2.5. I like mysteries, crafts, and puns, so I thought I'd give this Kindle freebie a go. I wanted a quick and easy read after a 1000ish page fantasy, and this did the job. Not too many noticeable errors and an easy, casual style of writing. The plot was predictable in places, but the characters were well defined and the ending was somewhat of a surprise. I'm not sure I really even liked Sophie Mae (could have been the silly name), but there were enough other likeable and/or vivid character...more
There are two ladies combining their lives, homes, and individual businesses. Meghan owns the house and lives there with her daughter. Meghan runs a massage business. Our co-sleuth is soap maker, Sophie Mae Reynolds, her best friend.
To the ladies dismay, Sophie Mae goes down to her basement workshop and finds their local handyman not installing plasterboard but dead, from drinking liquid lye.
With this gruesome discovery, Sophie Mae, Meghan, and Erin (daughter,) find themselves woven into an int...more
To the ladies dismay, Sophie Mae goes down to her basement workshop and finds their local handyman not installing plasterboard but dead, from drinking liquid lye.
With this gruesome discovery, Sophie Mae, Meghan, and Erin (daughter,) find themselves woven into an int...more
Sophie Mae Reynolds finds a dead body in her workroom: the corpse of Walter Hanover, the neighborhood handyman. Sophie Mae has a home business making organic soaps and lotions. He died from drinking lye, something she has in good supply because of her home business. But the police don't suspect Sophie Mae, a thirty-something widow who makes and sells beauty products. Instead they call it a suicide. But Sophie Mae begins to probe into Walter's life and becomes convinced that it was not a suicide...more
I decided to read Lye in Wait because I like to read series' books and I am a crafter. It's a good mystery book and even people who don't craft will like it. It's about 2 ladies in their 30's, one is a widow and the other is divorced with 1 child. They are roommates and are both own their own businesses. There's a murder, a cute policeman and a long lost grandma. I liked it an plan to look for the next book in this series.
The author did a great job, it flows nicely is easy to read and has great...more
The author did a great job, it flows nicely is easy to read and has great...more
This was meant as a cozy book but it crosses over the fine line dividing coziness and dull grayness. I simply can't recommend this book. It's far from being a mess, it's competently written, but not well written. I predicted every single twist that mattered, without even trying hard enough to do so. Someone who hasn't read much mystery shouldn't start with this book. Wherever it sits on a shelf anywhere in the world, Lye in wait will not be cherished. It's hard to imagine someone liking or valui...more
Astoundingly -really good-.
I say this because the first 30% of the book is boooorrriiiiinnnnng. But after that, it picks up, and yes, by the end it's a matter of "Who the dickens is NOT involved in this fiasco?!" but it was cute. And fluffy.
I have to hand it to the author (Goodreads says 'Lynette Eason', though my kindle says 'Cricket McRae', so um....), the characters (while being largely stereotypes - the awesome mom, the asshole ex-husband, the hot cowboy detective, the proud mother, the emot...more
I say this because the first 30% of the book is boooorrriiiiinnnnng. But after that, it picks up, and yes, by the end it's a matter of "Who the dickens is NOT involved in this fiasco?!" but it was cute. And fluffy.
I have to hand it to the author (Goodreads says 'Lynette Eason', though my kindle says 'Cricket McRae', so um....), the characters (while being largely stereotypes - the awesome mom, the asshole ex-husband, the hot cowboy detective, the proud mother, the emot...more
Sophie Mae Reynolds runs a home business making soaps, bath salts, lotions, etc. Should be a cushy life, one far away from murder and mayhem. Yet, when Sophie finds her next-door neighbor and handyman murdered in her studio, crime comes crashing through the back door.
When police determine that Walter, the handyman, died in Sophie's studio after drinking lye, she turns into their number one suspect. Sophie is determined to prove them wrong and clear her name.
I really liked the characters in this...more
When police determine that Walter, the handyman, died in Sophie's studio after drinking lye, she turns into their number one suspect. Sophie is determined to prove them wrong and clear her name.
I really liked the characters in this...more
#1 Sophie Mae Reynolds "Home Crafting" mystery, this one featuring soapmaking, which is what attracted me to the book, given that I'm a soapmaker myself. Sophie Mae enters her soapmaking workshop--in the basement of the home she shares with her housemate and friend Meghan and Meghan's daughter Erin--one morning to discover the body of the neighborhood handyman on the floor--and it's apparent that he died by drinking a lye solution. She knows that all her lye was locked up, and she hadn't made co...more
Three stars seems not quite enough for this book, but I can't quite bring myself to give it four. It's a quick read, and is just entertainment. It won't make you reconsider closely-held beliefs, or ponder human nature. But, you also won't spend much time thinking how badly sentences are constructed or how many typos there are, or wondering where the plot is. It's better than that. It's a little like toast - tasty and filling, but not something you'd go to a restaurant especially to have.
Sometimes I just want a fun story that doesn't have demons, vampires, or any other 'creatures' in it. This book was perfect. All human characters- with no superpowers! - populate this nice little mystery. The dead body of the local handyman is found in our heroine's workshop and we're off and running. The mystery was well done and I was kept guessing till the end. I will definitely read another Sophie Mae mystery the next time I'm in the mood for a nice, clean cozy....more
this is a story about a contemporary "family" with a divorced mom and child and her widowed friend who run their businesses out of the home, where an unfortunate death occurs. this was a lovely cozy mystery, with nicely fleshed out characters and a decent plot. it appears to to first in a series so now, darn it, i'm going to have to save to buy more books! as it was, i stayed up till 2 a.m. to finish this one--it definitely held my interest without being overly gory
This is a really good book! I liked reading this and especially enjoyed the recipes at the end. Being a crafter myself, I would like to make a couple of those items in back.
I especially liked the fact that while Sophie Mae was getting involved in things, the "romance" factor was waaaaaay in the background. It served just the right purpose in the story and didn't overshadow it at all.
Wonderfully written! I would recommend this book for sure!
I especially liked the fact that while Sophie Mae was getting involved in things, the "romance" factor was waaaaaay in the background. It served just the right purpose in the story and didn't overshadow it at all.
Wonderfully written! I would recommend this book for sure!
I was firmly hooked by the opening line: "That Thursday morning had been going so well until I found the local handyman dead on my workfloor room."
Now I ask you, how can one put the book down after that hook? :) I didn't. I kept reading until I knew what had happened.
It's a fun story, with a surprisingly complex plot resolution. I was also fascinated by the ins and outs of soapmaking. I would definitely read more from this author.
Now I ask you, how can one put the book down after that hook? :) I didn't. I kept reading until I knew what had happened.
It's a fun story, with a surprisingly complex plot resolution. I was also fascinated by the ins and outs of soapmaking. I would definitely read more from this author.
Good fun. A little (ok a lot) unrealistic, but definitely not a slow read. Got me through the long morning I spent waiting in the surgery waiting room. Having several friends who make soap for a living, I liked all the details about her various business happenings because I could relate. I think sometimes there was too much detail for the average reader, but maybe not.
In general, a fun read, not too dark but suspenseful none-the-less.
In general, a fun read, not too dark but suspenseful none-the-less.
Sweet book. I enjoyed the reading even if some characters were caricatures of people put in a non caricatural context (the amoebic ex husband, the nutty fiancée, the super smart kid) and the main character has one of those American double names, Sophie Mae, to which I am utterly allergic. Nevertheless, since it was a free reading I have no right complain. I want to try one of those recipes though.
Wow, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! I really had no clue who killed Walter until the very end of the book when it was revealed. There were a ton of twists and turns, new ideas, new branches of the story line, and new hypotheses introduced that it made for a really clever book. I really enjoyed this a lot!
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The Book Addict's Guide
For a full review, please visit my blog!
The Book Addict's Guide
This cozy mystery is a bit formulaic but that is pretty much par for the course for this genre. I enjoyed it enough to read the second and I found that one to be a big improvement. I enjoyed the relationships between the various characters and I liked that the amateur sleuth actually goes out and asks questions rather than just having clues fall in her lap.
A cosy little mystery without a lot of blood or malice, the kind of book you might pull out for a quiet night in with a mug of tea. There was quite an interesting and unexpected twist towards the end.
The protagonist Sophie Mae makes personal care items, and there are some recipes for her soaps and lotions at the end - it's the gimmick of the series.
The protagonist Sophie Mae makes personal care items, and there are some recipes for her soaps and lotions at the end - it's the gimmick of the series.
Definitely better than your average free Kindle book! It's a fun and easy read that moved along enough to keep my attention.
The writer puts in tons of details, a lot of which are unnecessary for the plot. I like that sort of thing, because it gets me into the setting more, but if it's not your cup of tea then this may not be a book you'll enjoy reading.
I'm not much into mysteries, but this one was light enough that it didn't mess with my sleep.
The writer puts in tons of details, a lot of which are unnecessary for the plot. I like that sort of thing, because it gets me into the setting more, but if it's not your cup of tea then this may not be a book you'll enjoy reading.
I'm not much into mysteries, but this one was light enough that it didn't mess with my sleep.
I really enjoyed this book, I got it as a free book for my Amazon Kindle. I like books that make you think & try to guess the outcome of the story & not just the predictable endings. The characters were will fleshed out & I will probably down the road, order the other books that Cricket McRae has written in the Home Crafting Mystery series.
This was a pretty good book, but I enjoy this type of story. The crafty chick that everyone discounts as ditzy ends up solving the mystery. Even if it's not really realistic, I still enjoy it. This one also has the recipes for the bath and spa products she makes at the end, and if you love pampering as much as i do you will enjoy it.
Very cute and light mystery. Really enjoyed the characters and when I thought I had the mystery figured out, it does take a little twist in the end. I had this on my to-read list for a while because I love light/fun cozies that don't require a lot of my brain cells to fire up before going to bed, so I was ecstatic to find this on my Nook in August 2011 for free. Will be reading the rest in the series.
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Cricket McRae enjoys home crafts like food preservation, cheese making, candle making, and fiber arts. She writes the Sophie Mae Reynolds Homecrafting Mystery Series. As Bailey Cates, she also writes the Magical Bakery Mysteries.
For two years Cricket managed her own soap making business, including all product design, manufacturing and marketing. The recipes included in her first book, Lye in Wait,...more
More about Cricket McRae...
For two years Cricket managed her own soap making business, including all product design, manufacturing and marketing. The recipes included in her first book, Lye in Wait,...more
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