Today, as part of a Blog Tour organized by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours, I am happy to tell you about High Strung by Janice Peacock.
Synopsis
After inheriting a house in Seattle, Jax O’Connell is living the life of her dreams as a glass beadmaker and jewelry designer. When she gets an offer to display her work during a bead shop’s opening festivities, it’s an opportunity Jax can’t resist—even though Rosie Perez, the store’s owner, is the surliest person Jax has ever met.
The weekend’s events become a tangled mess when a young beadmaker is found dead nearby and several oddball bead enthusiasts are suspects. Jax must string together the clues to clear her friend Tessa’s name—and do it before the killer strikes again.
My Review
This was a fun read. I liked Jax and enjoyed reading about how she created a new life for herself as a bead-maker. She is smart, talented and good-hearted. The bead-makers in the story made for a quirky collection of believable characters. Some endearing, others downright unpleasant. The story was rounded out by her close friendship with Tessa and the introduction of a potential romantic interest into Jax’s life. All in all, the plot was nicely developed, with twists befitting a cozy mystery.
As I am neither a bead-maker nor bead fan, I hesitated before agreeing to read this book. I am happy to report that, unlike some craft-focused cozy mysteries that bore me with an excess of technical details, this cozy had enough description of bead-making for me to appreciate the complexity of the process without going overboard.
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of this blog tour. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.
About The Author
Janice Peacock decided to write her first mystery novel after working in a glass studio full of colorful artists who didn’t always get along. They reminded her of the odd, and often humorous, characters in the murder mystery books she loved to read. Inspired by that experience, she combined her two passions and wrote High Strung: A Glass Bead Mystery, the first book in a new cozy mystery series featuring glass beadmaker Jax O’Connell.
When Janice Peacock isn’t writing about glass artists who are amateur detectives, she makes glass beads using a torch, designs one-of-a-kind jewelry, and makes sculptures using hot glass. An award-winning artist, her work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of several museums. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, three cats, and seven chickens. She has a studio full of beads…lots and lots of beads.
Author Links
- Website: http://www.janicepeacock.com/
- Blog: http://blog.janicepeacock.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JanicePeacockAuthor
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/janpeac (@janpeac)
- Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/janpeac
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/janpeac
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8389583.Janice_Peacock
Purchase Links
Amazon
Giveaway
Click the link below to enter for a chance to win a pewter and glass bead bookmark from the author:
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