String of Lies — Mary Ellen Hughes

After nearly six months in business, Jo's Craft Corner is finally in the black. Owner Jo McAllister would like nothing more than to savor the accomplishment, tend to the store, and teach her new beading workshops. That's before a local developer has her seeing red...

Parker Holt has designs on the small businesses in town, and Jo wonders if hers will be next. But when she arrives at his home to ferret out his intentions, she finds he's in no position to talk--in fact, he's dead. It seems he was the victim of an insidious electrical trap, and the police are drawing a bead on the construction crew working on the house, led by Jo's dear friend Dan.

Anxious to clear him and his workers, Jo enlists the aid of the clever crafters in her beading workshop. Necklaces are created, motives are discussed, and Jo follows a chain of lies back into the past, hoping to unknot the current crime--and catch a murderer before he pulls any more deadly strings.