Scrapbook of Secrets: A Cumberland Creek Mystery

Having traded in her career as a successful investigative journalist for the life of a stay-at-home mum in picturesque Cumberland Creek, Virginia, Annie can’t help but feel that something’s missing. But she finds solace in a local circle of scrapbookers united by chore-shy husbands, demanding children, and occasional fantasies of their former single lives. And when the quiet idyll of their small town is shattered by a young mother’s suicide, they band together to find out what went wrong…Annie resurrects her reporting skills and discovers that Maggie Rae was a closet scrapbooker who left behind more than a few secrets – and perhaps a few enemies.

As they sift through Maggie Rae’s mysteriously discarded scrapbooks, Annie and her “crop” sisters begin to suspect that her suicide may have been murder. It seems that something sinister is lurking beneath the town’s beguilingly calm facade – like a killer with unfinished business..
“Mollie Bryan’s charming debut is a scrapbook of zany small town life with characters you’ll want to visit again and again in each new novel.” –Emilie Richards, SUNSET BRIDGE, 2011; MINISTRY IS MURDER SERIES, SHENANDOAH ALBUM SERIES; HAPPINESS KEY SERIES.

“Imagine the housewives of Wisteria Lane sipping tea, scrapbooking, and solving murders, and you have this gem of a debut by Mollie Cox Bryan.”– Lois Winston,  ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN.

“… Mollie Cox Bryan’s look at small town life is both sweet and spicy. A fun and charming debut.” –Meredith Cole, POSED FOR MURDER and DEAD IN THE WATER.

“An old fashioned mystery with some very modern twists. The intriguing characters, eerie happenings, and scrapbook of secrets kept me guessing ’til the end. It’s both warm and chilling, soothing and sinister. I can’t wait for the next installment!” -Clare O’Donohue, SOMEDAY QUILTS MYSTERY SERIES.

“If Encyclopedia Brown had been a scrapbooking fanatic, we surely would’ve seen him at the center of a novel like Scrapbook of Secrets. Mollie Cox Bryan has written a seriously fun and engaging mystery, with characters who reveal themselves slowly and surely–one crop at a time.” —Therese Walsh, THE LAST WILL OF MOIRA LEAHY

“This new series look to be spectacular,” Harriet Klausner, The Mystery Gazette.

Library Journal
If newcomer Annie Chamovitz feels like an outsider in Bible Belt small-town Virginia, where does that leave Maggie Rae? Cumberland Creek is stunned when the young mother is found shot dead in her home. The scrapbooking group suspects her husband, because they think he might have been abusive. But Maggie Rae had a secret life as a successful erotica author and a history of taking lovers. At this point, a veritable kitchen sink of suspects surfaces. Annie becomes the lead amateur detective because she is a freelance newspaper reporter; consequently, she gets to the heart of what made Maggie Rae tick. But the killer doesn’t appreciate Annie’s snooping. Let’s hope Annie is prepared. VERDICT This debut crafty cozy pushes its own envelope with themes of erotica and open marriage. Although Bryan’s story suffers from too many red herrings, she introduces some dandy characters that will spin off well as the series unfolds. Match with fellow craft authors Joanna Campbell Slan and Lois Winston. Scrapbooking tips included.

SCRAPBOOK OF SECRETS  (A CUMBERLAND CREEK MYSTERY)
Available February 7 at your local bookstore, Amazon, B& N, and Kensington Publishing.