Hi, I’m Sarah Cox and I live in Wisteria. My mom passed rather unexpectedly and I inherited her craft shop called Coppertips. This kept me in the small town instead of moving to the city like I had originally planned on doing after attaining my degree in art restoration

Coppertips were my mom’s favorite flower and being the sentimental person I am, I plant new ones around the shop every year to keep her tradition alive.

CallieBean, my calico cat, has the run of the shop. My apartment is above Coppertips, so I can leave the door open for her to come and go as she pleases. She greets all my customers and meows loudly if she doesn’t get the attention she thinks she deserves from each visitor.

My doors opens each day at nine, except Sundays and Mondays. It’s a pretty busy place as it is the only craft shop within a fifty mile radius. I like to keep coffee and tea brewed for my customers, who can sit in my ‘conversation corner’ and pass the time of day gossiping. And I won’t lie, I’m right in there with them, catching up on all the local dirt.

My daily life is quiet and most times uneventful. I do have a handsome boyfriend, Cory Small, who runs his own construction business. His contracts are state-wide, which keeps him away a lot, so most nights it’s just me and CallieBean, eating supper and watching TV before bed. I do love to read mysteries and have to admit, I’m pretty good at solving them before the book ends. I told you; my life was pretty boring, until a year ago.

At that time, out of the blue, I had a cousin enter my life who I didn’t even know existed. Amber Stetson had been placed in foster care when she was five years old. When she turned eighteen, she was on her own. Amber found her way to me through sealed documents she had been given when released from the system.

She is only twenty years old, and full of spit and vinegar. Amber loves shopping and usually drags me with her no matter what kind of shopping it is. I have shopped more in one year than I had in my whole life, prior to her arriving.

Amber also loves mysteries which can lead us to some in depth discussion and disagreements until the end of the book or TV show. It is no longer quiet in the apartment at night.

My cousin has brought the spark I needed to spice up my quiet life and my customers fill my days with laughter and friendship. Yes, CallieBean is in the middle of it all, always by my side.

I have a great life, one that I wouldn’t trade for the whole world.

PAINT BY MURDER
Series Name: A Mystery on Lilac Lane Mystery, Book 6
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: February 2026
Format: Digital
Purchase Link

Cousins, Sarah Cox and Amber Stetson run the Coppertip Craft Shop in Wisteria. They live in an apartment above the shop and are liked by all the locals around town.

Sarah goes to the town hall and returns to find the shop unmanned and her cousin missing.

The register has been emptied and her mom’s jewelry inheritance is gone from the apartment. Did Amber take advantage of her cousin’s hospitality to rob her and then disappear?

Is Sarah on a mission to save her cousin or to send her to prison?

About the author
I live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Happily divorced, with three grown children, I fill my days writing and walking the beaches with my metal detector. I am an active status member of MWA, SIC, SIC N.E., and the Cape Cod Writer’s Association.

My favorite genre to write is cozy mysteries, but I will write whatever story I feel needs to be told at that time. My outlook on life? Live for today because you don’t know how many more todays you have left.