Knots and Deception
(2026)(The fifth book in the Pins and Paws Mystery series)
A novel by Hailey Hartley
Bohemian retiree Jade Holloway thought she'd found her paradise in the sun-drenched artist community of Painted Mesa, Arizona, where she spends her days creating intricate macramé wall hangings and exploring desert trails with her Golden Retriever, Mac. But when her quiet neighbor Victor Landry—a beloved local pottery artist—is found dead in his studio from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning, Jade's trained eye catches a detail that everyone else misses. Hanging in Victor's workspace is a macramé plant hanger featuring a complex sailor's hitch, an advanced nautical knot that has no business in the landlocked Arizona desert. The knot is expert-level work requiring years of specialized Navy training, and Jade knows Victor never served at sea. When Mac digs up a buried ammunition box in Victor's garden containing old naval identification and decades of blackmail letters, Jade realizes her neighbor wasn't who he claimed to be—and his death was no accident.
As Jade uses her expertise in knot-tying and fiber analysis to investigate, she uncovers a web of secrets stretching back twenty-five years to a Naval Station in San Diego. Victor was actually Vincent Lassiter, a sailor who disappeared after being framed for a theft ring, and someone has been extorting money from him ever since. The sailor's hitch wasn't decorative—it was a signature, a calling card left by someone with the same specialized rigging training. With Mac's keen nose leading her to practice sites and hidden evidence, Jade must navigate a tight-knit artist community where everyone has secrets and nobody is quite who they seem. When threatening notes begin appearing at her cottage—complete with ominous hangman's nooses—Jade knows she's getting too close to a killer who's already murdered once to keep the past buried.
Racing against time in the blazing Arizona heat, Jade must untangle twenty-five years of lies, blackmail, and betrayal before she becomes the next victim. In the desert where secrets can stay buried for decades, Jade discovers that the smallest details—a knot, a fiber, a naval button—can unravel the most carefully constructed deceptions. Join Jade and Mac as they prove that sometimes the best detectives work with rope and patience instead of guns and badges, and that expert craftsmanship leaves traces that can't be hidden, no matter how deeply someone tries to bury the truth.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
As Jade uses her expertise in knot-tying and fiber analysis to investigate, she uncovers a web of secrets stretching back twenty-five years to a Naval Station in San Diego. Victor was actually Vincent Lassiter, a sailor who disappeared after being framed for a theft ring, and someone has been extorting money from him ever since. The sailor's hitch wasn't decorative—it was a signature, a calling card left by someone with the same specialized rigging training. With Mac's keen nose leading her to practice sites and hidden evidence, Jade must navigate a tight-knit artist community where everyone has secrets and nobody is quite who they seem. When threatening notes begin appearing at her cottage—complete with ominous hangman's nooses—Jade knows she's getting too close to a killer who's already murdered once to keep the past buried.
Racing against time in the blazing Arizona heat, Jade must untangle twenty-five years of lies, blackmail, and betrayal before she becomes the next victim. In the desert where secrets can stay buried for decades, Jade discovers that the smallest details—a knot, a fiber, a naval button—can unravel the most carefully constructed deceptions. Join Jade and Mac as they prove that sometimes the best detectives work with rope and patience instead of guns and badges, and that expert craftsmanship leaves traces that can't be hidden, no matter how deeply someone tries to bury the truth.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Hailey Hartley's Knots and Deception