I'm Carol Dean Jones, a retired geriatric social worker born in Kentucky and currently living in the West Virginia foothills. During my many years working with men and women facing the issues of aging, I learned a great deal about growing old. Sarah Miller was born out of my desire to share what I have learned. Sarah is the main character in my Quilting Cozy series and a woman of a certain age who has faced the loss of her husband, her young grandson, and the home where she raised her family. Yet, Sarah is a survivor.
The story begins in Cunningham Village, a retirement community, and follows Sarah as she finds ways to make a successful adjustment to this new way of life. From taking classes at the community center, making lasting friendships, and even exploring the possibility of a romantic connection, Sarah remains steadfastly determined to continue to be a vital, active woman engaged in life.
Being an avid quilter myself, I also wanted to integrate that particular creative expression into the story and Sarah, always willing to go along with my wishes, took up quilting. She, in fact, makes the quilts (with my help, of course) for each of the book covers, as you will see as you read the stories.
Because I wanted to write about quilting and about relationships, I chose the cozy format. A cozy is a light mystery without explicit sex, violence, or profanity. If the crime is murder, it tends to occur out of the view of the reader. Cozies are usually organized around a hobby and a group of friends in a small community who work to solve the mystery. In this series, the hobby is quilting and the community is a retirement village just across the park from the main street of a small town in the mid-west.
In each book, I tried to walk that fine line between giving too much and too little information about previous books in the series. Each can stand alone, but reading them in order will offer the advantage of watching characters, relationships, and situations develop over time.
I love hearing from my readers and potential readers. Just leave a message on my website at http://www.caroldeanjones.com or send me an email at QuiltingCozy@gmail.com
My very best wishes,
Carol Dean Jones
