Carol Dean Jones Books In Order

Publication Order of Quilting Cozy Books

Carol Dean Jones is a cozy mystery author best known as the author of the “Quilting Cozy” mystery series of novels.
Before she became a bestselling author she worked as a geriatric social worker. Even though she was born and bred in Kentucky she now makes her home in the foothills of West Virginia. During her many years working with women and men having to deal with issues of aging she learned a lot about how people get old.
Jones published “Tie Died,” the debut novel of the “Quilting Cozy ” series of novels in 2014 and has never looked back since publishing more than a dozen novels. Sarah Miller the lead was inspired by a need to share the many things she had learned working as a geriatric social worker.
Just like the author, the lead was in her seventies and was facing the loss of the home where she had lived with her family while also dealing with the loss of her grandson and husband.

Dean Jones was born in Paducah Kentucky during the 30s, before it was transformed into the quilting capital of the United States. For the first decade of her life, she lived with her grandparents since many parents wanted their children living in what were deemed safe parts of the US after Pearl Harbor.
Once she grew up, she found a career as a social worker in Washington DC before she retired in 2014. She then moved to West Virginia where she made new friends, bought a cabin and became a member of a quilting club. But she always felt that something was missing.
Suddenly, the many stories she had in her head made demands to be written down. This was how she came to write “Tie Died,’ the first of the “Quilting Cozy” series in 2014. At this time, she never thought it would be the start of a very popular bestselling series.
The series is about a seventy year old woman and her many interesting adventures in Cunningham Village, a small retirement community in the midwest. She credits her venture into quilting for her writing career as she found many interesting stories that she would turn into mysteries in her novels.

Carol’s stories follow a lead character named Sarah who is trying to make adjustments to a new life in a retirement community. Just like the author, she is getting used to exploring romantic connections, making friendships and taking classes at the community center.
Just like her lead, Carol Dean Jones is a seventy year old woman that also happens to be an avid quilter. Jones has asserted that she wanted to write about relationships and quilting and from her research found out that the cozy mystery format was the best suited for her kind of story.
The attraction with cozy is the fact that they can be light mysteries but without the profanity, violence or sex. If it is murder it will usually be out of view of the reader. Since she is an avid quilter, she could organize her stories around a group of friends and a hobby just like what she had in her life.
In the series the community is a small retirement village and the hobby happens to be quilting. Dean Jones has asserted that in each novel she tries to not give too little or too much information about previous books. Each novel can thus be read as a standalone though reading it in order will allow one to watch the situations, relationships and characters develop over time.

“Tie Died” the debut novel by Carol Dean Jones is the perfect light mystery that is perfect as a beach read. The novel introduces an elderly woman who is about to hit seventy and fits the elderly stereotype except when it comes to sleuthing.
Sarah Miller just moved to the retirement community of Cunningham Village after her husband died. She had also lost her grandson and was forced to leave the only place she had called home for more than four decades. She believes Cunningham is the perfect place to mourn her losses in life. While she is in a lot of pain she is a survivor and as soon as she is settled in the small community she sets out to ingrain herself in it. Sarah is trying to make new friends, engage in new hobbies and activities and may even have a love interest.
In this first instalment of the Quilting Cozy series one of the friends she had made is murdered. Sarah is determined to investigate and resolve the mystery of the killer.

Carol Dean Jones’ novel “Patchwork Connections” opens to our lead Sarah Miller having settled in the small retirement village of Cunningham. When a young girl goes missing, Sarah and her newest best friend Sophie decide to investigate.
Sarah learns that Arthur, her friend, had managed to break out of prison a few months before he was due for release. She contacts the man and learns that he had escaped since he learned that his daughter had gone missing after she discovered that her stepfather was not her biological father.
He had been very cruel to the girl and it is understandable that she would leave as soon as she realized that he was not her father. Sarah manages to convince Arthur to turn himself in by telling him that she will do everything in her power to locate and bring back his daughter.
Meanwhile, her flirtatious relationship with Charles the retorted cp is getting even more interesting. The novel provides a touch of romance, lots of quilting, friends, family, fun, excitement and mystery.

“Sea Bound” by Carol Dean Jones sees Sarah go on a quilting cruise with several ladies from her quilting club. Her life is changing and she has been meeting some amazing people and finding some great opportunities.
This is a descriptive story that follows the lead on her cruise across several islands in the Caribbean. Alongside the ladies of the quilting club is her love interest Charles with whom she has recently become very close. There are also some very strange people which results in cops boarding the ship.
Sarah and her friends soon find themselves forbidden from leaving the ship due to mysterious reasons. There is a man missing on board and even Charles gets busy assisting in the investigations alongside the FBI.