Welcome to The Glass Slipper Heist, the second book in my new Craft Shop Mysteries series! I’m posting this first chapter as a sneak peek.
If you like this and want more, I’m launching a Kickstarter campaign tomorrow at 9AM EST (Monday, November 3th, 2025) for a super early access to an illustrated, digitally signed version of the book. Ebooks, paperbacks, and hardbacks will all be available, along with the first book, Once Upon a Craft Shop, and some other cool stuff.
Hope you enjoy this sneak peek!
The Glass Slipper Heist
Chapter 1
The last thing I needed on the first Friday in October a half-hour before closing time was a magical disaster. Not that I knew it was a magical disaster, at first, mind you. I wasn’t particularly prepared to deal with any disasters today, for a number of reasons, most of them pretty good.
But that’s exactly what I got. A magical disaster, a half-hour before closing time on Friday.
It took me a moment to realize I even had a problem. I’d been sorting out a delivery of bolts of fabric from the new fall line of one of my best-selling quilting cottons in the fabric section of my little craft shop. All kinds of colorful, fun new prints, with that wonderful new fabric smell.
I’d moved to this tiny little community nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky several months ago to open Celia’s Craft Shop. I’d left my apartment and my job as a secretary at a law firm in Louisville and taken the small inheritance my grandmother had left me to pursue a dream. Because, the truth was, I loved knitting and crocheting and all other kinds of crafts, and I wanted to share that love with other people.
The fact that I had regular customers helping me actually make money pursuing this dream was just incredible. (After some hiccups—getting started hadn’t been all sunshine and roses. Not everybody wanted an outsider moving to the their town. Some things don’t change no matter where you’re from.)
Tucking a bolt of vibrant crimson, gold, and orange leaves into its place in a rack, I smiled to myself. This particular fabric was sure to be a favorite—if I could envision it as the featured fabric in an autumn table runner or a quilt, I’m sure others could, too.
One of Celtic Women’s latest albums played through the bluetooth speakers I’d mounted at various points throughout my shop. I hummed along to the ethereal strains, content in a way I hadn’t been for years. This wasn’t how I’d envisioned life in my late twenties, when I was younger, but it was so much more rewarding than anything I could have imagined.
The next bolt of fabric I picked up was a deep, rich forest green covered in a delicately etched pattern of gold leaves. I smoothed my fingertips over those gold lines, picturing it as the focal point of a modified Lone Star quilt with a light brown background. I frowned, tilting my head to one side. At least, I thought brown would work. Now that I had this particular fabric in hand, I could see it might take a minute to find complementary fabrics.
That was the trouble with ordering online sometimes. Pictures didn’t always do the colors of things like fabrics, yarns, and embroidery floss justice. Hence the reason I’d thought opening a craft shop in Starhaven was a viable idea.
There’s nothing quite like rubbing the edge of a piece of fabric between your fingers or touching a skein of yarn to see if it’s really as soft as it looks. And, as it turned out, there were a lot of people in this town who didn’t leave Starhaven, let alone shop online.
Although I was teaching some of them how to shop online. I’d created an online version of my store and customers could place mobile in-store orders and pick them up at their convenience. I had several people in particular who really appreciated being able to order from home—or work.
My thoughts turned to Bianca, who worked at Black Forest Antiques down the street from me, on the corner of the Square, and I grinned. Bianca had become a good friend since I’d moved here, though her Uncle Dave (also her boss) objected to my presence on principal. He was a good chunk of the reason I’d been initially afraid my craft shop might fail.
I arranged the bolt of green and gold fabric on a rack, artfully draping the fabric to show it off to the best advantage, and turned back to my stack of fabric, which had dwindled to two bolts. I was nearly done. It’d be time to start moving through the shop in a minute and preparing to close for the night.
I reached for a bolt of cream fabric covered in glittery orange spiderwebs. It had been a good day, but I was looking forward to going home and making supper. I did a lot of meal prep, but I hadn’t made anything on this scale in a—
A startled cry rose above the pleasant strains of music drifting though my shop, followed by a strange squelching sound.
I froze. The squelching sound is what grabbed my attention. That was not a sound you wanted to hear in a fabric store. Especially—I cocked my head to one side, listening.
Especially when it came from an aisle other than the one aisle I’d devoted to craft paints and glues.
Frowning, I stared at a glittery orange spiderweb on the fabric in my hands while I strained my ears for any further squelching sounds. All I heard was music…and then the tinkling sound of the bell above the front door. Someone had either just walked in…or they’d just walked out.
If I was back in Louisville (or anywhere else, really), I’d probably have ignored that squelching sound. Just chalked it up to me hearing things and gone on with my day.
But this wasn’t any other place in the United States. This was my shop in Starhaven, which meant I was responsible for dealing with whatever had made that sound. And I was this close to closing shop for the day.
Supper preparations aside, there was a slice of chocolate cheesecake sitting in my refrigerator in my apartment upstairs calling my name.
I bit my lip. I’d better go investigate that.
Setting the bolt of fabric back down, I quickly headed for my rows of short aisles, searching for anything out of the ordinary. At the same time, I tried to remember who exactly had been in here in the last hour. Old Lady Alice, as she was called, had been in to buy more glittery silver yarn for the lace shawls she was crocheting, but she’d left after I rang up her purchases.
A couple of other customers had been in and out since then, but I hadn’t paid that much attention. I’d been too enamored by my new bolts of fabric and trying to figure out which ones were the prettiest and how to display them. The people I’d noticed had been regulars, anyway, so I’d subconsciously set them aside. They’d call me when they were ready.
Just as I passed the embroidery aisle, a glint of glittery green on the old-fashioned hardwood floor caught my eye. That wasn’t supposed to be there. Pivoting, I started to turn down the aisle, but stopped dead in my tracks.
No, that was definitely not supposed to be there.
A large pile of glittery green goo with darker purple streaks occupied the center of the aisle floor.
I stared at it in shock. What was this? I glanced from side to side at the aisle shelves, but I already knew there wasn’t anything in my store that would make this kind of mess.
My gaze fell on the pile of glittery green goo again. I frowned. There was something in the middle of it. Squinting, I leaned closer without actually taking another step forward. Were those…teeth?
They were. I recoiled in disgust. What was this stuff? How had it gotten here?
My first thought was to wonder if this was an early Halloween prank or something. Then I recalled the strange sigh and gurgling sound I’d heard.
My gaze dropped to the remnants of what really looked like a couple of teeth, slowly dissolving into the glittery green goo. My stomach lurched. Maybe this wasn’t an early Halloween prank, or a mess one of my customers had somehow accidentally made.
I swallowed, feeling a little lightheaded. Maybe one of my customers was the mess.
It shouldn’t be possible. I knew that. But…in the short time I’d lived here, I’d already learned that Starhaven had one secret: it was home to a number of people (and creatures) from a place called the Enchanted Realm. Fairytale characters, actually, who’d been placed under a powerful curse that took away their happy endings—and their memories—and sent them to live in our Realm.
Maybe this was connected.
Either way, I couldn’t deal with it by myself. Surveying the goo, I shook my head and took a deep breath. Well, I thought wryly, there goes my Friday night. Nothing else to do.
But instead of calling 911, I called Maddie, director of Starhaven Community Foundation and self-proclaimed town facilitator. Also a fairy godmother from the Enchanted Realm, though she didn’t advertise that last bit.
“Please pick up,” I muttered, my gaze falling on that pile of green goo again.
To my relief, Maddie answered. “Celia,” she began, but I cut her off.
“Maddie, there’s a pile of green goo with teeth in it in the middle of my craft shop.”
Silence greeted this statement. “What?”
In a few short sentences, I explained the situation. “Is this a prank? Because—”
“No.” It was Maddie’s turn to cut me off, her voice growing stern and serious. “Call 911. Tell them there’s been an accident of an unusual sort.”
“Okay, but—”
The line went dead. I stared at my phone in shock. Maddie had actually hung up on me.
Shaking my head, I called 911.
An operator answered almost at once, her drawling voice crisp and professional. “911, what’s your emergency?”
“Yes, ma’am…I’d like to report an accident.” I eyed the pile of glittery goo. “Of the…unusual sort, if you know what I mean.” I really hoped she did.
“What happened?” The operator took this in stride.
I bit my lip. “It’s going to sound crazy, but I’m afraid one of my customers might have somehow turned into a pile of goo in the middle of my store.”
A brief pause ensued, and then the operator said briskly, “We’ll send an officer over immediately. Verify your name and address for me, please.”
I did so, and she added, “Don’t touch anything, okay? Stay right where you are.”
“Don’t worry.” I looked at the pile of goo again and then had to look away. The teeth—if they were teeth—were almost completely gone. “I won’t.”
If you enjoyed this and want to read the rest, you can get a super early ebook, paperback, or hardcover during the Kickstarter. See you there!
