Crafting for Sinners bookcover

Crafting for Sinners

A Novel
4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
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Description

“You will compulsively turn these pages well into the dead of night.”—Paul Tremblay, New York Times best-selling author of Horror Movie and The Cabin at the End of the World

A queer woman must fight her way out of a craft store run by a megachurch in this gripping survival horror novel by Jenny Kiefer, author of This Wretched Valley.

The ratcheting tension and gut-churning terror will appeal to fans of Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle and Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix.


Ruth is trapped. She’s stuck in her small, religious hometown of Kill Devil, Kentucky, stuck in the closet, and stuck living paycheck to paycheck. After her manager finds out that she lives with her girlfriend, Ruth is fired from her job at New Creations—a craft store owned by the church that dominates life in Kill Devil.

In an act of revenge, Ruth attempts to shoplift some yarn but is caught red-handed. Instead of calling the police, the employees lock her in the store—and attack her. As Ruth fights for her life using only the crafting supplies at hand, she plunges deeper into the tangled web of the New Creationists, who are hiding a terrible secret that threatens not only her but the entire town.

Urgent, scathing, and utterly original, Crafting for Sinners cements Kiefer’s status as a dazzling new star in horror.

Product Details

PublisherQuirk Books
Publish DateOctober 07, 2025
Pages320
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconEbook
EAN/UPC9781683694717

About the Author

Jenny Kiefer is a Kentucky native and an avid crafter and rock climber. Together with her mother, she is the owner and manager of Butcher Cabin Books, an all-horror bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky. She is also the author of This Wretched Valley.

Reviews

A LibraryReads Pick for October 2025
A CrimeReads New and Upcoming Horror Novel to Look Out for This Summer (and Beyond)


“Shot through with elements of dark humor and ripped-from-the-headlines references to a certain real-life crafting retailer, Kiefer’s compelling and incisive latest will appeal to fans of Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix and Hide by Kiersten White.”—Kaitlin Conner, Booklist

“Mixing religious-cult and liminal-space tropes, Kiefer presents a visceral, grimly comedic, but deadly serious novel that will whip readers into a frenzy of fear as well as anger.”—Library Journal

Crafting for Sinners is a relentless, grueling survival story, one that displays the horrors that too many of our hateful and ignorant neighbors are capable of perpetrating. You will compulsively turn these pages well into the dead of night.”—Paul Tremblay, New York Times best-selling author of Horror Movie and The Cabin at the End of the World

Crafting for Sinners is like a deranged, hellish variant of Die Hard except instead it’s a gay woman trapped inside a craft store run by an evangelical nightmare cult. It’s surreal, terrifying, thrilling, and looks right down the barrel at the cultural horrors at the center of our current era.”—Chuck Wendig, New York Times best-selling author of The Book of Accidents and The Staircase in the Woods

“Suspenseful, of the moment, and bloodthirsty as all hell, Jenny Kiefer’s Crafting for Sinners is the kind of book we need these days.”—Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and The Deep

“A crafty cat-and-mouse thriller.”—Johnny Compton, author of Devils Kills Devils and The Spite House

“Devilishly clever. Every page of Crafting for Sinners is packed with scathing satire, unique horrors, and stunning honesty.”—Erin E. Adams, author of Jackal and One of You

Crafting for Sinners is a crafty yarn crocheted from the same skein as Grady Hendrix’s Horrorstör and Rachel Harrison’s Cackle. Jenny Kiefer sure has spun herself a gloriously gory, bisexual MacGyver of the Damned, and it absolutely fits this particular sinner like the comfiest blood-soaked sweater.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

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