CRAFTING FOR SINNERS by Jenny Kiefer – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Crafting For Sinners by Jenny Kiefer
Published by Quirk Books on October 7 2025
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 304
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Jenny Kiefer takes the “religion versus gays” trope and sets her story in—of all places—a craft store, making Crafting For Sinners a uniquely horrific reading experience.

What happens when you combine a religious cult with a craft store? Complete chaos, that’s what! Jenny Kiefer’s latest is a bloody tale of survival as a queer woman has to use her wits to stay one step ahead of a murderous group of religious zealots. A little bit Grady Hendrix’s Horrorstör with some Buffy-worthy moments thrown in, Crafting For Sinners was a lot of fun from start to finish.

Ruth and Abigail live in the small Kentucky town of Kill Devil, a town that’s been taken over in the last few years by a megachurch called the New Creationists. Nearly everyone in town has been converted it seems, but Ruth and Abigail want nothing to do with the church, which preaches ridding people of sin. And unfortunately, in the eyes of the church, being queer is the number one sin in the book. Ruth used to work at New Creations, a craft store owned by the church, but she was fired for going against “traditional values” when management discovered she had a girlfriend. She was also dumped by her fiancé Charlie after he converted over to the church.

Now Ruth and Abigail barely make ends meet. Ruth takes on knitting commissions for extra money and acquires her yarn by shoplifting it from New Creations. When the story opens, Ruth has agreed to finish a blanket for a customer by the next morning, but she discovers she’s run out of yarn and must make a trip to the craft store if she’s to meet her deadline. When she arrives, she’s surprised to find the store empty. But when she runs into an employee after stuffing a few skeins up her sweatshirt, Ruth realizes something isn’t quite right. Instead of being caught shoplifting, Ruth has been targeted for something far more sinister, and before she knows it, she finds herself trapped in New Creations, fighting for her life.

I don’t know why someone hasn’t thought of setting a horror story in a craft store before, because it turned out to be an unexpectedly good setting. Ruth finds herself in mortal danger and must defend herself, and she’s able to turn all kinds of craft supplies into makeshift weapons, including a wickedly sharp pair of knitting needles and a bottle of super glue (that super glue scene is going to stick with me for a long time! 😉 ). And because Ruth used to work at New Creations, she knows the layout of the store, including all sorts of nooks and crannies to hide in. Much of the action takes place in the dark, which makes the whole experience even more eerie and unsettling. The employees who are trying to contain Ruth—they have something diabolical planned and need to catch her alive—-are pretty creepy as well, with their repetitive preaching about sin. Add in the fact that Ruth is diabetic and didn’t bring any insulin or sweets with her, and you have a very tense situation.

There’s quite a bit of graphic violence, so squeamish readers might not be the right audience for this book. I loved every bit of it though, even a very intense scene with rats. New Creations gave me a heavy Hobby Lobby vibe (if you know, you know), and to be honest, I’m not sure I’ll ever look at a Michael’s the same way again!

Kiefer isn’t shy about her “conservative religion versus queer people” theme, which tends to get a little heavy handed at times. But I can’t think of anything scarier than a religious cult that is trying to brainwash sinners into purging that sin and converting, so kudos to the author for taking such a terrifying idea and turning it into an entertaining novel.

And while Abigail’s character is mostly off page, we get flashbacks about how Ruth met her and came to live with her and her mother. The author adds some epistolary sections involving a cold case podcast and other snippets like newspaper articles, and at first it isn’t clear at first how these fit in with the rest of the story. But eventually I had an “ah ha” moment and finally pieced everything together.

The reveal near the end, when Ruth finally discovers what her fate might be, was a lot of fun. Despite a few over-the-top moments and a middle section that dragged at times, I had a blast reading this book, and I’ll be anxiously awaiting Jenny Kiefer’s next book.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.