Off the Page with Emily Crockett

Join The Wren as she chats with supporting character Emily Crockett of Rose Creek Reads from the Rose Creek Mysteries series

Welcome back, my treasured Spine Sparrows, to another Off the Page visit into the heart of a story. 📚✨

Today, we meet Emily Crockett of Rose Creek Reads. Her story is shaped by love, loss, perseverance, and two delightfully opinionated feline coworkers who seem to stumble upon bodies as often as they find sun spots. From a book club that transformed into a circle of mystery solvers, to the tender ways a town can help mend a heart, Emily shows us how a life built around stories can offer purpose, connection, and even courage.

So pour a cup of something soothing, find a comfortable nook, and join me as we travel “Off the Page” with a woman who has turned a little Oklahoma bookstore into a haven for readers and detectives alike.

Yours in fiction and friendship,
The Wren 🐦💌

My character guest today is Emily Crockett from the Rose Creek Mysteries by Catherine Dilts. Book 3, The Body in the Hayloft, is out TODAY! Emily is the owner of Rose Creek Reads, the book shop featured in the series.

Thanks so much for coming “Off the Page” with me, Emily. Rose Creek Reads sounds like a booklover’s dream. What inspired you to open a cozy bookstore in a small town, and how has it changed your life since you hung that “Open” sign in the window?

Greetings from the loveliest small town in Oklahoma - despite the occasional murder. Six years ago, my husband and I moved to Rose Creek. Bookstores so rarely make a profit, but we considered this a labor of love, to keep us busy in our retirement years. Sadly, he passed only two years later, at the painfully young age of 67. I worked through my grief by throwing myself into creating a warm and welcoming gathering place for readers.

What a terrible loss! After losing your husband, running the store must have carried both bittersweet and healing moments. How has the Rose Creek community, and your new circle of mystery-solving friends, helped you navigate this chapter of your life?

Four years after losing my husband, I’ve come to terms with widowhood. I have no interest in romance in my own life, but it has been satisfying watching the women of the book club navigate their own emotional dramas. I believe my maturity provides a stabilizing influence for the younger women. While they might believe the book shop has changed their lives by providing the setting to build friendships, it has given me renewed purpose. Rose Creek Reads is my heart and my home.

I’m glad you’ve been able to build a “found family” around you. But you also have some fur babies at your side. You’ve said that “cats and mysteries go together.” As the proud companion of Agatha and Mitch, how do your feline coworkers help (or occasionally hinder) your daily life at the shop?

Mitch, a large butterscotch tabby boy, set the entire trajectory for my brand-new book club. He became obsessed with exploring the banks of Rose Creek directly behind my bookstore. At our debut meeting, in quite the dramatic fashion, Mitch discovered a body in the cattails. The book club ladies couldn’t help but become involved. Agatha is more aloof. The fluffy calico with a queenly white neck ruff is very choosy about whose lap she curls up on. Cats seem to become involved in every Rose Creek mystery, showing an amazing penchant for discovering bodies.

I can’t imagine how dramatic my own cat would be if he ever discovered a body. Mitch has quite the brave heart!

You’ve turned your bookstore into the heart of a murder-solving book club. What was it like watching those first few meetings turn from page-turning discussions into real-life sleuthing?

At first, the four women who formed the core of the group seemed reluctant to accept their roles as amateur sleuths. When the mysteries began to hit dangerously close to home, they jumped into action. I gently guide them from the sidelines. After all, I’ve read nearly every mystery novel in my shop. You can’t help but learn things about unravelling mysteries when you’re immersed in the genre. I’m proud of the progress the ladies have made in both their sleuthing skills and their personal lives.

Your son Mason runs a horse farm nearby, and one of your daughters is studying overseas. How do you balance being “Mom,” “Bookshop Queen,” and honorary den mother to a pack of amateur detectives?

With my children grown and living their own lives, it is important for me to deepen my roots in Rose Creek. I may be lending support to the book club, but in return, I have a growing support network. In a small town, this is a double-edged sword. On the negative side, everyone knows your business, but on the positive side, everyone is ready to lend a hand when life sends you a curveball.

It’s quite the balancing act! All right, from one booklover to another, if Rose Creek Reads had a staff pick shelf curated by you, what three mysteries would always be featured, the ones you press into readers’ hands and say, “You simply must read this”?

That is hardly a fair question. It’s like asking me which of my children is my favorite! If I must pick three favorites, let me narrow it down to cat-themed mysteries. I enjoy Sofie Ryan’s Second Chance Cat series, Miranda James’s The Cat in the Stacks, and Cate Conte’s Cat Café mysteries. Oh, may I add a fourth? Who doesn’t like Joe Gray, Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s talking detective cat?

Some great recommendations to add to a TBR pile. To wrap up our delightful conversation, what’s next for you and your author, Catherine Dilts?

The Body in the Hayloft brings the entire book club to Callie’s ranch for the Equi X elite horse workshops. In the fourth book, Agatha will play a vital role in saving the day when a university donor’s cousin becomes the focus of an especially tricky mystery. Watch for The Body in the Chuckwagon in fall 2026.

Congratulations on the new release! How exciting. There’s so much for cozy mystery lovers to look forward to.

✨ The Wren’s Closing Notes ✨

Thank you for stopping by this “Off the Page” visit with me. Conversations like this remind me why stories matter so deeply. They help us heal, guide us forward, and connect us to people we might never meet otherwise. Emily’s world at Rose Creek Reads is proof of how a single bookshop, a fearless book club, and a pair of intuitive cats can spark the kind of magic that lingers long after the last page.

If today’s interview warmed your heart or sparked your curiosity, I encourage you to explore more of Catherine Dilts’s work. New mysteries are waiting in the wings, and perhaps even a feline detective or two is ready to steal your attention.

Until next time, Spine Sparrows, keep your books close, your tea warm, and your imaginations ever curious. There’s always another spine waiting to be discovered. 🕮💛

~ The Wren

✨ Meet Emily’s Author✨

Catherine Dilts is the author of the Rose Creek and the Rock Shop cozy mystery series. Her eleventh short story appears in the Nov/Dec 2025 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. After a career in environmental compliance for a global corporation, Catherine now writes fiction full-time. She is stepping into a new genre this year with her co-author daughter Merida Bass and the YA science fiction Tapestry Tales series, written under the pen name Ann Belice. Coming soon in the much-anticipated Ninja Grandparent Placement Mystery Series: book one, Grandpa’s New Year’s Relocation.

📚 Website: https://www.catherinedilts.com/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diltscathy/

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CatherineDiltsAuthor

📚 Amazon (Kindle Unlimited): https://a.co/d/4A2Tik5

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