A Stitch in Crime by Cathy Elliott

About the book:

Thea's first quilt show is literally coming apart at the seams!

Thea James has accepted an assignment as co-chairperson for Larkindale's first

quilt show extravaganza. Juggling the new assignment with running her antique business, she's already feeling frayed when things start to unravel.

Mary-Alice Wentworth, a much loved town matriarch, respected quilt judge, and Thea's dear friend, is covertly conked on the head during the kick-off Quilt Show Soiree, throwing suspicion on her guests. It also appears that a valuable diamond brooch has been stolen during the attack.

When a renowned textile expert is missing and the famous Wentworth heritage quilt disappears, Larkindale's reputation as a tourist haven is at risk. Thea attempts to piece the mystery together and save the town's investment in the quilt show.

My review:

This is the latest in the Quilts of Love series, number twenty five. Each novel is by a different author so one will notice a difference in quality.

This novel is not my favorite in the series. I really had difficulty identifying with the characters. The quilting women seemed to be crabby individuals. Even Thea was a bit grouchy. To me, it seemed like she acted like an elderly woman, yet was much younger than that. Her favorite phrase was “Rats.” Mary-Alice was the sweet one. She was the quintessential Christian, loving and forgiving.

The “crime” in this novel seemed a bit unusual to me. Others in the series have had murders so this one seemed sort of light weight. Finally, when an heirloom quilt goes missing, I felt that was a bit more serious. The strength of this novel may be its word play and humor. One of my favorites is a musing by a fellow: “If we all drove white cars, would we be a white car nation?” A new word to me was introduced – nefandous.

In other books of the series I have learned about a style of quilt. The heirloom quilt was described a little but I would have liked to learn more about it. Some of the items sewn onto the quilt were mentioned but there could have been much more about the meaning of the quilt and how it was constructed.

This is a very cozy mystery. No blood or suspense to speak of. It is very calm and low key. If you like that kind of novel, this is the one for you. I myself like a little more suspense.

I am taking part in a blog tour of this book and you can read other reviews here.

Learn more about this book and read the first chapter at the Quilts of Love website.

Cathy Elliott is an author and speaker who likes to create cozy mysteries. She is an avid quilter, antique hunter, and lives in Anderson, California. Find out more at http://cathyelliottbooks.wordpress.com/.

Abingdon Press, 240 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book through Litfuse Publicity for the purpose of an independent and honest review.