A day in the life of Emily Westhill by Ginger Bolton

I’m Emily Westhill. I set my alarm to go off at five fifteen every morning.

I have a cat.

I seldom need that alarm. . .

Deputy Donut is a tortoiseshell tabby with tri-colored tabby stripes and cute circles on her sides that resemble donuts. I usually shorten her name to Dep. After I’ve fed her and eaten my own breakfast, I get out her halter and leash. She usually lets me fasten the halter around her without much batting and biting, probably because she doesn’t want to be left behind and she likes our daily walk to work. Well, I walk. Dep bounces and pounces.

After about six blocks of our start-and-stop progress, we’re in downtown Fallingbrook, Wisconsin. We enter our café, named Deputy Donut after the cat, by the back door leading into our office. After making certain that both the back door and the one leading into the dining room are securely closed, I release Dep. She races up ramps, staircases, and carpeted “trees” to the catwalk surrounding the room just below the ceiling. She dashes through tunnels up there, grabs toys, and bats them off the edge. By the time she gallops down, I try to be in the dining room, with the door securely shut again. Actually, I try to be in the dining room before the toys start raining down.

I go behind the serving counter to the kitchen. Tom, my business partner, is often there first, making dough and batter while oil heats in our deep fryers. He usually does the frying and I usually do the decorating. When customers start arriving at seven thirty, our display counter is full of delicious fried treats and our coffee makers are ready to dispense rich brews from around the world.

Our customers are wonderful. We have a couple of groups who come in nearly every day, and other townsfolk drop in often. Tourists have discovered us. They come to visit the falls for which Fallingbrook is named, and they stop at Deputy Donut for donuts, coffee, tea, and a taste of our friendly community. And then they spread the word . . .

I was a 911 operator for a couple of years until I could no longer stand the stress. Tom retired recently after being Fallingbrook’s very popular police chief. Both of us have lived in Fallingbrook most of our lives. Between us, we have many friends among Fallingbrook’s first responders, many of whom show up at Deputy Donut for their breaks.

Okay, I’ll admit right here and now that donut-loving cops are a stereotype. Cops truly do not spend their entire days eating donuts and drinking coffee. Most of them work out and stay fit.

However, Fallingbrook police officers are especially fond of the donuts that Tom and I make. Actually, everyone is.

Tom and I rush around all day, but we find time to chat with our customers. Deputy Donut is the perfect place to pick up facts, gossip, rumors, and lies, especially if there’s been a crime.

My two best friends since junior high also still live in Fallingbrook. One is a policewoman and the other is an Emergency Medical Technician. The three of us get together often. We tease each other and laugh until we hurt.

Sometimes I envy those two women for the fast vehicles they drive, complete with sirens and flashing lights.

But I’m not very jealous.

I have donuts. And a cat named Deputy Donut.

---

You can read more about Emily in Survival of the Fritters, the first book in the NEW “Deputy Donut” mystery series.

Emily Westhill runs the best donut shop in Fallingbrook, Wisconsin, alongside her retired police chief father-in-law and her tabby Deputy Donut. But after murder claims a favorite customer, Emily can’t rely on a sidekick to solve the crime—or stay alive.

If Emily has learned anything from her past as a 911 operator, it’s to stay calm during stressful situations. But that’s a tall order when one of her regulars, Georgia Treetor, goes missing. Georgia never skips morning cappuccinos with her knitting circle. Her pals fear the worst—especially Lois, a close friend who recently moved to town. As evening creeps in, Emily and the ladies search for Georgia at home. And they find her—murdered among a scattering of stale donuts . . .

Disturbingly, Georgia’s demise coincides with the five-year anniversary of her son’s murder, a case Emily’s late detective husband failed to solve before his own sudden death. With Lois hiding secrets and an innocent man’s life at stake, Emily’s forced to revisit painful memories on her quest for answers. Though someone’s alibi is full of holes, only a sprinkling of clues have been left behind. And if Emily can’t trace them back to a killer in time, her donut shop will end up permanently closed for business . . .

Buy Link

# # # # # # # # # # #

About the author
Ginger Bolton writes the Deputy Donut mystery series–cops, crime, coffee, donuts and one curious cat. When Ginger isn’t writing or reading, she’s crocheting, knitting, sewing, walking her two rescue dogs and generally causing trouble. She’s also fond of donuts, coffee, and cafes were folks gather to enjoy those tasty treats and one another’s company. As Janet Bolin, she wrote the Threadville mystery series.

All comments are welcomed.

A Day in the Life of Willow Vanderling by Janet Bolin

My life revolves around my store and my four pets, not necessarily in that order.

I have two dogs, Sally-Forth and Tally-Ho, a brother and sister pair who are part Border Collie. Their Border Collie heritage means that if I don’t give them jobs, they make up their own. Because of other breeds in their ancestry, though, they are mellower than purebred Border Collies. Still, they are attentive and eager to please. Their bond with each other is heartwarmingly strong.

Mustache and Bow-Tie, the two cats, are younger, and I’m guessing that they are brothers. Sally-Forth, carrying out one of her self-assigned and sometimes rather surprising jobs, brought them into our little family when they were tiny kittens. She and the cats seem to believe that she is the cats’ mother. Tally-Forth is skeptical about it, but his sister never allows him to question her. She is the reigning queen of the pets.

As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time looking after the four darlings. We live in Threadville, Pennsylvania, which has hiking trails, a river, and beautiful beaches on Lake Erie. Walking the dogs is always fun and interesting. Strangely, snooping around the village has actually led us to clues that have helped solve a few murders…

Owning my machine embroidery boutique, In Stitches, is my dream career. I sell amazing sewing machines that also embroider. My customers and I can buy ready-made designs and embroider them on fabrics, but most of us prefer to create our own designs, and I sell sophisticated software that makes it easy—well, almost. I offer workshops in my store most days. In the beginning, I was the teacher, and I still play that role, but I also learn from my students and customers.

Meanwhile, something new and exciting has arrived in Threadville—the Threadville Academy of Design and Modeling, TADAM for short. TADAM students will undoubtedly become our customers, and I’m sure we’ll learn a lot from them about design.

Even more exciting, the school’s director has asked seven of us from Threadville to make outfits for a fundraiser fashion show for TADAM. He’s going to give us sketches for the outfits he wants us to create. Most of us design and make our own clothes already, but imagine the thrill of working with a real fashion designer!

He said he’d drop by with the sketches for me soon. And then, I’ll spend my spare time planning, shopping for, and making the outfits in the sketches. I sell some fabrics at In Stitches, and I also carry a huge range of embroidery thread, but I’m sure to find whatever else I need at the other Threadville shops—The Stash, Tell a Yarn, Buttons and Bows, Batty About Quilts, and maybe even at Country Chic. I can hardly wait to get started.

I am a little concerned, though, about actually being in the fashion show. Me, a model? I may be tall and thin, but models are usually a little more coordinated and graceful than I am. I hope I won’t trip over my feet and fall flat on my face. I’ll try my best not to make a fool of myself.

And amid all the festivities, I won’t forget to look after my pets. Maybe the dogs and I can go for walks without snooping for clues in murder cases . . .

---

You can read about how Willow commits a sin of fashion and, with the help of her friends and those two snoopy dogs, solves yet another murder in the fifth Threadville Mystery, Seven Threadly Sins, published by Berkley Prime Crime.

GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on May 11 for the chance to win a print copy of Seven Threadly Sins. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected. Make sure to check your SPAM folder.

About the author
Janet Bolin learned to sew before she could thread a needle. In addition to sewing, Janet’s hobbies include reading, writing, knitting, and using software and sewing machines to create original embroidery designs. Discouraged by the lack of sewing and yarn shops near her home, Janet invented Threadville, Pennsylvania, a village of textile arts shops.

In breaks between her more sedentary hobbies, Janet walks her dogs, who are strangely similar to the dogs in the Threadville Mystery series. For more information, check out her website.

A Day in the Life of Willow Vanderling by Janet Bolin

I’m Willow Vanderling. I live in Pennsylvania on the shore of Lake Erie. Thanks to the textile arts shops lining the main street, our village has earned the nickname “Threadville.”

I have two dogs who are part border collie and very active and enthusiastic, and I also have two tuxedo cats. So the first thing I do every morning is take them out. The female dog herds the cats inside before they get into mischief.

Then I go upstairs to my shop, In Stitches, where I sell everything anyone could need or want for doing machine embroidery at home. Although I have a part-time assistant, I work long hours in the store (yes, I take breaks to look after my pets…) We demonstrate our wonderful machines and we also offer classes and workshops. Busloads of Threadville tourists show up nearly every day.

Many evenings, I work on my online business. I create embroidery designs. People send me photos of pets, cottages, boats, scenery, and even grandchildren, and I make a design (the process is called “digitizing”) that they can stitch, or I stitch the design for them on a wall hanging or on a panel that they can incorporate their own project. Quilts and placemats are popular.

When I’ve filled all my online orders, I sew and embroider. Sometimes, I create garments and soft furnishings to hang in my shop as examples. I make most of my own clothes. Nearly everything has at least a touch of machine embroidery. I can’t help embroidering nearly everything.

Recently, I’ve spent lots of my spare time helping organize Threadville’s Get Ready for Halloween Craft Fair, a two-day event geared to creating Halloween décor and costumes. It’s been getting out of hand, and a few exhibitors whose “crafts” don’t seem very closely related to Halloween will be there.

The day after the fair ends, Edna, who owns Threadville’s notions shop, is getting married. Edna loves bright and shiny things. The rest of us talked her out of gowns that might make her resemble a frilly wedding cake, a disco ball festooned with beaded ruffles, or a snowman draped in twinkly silver lights.

However, we can’t help teasing her. She doesn’t know that most evenings, the rest of us have been creating a huge skirt that Edna can (if she dares…) wear over her slightly more sedate gown during the reception. We’ve embellished the overskirt with nearly everything we know how to craft from fabric, thread, yarn, and glittery, shiny things. In addition, my special friend, Clay, has wired the skirt for sound and lights. Getting together to make the skirt is taking large chunks of our time and is causing a lot of hysterical laughter. The skirt is almost finished.

When we planned the craft fair and Edna scheduled her wedding, we expected that out-of-towners could stay at the Elderberry Bay Lodge. However, a bunch of zombie enthusiasts are holding what they’re calling a “retreat” that week, and the three craft show exhibitors with the most unlikely crafts did not book rooms in time. Those women will be the guests of three of the Threadville shopkeepers, including Edna. I thought Edna might host her mother, but her mother will be staying with my best friend Haylee, instead. A little tension between Edna and her mother, perhaps?

No one has been eager to stay in an apartment with two dogs and two cats, so as far as I know (that could change), I won’t have a guest. That’s fine. My to-do list is about a mile long.

Despite how much we cram into our days, my dogs still need long walks. Haylee usually helps me take them for their last walk of the evening. We’ve discovered that dressing in black helps us blend into the night, especially when we’re feeling the need to snoop. The police chief does not approve, and probably won’t admit that Haylee, my dogs, and I have discovered clues that were crucial in solving murders.

We’ll have wedding guests, craft show exhibitors, and people dressed up like zombies, all wandering around Threadville at the same time.

Haylee and I won’t have to dress in black or snoop into anything, though, right?

---

You can read more about Character in Night Of The Living Thread, the fourth book in the “Threadville” mystery series, published by Publisher. The first book in the series is Dire Threads. Books are available at retail and online booksellers.

GIVEAWAY
Comment on this post by 6 p.m. EST on June 23, and you will be entered for a chance to win a copy of NIGHT OF THE LIVING THREAD. One winner will be chosen at random. Unless specified, U.S. entries only.

Meet the author
In addition to reading and writing, Janet’s hobbies include sewing, knitting, and machine embroidery, including using software and killer (!) sewing machines to create original embroidery designs. Discouraged by the lack of sewing and yarn shops near her home, Janet invented Threadville, Pennsylvania, a village of textile arts shops.

The first Threadville Mystery, Dire Threads, was nominated for the Agatha Award for the Best First Mystery of 2011 and for the 2012 Bony Blithe. The second mystery in the series, Threaded For Trouble was nominated for the 2013 Bony Blithe. The third book, Thread And Buried, was ranked a National Bestseller and nominated for the 2014 Bony Blithe. The fourth book, NIGHT OF THE LIVING THREAD, was published on June 3. The fifth Threadville Mystery will be released in 2015.

Between writing and revising, Janet walks her dogs, who are strangely similar to the dogs in the Threadville Mystery series.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

---

Follow dru’s book musing on Facebook for book giveaways, contests, posting about discounted books and some of my reading musings.

Thread and Buried by Janet Bolin

Thread and Buried by Janet Bolin is the third book in the “Threadville” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, June 2013

In Threadville, Pennsylvania, known for its textile art courses and shops, everyone’s stories are connected by a common thread—even the ones ending in murder.

Every town has a legend. For Threadville, it’s the story of Snoozy Gallagher, the hotel owner who disappeared thirty years ago with a bag full of stolen jewelry, never to be heard from again. That is, until now—when Snoozy’s loot is discovered buried behind Willow Vanderling’s embroidery shop In Stitches.

When villagers mysteriously become ill, and a body shrouded in materials from Threadville shops appears in the exact spot where the treasure was—along with two abandoned kittens—Willow needs answers. The random events are too coincidental to be unrelated, but Willow will have to act quickly to unravel the deadly mystery, or she might get tangled up as the killer’s next victim.

I love this series which like fine wine, gets better as it goes along. The whole gang is back in the funstastic read that started with a jewelry box with a past that someone in the present will do anything to keep it that way. I love the way the story flows from chapter to chapter as Willow and Haylee, as usual, get involved in the investigation. This is a great story that I could not put down and I look forward to more crime solving in the next book in this charmingly appealing series.

A Day in the Life of Haylee Scott by Janet Bolin

I’m Haylee Scott. I worked for awhile as an investment counselor, but my first love has always been making clothes, mainly by sewing them, though I can also knit and crochet.

My best friend, Willow, and I blew the whistle on our boss in the financial business, and I left town immediately. Willow, who is braver than I am, stayed on. Eventually, I got her to join me in a village in northwestern Pennsylvania, where I had opened the shop of my dreams, The Stash. I sell beautiful fabrics and teach sewing and tailoring. My three mothers had already quit their jobs and moved here, too, to open yarn, notions, and quilting shops. By the time Willow opened her machine embroidery boutique, In Stitches, the village had a new nickname—Threadville.

Yes, I have three mothers. I’m the product of a summer love when my mother was only sixteen. I don’t know my father’s name, but he was the love of my mother’s life, and I suspect that she’s still pining for him. My other two mothers are her best friends. They helped raise me. One of them got engaged when I was little, but a drunk driver put an end to my dreams of having a father. That mother hasn’t been interested in anyone since. These are three very loyal women. My third mother is dating a man whom we all love. I’m crossing my fingers for her.

Me? I’m not dating. I’ve had some bad luck with men. I managed to introduce Willow to a great guy named Clay, and they seem to like each other. I sense they’re conniving to find me a boyfriend, but those two are so busy they hardly ever see each other, so they don’t have much time to connive, which is probably just as well.

Right, I was going to tell you about my day. I teach courses in my shop mornings and afternoons. I often have lunch with Willow, and when the ice cream stand near the beach is open, we stroll along the beach for ice cream after supper. Tuesday evenings, Willow, Clay, and I have firefighting practice. Friday evenings, one of my mothers hosts storytelling events at her shop, Tell a Yarn (she’s the knitting and crocheting expert.)

There have been times when Willow and I have felt the need to do a little quiet investigating. We dress in black and drive out in Willow’s nondescript car after dark. Usually, we take her two dogs. If our police chief (who seems to have an antenna for discovering our whereabouts) finds us and asks what we’re up to, we can tell her we’re walking the dogs.

Don’t worry. We were very, very careful. The police chief won’t admit it, but without our help, she might not have solved a couple of murders.

But we’re done with all that. Anyone up for ice cream this evening?

---

Thanks to Penguin, I have one (1) copy of THREAD AND BURIED to give away. Leave a comment to be included in the giveaway. The book will be shipped directly from the publisher. Contest ends June 8; US entries only per publisher’s request.

---

You can learn more about Haylee and how she helps Willow solve a murder in the Threadville Mystery series.

The first Threadville Mystery, Dire Threads, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel, and was shortlisted for the 2012 Bloody Words Light Mystery Award (the Bony Blithe.)

The second novel in the Threadville Mystery series, Threaded For Trouble, is shortlisted for the 2013 Bloody Words Light Mystery Award (the Bony Blithe.)

The third Threadville Mystery, published June 4, is THREAD AND BURIED.

Meet the author
Janet Bolin invented Threadville because there weren’t enough crafty stores near where she lives, but it didn’t help, because now she wants more than ever to merely cross the street for a purple zipper, a skein of fluffy yarn, yards of quilt batting, and scads of beautiful fabrics. And she wishes she could buy that magenta embroidery thread in Willow’s shop… Janet has two dogs who have a strong resemblance to Willow’s dogs, and, like Willow’s dogs, are fond of investigating and sniffing out clues.

Two more Threadville Mysteries are in the works…

Visit Janet at Threadville Mysteries, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Threadville Mysteries are available at your favorite bookstore or at these booksellers.

Threaded For Trouble by Janet Bolin

Threaded for Trouble by Janet Bolin is the second book in the “Threadville” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, June 2012

Welcome back to Threadville, Pennsylvania, where crafts are king, and a “killer” sewing machine lives up to its name.

Darlene Coddlefield, the winner of a national sewing competition, has come to Willow Vanderling’s embroidery shop, In Stitches, to be presented with a top-of-the-line Chandler Champion sewing and embroidery machine as her prize. But Darlene’s triumph is short-lived after she’s found dead under her sewing table, apparently crushed by the heavy machine.

It soon becomes clear that this was no freak accident. Who had it in for Darlene Coddlefield? The long string of suspects includes Darlene’s fire chief husband. So Willow and her best friend, Haylee, become volunteer firefighters to uncover the truth. But when a second sewing machine sparks trouble, the friends realize they may have jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

This was a good read that flowed so evenly as this became a late night read-athon that I could not put down. The mystery kept me guessing as the author did a great job of teasing me down one path and then bam. I enjoyed my time with Willow, Hayley and the three mothers. The ending left great possibilities and I can’t wait for the next book in this delightful series.

A Day In The Life Of Clay Fraser by Janet Bolin

I’m Clay Fraser. I’m a builder/renovator near Elderberry Bay, Pennsylvania. The village on the shores of Lake Erie had fallen on hard times. I took a chance and renovated a Victorian row of four stores with apartments above them. Along came Haylee and her dream of owning a fabric store.

People began calling the village Threadville shortly after Haylee’s store, plus yarn, quilting and notions shops, opened. Excited by Threadville’s success, Haylee asked my company, Fraser Construction, to renovate the building across the street from hers.

Haylee was certain that between the two of us, we could create an environment that would cause her best friend, Willow, to move to Threadville and open a machine embroidery boutique.

The building was an Arts and Crafts bungalow that had been gutted and turned into a succession of stores that never stayed in business more than a year or two. The place was a mess, but it had great bones.

And I love a challenge.

To give me ideas of what Willow might like, Haylee showed me photos of Willow. Suddenly, I had to meet Haylee’s best friend. I wanted my renovations to wow her. Together, Haylee and I tried to create a shop and apartment that Willow would fall for. It worked. Willow bought the property—it included a Victorian wooden cottage beside the river—and moved to Threadville.

I didn’t meet Willow until after she’d been here awhile. I was a little afraid she’d be as impulsive as Haylee, but although Willow likes adventure, she’s cautious, and she tries to hide her vulnerability in a way that makes me want to put my arms around her.

However, between her caution and my, well, I guess I have to call it by its right name, pride, we barely see each other. So the way I spend my days and evenings and the way I’d like to spend my days and evenings are two different things.

I’m usually up early, either drawing new plans or at the latest work site. We’re developing beachfront property over toward Erie. Although trained as an architectural engineer, I do a little of everything—carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, roofing, and (what I may like best) operating heavy machinery. These long, spring days, I’m outside until quite late.

At home after work, I barbecue a steak or some burgers or hot dogs in the last of the light, and eat with a beer or two in front of the TV. Later, I read, mysteries or articles about building and architecture. If I have time, I go canoeing or for walks in the woods or along Lake Erie’s beaches.

I hope, someday, that Willow will come along on some of these explorations, but I’m afraid to ask her. What if she makes it clear that she never wants to go out with me? If I don’t ask her, I’ll always have hope that she’ll say yes. Okay, you’re right. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Haylee and I are friends, just friends. I want Willow to like me, but first she has to trust me, and I understand—maybe—why she might not. She was new in town when someone was murdered. I don’t blame her for being wary of everyone.

Do you have suggestions? She has asked me to help her renovate that Victorian cottage some day.

---

You can learn more about Clay, Willow, and Haylee, and how Willow solved a murder in DIRE THREADS, which was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First novel, and has also been nominated for the Bloody Words Light Mystery Award (the Bony Blithe.)

** Thanks to the publisher, I have one (1) copy of THREADED FOR TROUBLE to give away. Contest open to residents of the US only. Contest ends June 7. Leave a valid-email address with your comment. The book will be shipped directly from the publisher. **

Meet the author
When she’s not writing or reading, Janet Bolin plays with sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, and machine embroidery. She lives with her husband and two rescue dogs near a small village on Lake Erie. The dogs look and act remarkably like Willow’s two dogs. Janet’s kayak is idle too much of the time. Visit Janet at facebook and twitter.

Books are available at retail and online booksellers.

A Day In The Life Of Willow Vanderling by Janet Bolin

I’m Willow Vanderling. I own a dream-come-true machine embroidery shop.

It’s on a slope in the village known as Threadville, and I don’t have far to commute each day—my apartment is underneath the shop. A hunky guy named Clay did the renovations, but that’s another story.

First thing on a typical day, I let my dogs, Sally-Forth and Tally-Ho out to play in my back yard. These nice warm days, we have most of our meals out there, too.

The Threadville tour bus arrives shortly after all the needlecraft and textile arts shops open. Women pour into the shops to browse, buy, and take courses. Recently, the other Threadville proprietors and I hired an assistant, so now I can take a relaxed lunch with my dogs.

We have more workshops and classes in the afternoons. After my customers leave, I tidy the shop for the next day.

Dinner is either with my dogs or with my best friend Haylee and sometimes we join her three mothers, who are marvelous cooks.

Except for Fridays, when I go to Storytelling Night at Tell a Yarn, I spend evenings working on embroidery. Often, I’m commissioned to create a design, a picture of someone’s vacation cottage or pet, for instance. Sometimes those customers want me to stitch it for them, but more and more people own their own embroidery machines and I send them the file, and they can stitch the motif as many times and in as many color combinations as they want.

I’m living my dream, surrounded by the latest in sewing and embroidery machines, software, and gadgets. If I need something else, all I have to do is cross the street to one of the other Threadville shops.

But dreams can always be improved. There’s this hunky builder named Clay . . .

Welcome to Threadville!
————————
You can read more about Haylee and her mothers and how they helped Willow catch a murderer in DIRE THREADS, the first book in the “Threadville” mystery series. The second book in the series, THREADED FOR TROUBLE, featuring a “killer” sewing machine that lives up to its name, will appear in stores in June, 2012.

Janet Bolin has lots of hobbies. I love reading, writing, sewing, knitting, crocheting, and going on long walks with my dogs. I believe I want to make quilts. Sometimes I try to teach myself (not very successfully) how to play the piano. A few years ago, I discovered embroidering using software and high-tech sewing machines. I’m not certain that everything I own simply must be embroidered, but creating the designs is really, really fun. And they’d go so well on crazy quilts.

I live way out in the country, a long drive from stores that sell supplies for people who like to create and embellish their own textiles and garments. Visit Janet at http://threadvillemysteries.com, on Facebook or on Twitter @JanetBolin.

Books are available at retail and online booksellers.

Dire Threads by Janet Bolin

Dire Threads by Janet Bolin is the first book in the new “Threadville” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, June 2011

In the village of Threadville, Pennsylvania, beautiful textiles are the main attraction. But when a prominent town figure is murdered, the close-knit community starts unraveling at the seams.

Newly minted shopkeeper Willow Vanderling is anxious to see her embroidery store succeed. And while In Stitches is a hit with the tourists, the town’s zoning commissioner, Mike Krawbach, isn’t exactly a fan. After denying Willow’s plan to renovate the charming cottage behind the shop, Mike attempts to trick some tourists into signing a petition to knock it down to make way for an ATV trail. Furious over Mike’s trickery, Willow picks a fight with the corrupt commissioner.

When Mike later turns up dead in her yard, Threadville’s newest outspoken resident becomes the prime suspect. With the evidence stacked against her, Willow will have to find the murderer, or else the next thing the embroiders may be an orange prison jumpsuit.

A harmless threat in front of several people and then his subsequent death marks Willow as the one and only prime suspect in his murder. Fearing the local police will not look for the killer, Willow and her friends begin their own investigation and what follows is hilarity fit for a queen. The situations they encounter and escape from will have you in stitches as they try to seam all the pieces together to find a killer and bring justice and of course, clear Willow’s name. This was a good mystery that kept me guessing as the clues diverted my attention from the real killer. This story boasts a delightful cast of characters, crisp writing, entertaining dialogue and a bonus for this quilter, envisions of crafting projects. I got so caught in the town of Threadville and their residents that I’m looking forward to my next adventure. This is a great debut in this welcoming series.

*new-to-me author

FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of this book

previously posted on the Cozy Chicks blog