The Quick and the Thread: An Embroidery Mystery
by Amanda Lee
First of all, disclaimer - I am not a book reviewer, so this is not a real book review. :) I do have an English degree, love mystery novels, novels in general, etc. - but none of that really qualifies me to do a real review. I'm just your average yo-yo who likes to embroider. But - would I miss the opportunity to read an EMBROIDERY mystery novel and share an author-signed copy with you guys? I think not! So, here goes. :)
This book found me at exactly the right moment - I've been on a mystery novel kick - reading through all the Southern vampire mysteries by Charlaine Harris, and I'm halfway through the Harper Connelly series. I LOVE mystery books with a female protagonist, and one who embroiders - I can die now! :)
The main character in this novel is Marcy Singer, who's just opened a small embroidery shop called The Seven Year Stitch (do all embroiderers share our love of awful puns? I think so.) On the night of her grand opening, she finds a body in her storeroom, with a mysterious message scratched onto the wall - and there begins the mystery. There's a bit of romance, some love triangles, lots of puns, a cute dog, embezzling, prison visits, and of course, embroidery!
I thought this book was terribly fun, and I loved the descriptions of Marcy's store and her embroidery projects - you know that little jolt you get when you meet someone who loves to embroider? Well, I'm hooked and already waiting for the next one!
I'd like to thank the author, who found us and was sweet enough to share an advance copy with me and offer an author-signed copy to one lucky Feeling Stitchy reader!
To enter the drawing: Leave a comment on this post with your 2 favorite mystery novels. If you're not into mystery, just tell us your 2 favorite books. That way, we'll all come away with something good to read! I'll close the comments at 6:00 PM Central Time, Sunday Oct. 31 and choose 1 random winner.
Want an embroidery mystery novel? Well, hurry up and leave a comment! :)
Monica Ferris - Needlecraft Mysteries is what I am reading now.
ReplyDeleteAgatha Christie - Miss Marple series.
I was an AVID Nancy Drew reader when I was young, and now I love reading the Pink Carnation series. You just can't beat mystery combined with history and romance!
ReplyDeleteThree Bags Full by Leonie Swann. Sheep solve the mystery of who murdered their shepherd.
ReplyDeleteThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. An autistic teen figures out who murdered his neighbour's dog.
I'm currently re-reading Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe and The Mother Hunt. And I love Agatha Christie's series featuring Jane Marple.
ReplyDeleteKatrina M.
Emilie Richards has a series of Ministry is Murder Series about a preacher's wife Aggie that solves these murders. Very fun!! Not creepy at all!!!
ReplyDeleteI love mysteries too...The Hannah Swenson series by Joanne Fluke is very fun. She has a cookie shop in a little town in Minnesota. She keeps finding dead bodies and much to the police department's dismay, she solves the crimes. Within the stories there are some really great cookie recipes. This series is great for when you don't feel like thinking too hard or you don't want to get too creeped out!
ReplyDeleteOoOoh, this looks like a great read, I'll definitely have to try to get my hands on a copy (maybe I'll win this one, heehee!).
ReplyDeleteI love all kinds of books and I read a lot, but I can't remember two specific mysteries at the moment, so I'll just give two of my most favorites. Harry Potter (which everybody knows is comprised of seven books, but I see as one continuous story). I love that series more than I can say without sounding like a complete dork. And the other I'll say is... The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Very good read, indeed. Oh, and 13th tale, I liked that one quite a lot too.
Cheers!
Wow! I squealed when I just read about this book and had to order it right away. :D Can't wait. So count me out. I usually read more crime than detective novels. In recent years I nearly read all Henning Mankell's books about a troubled police inspector in Sweden.(also translated in English)
ReplyDeleteI just read and very much enjoyed Lye in Wait, the first in Cricket McRae's homecrafting mystery series.
ReplyDeleteI've also enjoyed the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series by Susan Wittig Albert (a mystery series featuring Beatrix Potter).
I can't pick just 2 favorite mystery books so I'll pick my 2 favorite mystery authors: Sue Grafton and Agatha Christie!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid my fave mystery was "Dollhouse Murders." I have a thing for miniatures.
ReplyDeleteMy fave book I read recently was "White Noise." Great book!
Thanks for the giveaway, the book sounds really good! I will read it even if I don't win it.
I'm a big fan of Dorothy L Sayers, so I choose 'Murder Must Advertise' by her, then probably something by P.D. James - 'Death in Holy Orders'.
ReplyDeleteI think a love of bad puns is common to all the crafting world - knitters are just as guilty!
oops i posted on the wrong thread. okay here it is again.
ReplyDelete"the little sister" by raymond chandler a great mystery writer in the 1930s
and
"the wind-up bird chronicles" by haruki murakami which is sort of a mystery novel but more japanese surrealism and totally one of my very favorite books. yay!
I've never really been into mystery, but that book sounds irrestible!
ReplyDeleteMy 2 all time favourite books are Little Women and The Secret Garden - I'm just a big kid really:)
I love all the books in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.
ReplyDeleteI also like Deborah Donnelly's Wedding Planner Mystery Series.
They are both witty and fun :-)
Thank you all so much! And a special thanks for ordering the book, Nicole! You guys are great. By the way, the patterns were too detailed to put in the back of the book, but they're available at the website: http://www.gayletrent.com - just roll your mouse over the books tab and you'll see "patterns". Thanks again and Happy Halloween!
ReplyDeleteI mostly read mysteries as well. Two of my favorite mystery series are the Anna Pigeon novels by Nevada Barr & the China Bayles novels by Susan Wittig Albert
ReplyDeleteAgatha Chirstie and Diane Mott-Davidson who writes food themed mysteries. I have also read a few quilting & tea themed mystery series that I found enjoyable. Thanks for sharing this title with us.
ReplyDeletesdsunshine@sio.midco.net
I love pretty much all the Agatha Christie novels -- well, not the Miss Marple ones! Other than that, Alexander McCall Smith's books.
ReplyDeleteMy current favorite mystery novels are Josi Kilpak's Culinary mysteries, starting with Lemmon Tart. I have always had a soft spot for Agatha Christie's Monsier Poirot :great light read.
ReplyDeleteallenmusicmama@gmail.com
When I was in high school I loved Mary Higgins Clark.
ReplyDeleteA favorite from this year is In the Woods by Tana French.
I love the mysteries with female geologists as protagonists by Sarah Andrews and Susan Cummins Miller. Can't wait to start on some mysteries set in the needlecraft world, what a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI like mysteries, but I don't read them as often as other genres ... don't know why. My favourite mystery is Proximate Causes by Lyndsay Smith because it takes place in my city. My favourite book ever is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - it's amazing! Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThat's a hard question. I really enjoyed the first couple of Patricia Cornwell books when they started. The later ones not so much & now I just can't read any of them.
ReplyDeleteThe Monica Ferris series is about my mystery limit these days. Light hearted fun & reading.
I spent most of my first year at University reading every book by Agatha Christie. My absolute favourite was "And then there were none". Brilliant! Kept me up one night - I *needed* to finish it!
ReplyDeleteAlso, "Curtain: Poirot's final case" was great. Very touching. I actually cried!
I have always loved Agatha Christie mysteries. I read all of them. I'll have to see about getting this one from the library, unless I win. :)
ReplyDeleteLove mysteries and all kinds of other books..Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanivich make me laugh, Read all Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigion Series, like the different National Park settings. JD Robb AKA Nora Roberts mysteries have the futuristic edge. Recently read some of Stuart MacBride’s series. I couldn’t just stop at two so I’ll force myself to stop at 4. If I don’t win I’ll have to check this book out soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway! I love Janet Evanovich and Agatha Christie. However, there are so many great mystery authors out there, and I am just adding more all the time! Spencer Quinn writes great canine mysteries with Chet and his master, Bernie--very funny. If I keep going, I wiil never stop!
ReplyDeletethey're kinda cheesy, but i love "the cat who" mysteries, i've loved them since i was a kid. they're just kinda silly, and a quick read, and who does love to crime solving kitties!! also, '10 little indians' (now titled, 'and then there were none') agatha christie is just brilliant!
ReplyDeletethanks for the shot at winning :)
-keni
Hmmm...mysteries are just some of what I read...
ReplyDeleteI love the No.1 Ladies' Detective Series and similar but different is A Guide to the Birds of East Africa (it's a novel, not an Audubon book).
I love all of Stuart Woods's Stone Barrington's mysteries. There are way too many to name. I also love all of Pat Conroy's books.
ReplyDeleteDead Until Dark and Dead To The World (books 1 and 4 of the Southern Vampire series)
ReplyDeleteAny Hercule Poirot mystery and the Trixie Belden series (which is a hold over from my preteen years). Now, I'm a huge fantasy fan. I love Mercedes Lackey, David Eddings and Neil Gaimon.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a mystery so I am going to go with my spooky favs. I love Frankenstein and I have yet to finish The Shining because it scares me so much - I think I have tried 4 or 5 times to read it.
ReplyDeleteooh ooh ooh! A new needlework mystery, I am so excited!
ReplyDeleteHmm, my favorite mysteries . . . I've read so many, I don't know where to begin. Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time is an unusual take (and totally changed my mind about Richard III). And even though some of the details are way out of date, Sharon McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun, which takes place at a SciFi convention, is lots of fun.
The first would be 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and the second would be any Kurt Wallender mystery by Henning Mankell.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fun book with an embroidery twist!
Thanks for the giveaway ... found your blog from Follow the White Bunny!
The Sugar Queen & Water for Elephants - neither are murder mysteries, just the kind where one tries to piece together the story as it goes and unravel the mystery of it.
ReplyDeleteThis is perfect giveaway:):) I love mystery novels. Only problem for me is that once I start one I have to know what is going to happen and will spend hours reading until I finish it. i fade away into the world of mystery.
ReplyDeleteI have many favorites but you said 2.
so my first is Tahoe night By Todd Borg. Todd Borg has a series of mystery novels. they are all based on a detective living in Tahoe California/Nevada. we live just a little over 30 miles from this well known lake. His stories are so real for us since we recognize the locations and his character often travels to Reno in the stories, where we live. it is so fun to read mystery novels based on where you live:):)
My second choice would be Agatha Christies' Ten Little Indians
Those would be the two I could read a millions times.
Thanks for having a great giveaway.
hmmmm now I need to go read a mystery:)
Ann Flowers
flowerscrazyq@gmail.com
As hard as it may seem I enjoyed "Murder on the Red Carpet" by Joan Rivers! I also am currently reading Sue Grafton's alphabet series, I am currently on "N is for Noose"...I luv them all equally! Totally recommend them! Please enter me in the drawing as I would luv to try out a new adventure!
ReplyDeleteAt this moment I'm reading the Debbie Macomber Blossom Street-series. Also love Nora Roberts and her mysterie-series written under the name J.D. Robb.
ReplyDeleteAnd ... I always like to try a new author !
I like Brandon Sandersons Mistborn series at the moment... and at the moment i'm also hooked on Jane Austen. I just can't help myself. Very different books though but I like it!
ReplyDeleteThis looks great! I love any kind of reading, but mysteries are always fun. I recently saw a "home crafting mystery" on display at the library called Heaven Preserve Us by Cricket McRae. It was a fun read. It was also based in Seattle which was a neat surprise because I lived there for years.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've read any other mystery books, but I just finished Rococo by Adriana Trigiani and I find her books to be detailed enough in the hows and whys her characters create what they do (in this one the main character is a designer) to keep a crafter interested.
This looks great! I love any kind of reading, but mysteries are always fun. I recently saw a "home crafting mystery" on display at the library called Heaven Preserve Us by Cricket McRae. It was a fun read. It was also based in Seattle which was a neat surprise because I lived there for years.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've read any other mystery books, but I just finished Rococo by Adriana Trigiani and I find her books to be detailed enough in the hows and whys her characters create what they do (in this one the main character is a designer) to keep a crafter interested.
Any Agatha Chrisite, but specifically I'll reread "Murder on the Orient Express" and I also love "Maisie Dobbs" and the continuing series by Jacqueline Winspear.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy seeing all the fabulous projects on this blog.
I've been reading Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series. I also read all the Nancy Drew mysteries when I was growing up. I still enjoy reading a good mystery.
ReplyDelete2 favorites- that's a hard one. I really enjoy mysteries but my favorites are fantasy novels. two best picks - 'The lost Library of Cormanthyr" (by mel odam). Swords, monsters and DnD rules. It's terrible and i love it. Second favorite "Lirael". It's YA fiction about an orphan girl who works in a great and dangerous library.(and then has adventures) Tim Curry reads the audio book, which was particularly delightful.
ReplyDeletei looove the original nancy drew series. the "just as you remember then" set.
ReplyDeleteCami S.
I am a mystery nut, hard to pick just two but I will go with the classics. The amazing "Sherlock Holmes" and Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple. Jacqueline Winspear and Deborah Crombie mysteries give this reader much hope for the future of this genre.
ReplyDeleteI agree with J, you just can't beat an Agatha Christie book. I love your "book review" and would love to read this book. Count me in on your giveaway
ReplyDeleteJennifer G
I'm currently reading an Australian Novelist - Matthew Reilly, there more of an action story than a mystery, but a couple of his books delve into ancient stuff, which I like. Thanks for the chance to get into an embroidered mystery.
ReplyDeleteArlene
from down under.
Sounds like a wonderful mystery!
ReplyDeleteI have been reading "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith, and also the Hannah Swenson mysteries by Joanne Fluke. I love to read "gentle" mysteries that are entertaining and informative. Since I've enjoyed the food-themed Hannah Swenson books I will try some of Diane Mott-Davidson's books next!
ReplyDeleteOk, I love this idea..so I'm going 'old school' here as I haven't read a mystery in a while. But loved loved loved the Trixie Belden series when I was a tweenie teen and as a child, classic mystery books were by Enid Blyton..maybe I need to read a grown-up mystery still love Enid, haven't looked at Trixie Belden in many years!!
ReplyDeleteJust bought The Quick & the Thread for my Kindle on my PC and it's shared with my iPhone.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation.
Thanks for hosting this great giveaway! The book sounds great fun! I'm not a mystery buff in particular, but I love Miss Marple. And one of my favourite books is "The Liar" by Stephen Fry which is kind of a mystery, too. Very funny and kind of excentric.
ReplyDeleteI have recently enjoyed: Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel ... and my mom loved the Billy Boyle mysteries.
ReplyDeleteI really like the Earlene Fowler Quilting mysteries. I also just read Sew Deadly, a start of another sewing mystery sereis. Very cool!
ReplyDeletei can't wait to read this book! and the chance to win an author-autographed copy is fab! my faves are both miss marple mysteries: 4:50 from Paddington, and At Bertram's Hotel. I also love the cat mysteries by Lillian Jackson Braun, and of course the Sookie Stackhouse series too!!
ReplyDeleteI love Kathy Reichs books, her books are what the show "Bones" is based on. I can't just choose two! Right now I am reading Deja Dead.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book I have read so far has been The Shining by Stephen King. I enjoyed the movie, but I thought the book was amazing!
ReplyDeleteI am reading The Stand by Stephen King now and it is also excellent!
I haven't read a lot of mystery novels, but I definitely like the genre!