The Quick and the Thread

October 25, 2010
Lee kicks off a cozy, promising mystery series framed around Marcy Singer and her Tallulah Falls, Ore. embroidery shop, The Seven-Year Stitch. No sooner does Marcy take over retail space formerly occupied by a hardware store that she discovers the dead body of the previous tenant, Tim Enright, in her storeroom. Even though at first glance there's no evidence of foul play, both she and local detective Ted Nash suspect otherwise. Adding to the mystery is a cryptic unfinished message Enright had scratched on the storeroom wall before he died. The clues are gauzy thin and soon a second murder makes everyone a potential suspect. Fans of the genre will take kindly to Marcy, her Irish wolfhound, Angus O'Ruff, and Tallulah Falls. This is a fast, pleasant read with prose full of pop culture references and, of course, sharp needlework puns.