Thai Die

October 20, 2008
Thai silk to die for plunges Betsy Devonshire, the proprietor of Crewel World in Excelsior, Minn., into danger in Ferris's winning 12th needlecraft mystery (after 2007's Knitting Bones
). Among the many souvenirs Betsy's friend Doris Valentine brings home from a Thailand vacation is a stone Buddha to be delivered to a St. Paul antiques dealer. When Doris discards the dirty cloth the Buddha was wrapped in, Betsy rescues the cloth, which turns out to be valuable silk more than 2,000 years old. Has Doris become an unwitting pawn in an international antiquities theft operation? After someone ransacks Doris's apartment and murders the antiques dealer, Sgt. Mike Malloy of the Excelsior police and “civilian detective” Betsy find themselves involved in a case more complicated than any needlework pattern she's ever attempted. With more action and a stronger plot than Knitting Bones
, this entry in the popular cozy series offers such choice knitting tidbits as how to spin hair from a 14-pound angora rabbit.

November 1, 2008
Exotic objects, doubtful imports, theft and murder —what 's going on in a quiet Minnesota town?

Sleuthing needlework shop owner Betsy Devonshire is happy to welcome Doris Valentine home from her trip to Thailand. In addition to her own purchases, Doris has brought back something for a St. Paul antique dealer. Her friends all admire the stone Buddha and ignore the dirty rag in which it 's wrapped. When Doris throws it out, Betsy rescues it from the trash. The dealer 's murder naturally arouses Betsy 's curiosity. Although she 's appalled when Doris 's apartment is wrecked in a search, the outrage just increases her interest. After Doris is attacked while she 's snowed in at a bed and breakfast with her boyfriend Phil and some other friends, the attacker is killed in a fall down the stairs, but Doris 's troubles have only begin. The searchers clearly want the Thai silk, but Doris has only the material she bought for herself. Betsy astutely suspects the dirty rag the Buddha was wrapped in may be of more interest than its looks suggest. Research shows that it 's an ancient and very valuable item stolen from a Chinese tomb. In the end, Betsy and her friends are lucky to escape alive from a obsessively determined thief.

Betsy 's adventures (Knitting Bones, 2007, etc.) are always pleasantly cozy. This one adds a bit more excitement to the mix.

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 15, 2008
Ferris has written another gentle cozy involving the needlecrafters from Crewel World, the finest shop in Excelsior, MN. One of the women returns from a trip to Thailand, bringing with her many samples of silk and yarns. She also has a small statue reputed to be of no value. Soon it has been stolen, and a man murdered. Ferris never misses an opportunity to educate the reader. Here, she dwells on ancient Chinese silk. Needlecrafters and fans of Maggie Sefton's knitting mysteries will snap this up.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2008
In this twelfth adventure for the owner of Crewel World in Excelsior, Minnesota, Betsy Devonshire and the other Monday Bunch regulars eagerly welcome back Doris Valentine from a trip to Thailandand are happy to accept scarves, and skeins of floss as gifts. Doris also shows them a small stone Buddha that she has agreed to deliver to an antiques store in St. Paul. Then the store owner is murdered, the statue stolen, and some of Doris Thailand souvenirs go missing. Excelsior police officer Mike Malloy and Betsy are soon trying to unravel the clues. The story line features a Minnesota blizzard and a crazed, gun-wielding villain, but one of the novels most endearing scenes involves weaving directly from a giant angora rabbit. This mixture of believable action, cozy scenes, and commentary on the problem of priceless artifact theft makes this one of the strongest entries in the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)