Murder by Sunlight

September 2, 2013
In Graham’s middling fifth Quilted mystery (after 2012’s Murder by Vegetable: Baby Quilt), Sheriff Tony Abernathy of Silersville, Tenn., is seeking re-election, but he’s distracted by a rash of violent crimes—a body found in a tree, assaults by a man wielding a hammer and a wrench, and the murder of the town’s most notorious blackmailer, Candy Tibbles. The sweltering summer heat can’t stop level-headed Tony from frantically racing around Park County in search of answers. An old secret turns out to have cast a destructive shadow over Candy, but the resolutions of the other cases require twists that are a bit of a stretch. While Graham addresses such serious issues as elder care, poverty, and drugs, some readers will wish that she had done more to flesh out Tony and the other main characters. Quilters, though, will welcome the mystery quilt clues attributed to Tony’s wife, Theo.

October 1, 2013

A Fourth of July celebration really heats up when an outdoor quilt display reveals a corpse. For Sheriff Tony, his troubles are just beginning. Graham's fifth entry (after Murder by Vegetable) nicely mixes mayhem with small-town meddling, Tennessee style. Quilting pattern included.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2013
Sheriff Tony Abernathy of small-town Silersville, Tennessee, is overrun with cases as the Fourth of July approaches. A body is found hanging in a tree; two people are attacked by a wrench-and-hammer-wielding man; two sisters cause a scene by fighting at their dying sister's bedside; one neighbor shoots another; and a suspicious man is lurking around town. Then Candy Tibbles, the irresponsible mom of teenager Alvin, is found dead in the greenhouse at her home. Tony soon learns that Candy had created a lucrative business blackmailing local men, telling them they are Alvin's father. Or was Candy murdered for another reason? Meanwhile, Tony's wife, Theo, is busy with their young twins and running her quilt shop. This enjoyable slice of small-town life is slightly marred by a preponderance of cases, making it difficult to keep the many characters straight. A quilt pattern is included, though the novel is more of a small-town police procedural than a quilting cozy. Still, the mystery will appeal to fans of both genres.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)