Great Escapes Book Tours Book Review: Wicked Stitch

Wicked Stitch:
An Embroidery Mystery
Series: Embroidery Mystery (Book 8)
Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Signet (April 7, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0451467409
E-Book ASIN: B00MNN7GXQ

Synopsis:

When murder strikes the small town of Tallulah Falls, embroidery shop owner Marcy Singer isn’t afraid of getting into the knitty-gritty to clear her own name…

For most small-business owners in Tallulah Falls, the upcoming Renaissance Faire is a wonderful way to promote their specialty shops. For Marcy’s nemesis, Nellie, and her sister Clara, it’s an opportunity to finally put Marcy and her shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, out of business. Apparently the sisters like to keep their grudges all in the family and have set up a competing booth right next to Marcy’s at the Faire.

When Clara is discovered dead in her own booth—strangled by the scarf she had almost finished knitting—Marcy becomes the prime suspect. Now she has to do whatever it takes to keep her reputation from unraveling and get to the bottom of a most deadly yarn…

Review: I love cozy mysteries and I wish that the picturesque towns actually exist. That would be so awesome. Life would be so much more cozy if that were true.

Tallulah Falls is now going to have two shops selling knitting supplies and Marcy's rival in business is her nemesis' sister.

I love it when relatively normal folks have a nemesis!

And she can't get away from them, even at the Ren Faire. (Have I mentioned how much I love ren faires?)

Then Clara ends up dead and Marcy find''s  That makes Marcy the prime suspect in the eyes of her sister Nellie, who doesn't care for Marcy one bit.

The story starts out a little bit slow, but that's usually the case with established series. You spend a bit of time getting in touch with your old friends, and then the excitement starts.

This is book 8 inn the series, and it can be read as a stand alone, though it would have been nice to know a little be more about Nellie and why she hates Marcy so much, so for new readers it does leave questions, but not enough to spoil the enjoyment of a good story.

Clara's personality rubbed everyone the wrong way, and because of this, Ted isn't officially allowed to work the case.

It really doesn't get much better than this. You really can't figure out who the killer is with this one.

This was a totally fun cozy, and the animals make everything better too. I really love Clover and Angus together. I hope they remain friends in the future.

Highly Recommended
Rating: 5 flowers

About This Author

Gayle Trent (writing as Amanda Lee) writes the embroidery mystery series. The series features a heroine who recently moved to the Oregon coast to open an embroidery specialty shop. Marcy Singer left her home in San Francisco, along with the humiliation of being left at the altar, in order to move to Tallulah Falls and realize her dream of owning her own shop. She takes along her faithful companion, a one-year-old Irish wolfhound named Angus O’Ruff. She makes many new friends in Tallulah Falls, but she also makes a few enemies. Thankfully, her best friend Sadie MacKenzie and her husband Blake run the coffeehouse right down the street from Marcy’s shop, the Seven-Year Stitch; and Detective Ted Nash always has her back. Gayle/Amanda lives in Virginia when she’s not inhabiting the fictional world of Tallulah Falls.

Author  Links

http://www.gayletrent.com

https://www.facebook.com/GayleTrentandAmandaLee

https://twitter.com/GayleTrent

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/426208.Gayle_Trent

Purchase Links
Amazon B&N Book Depository Kobo Google Play

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Crime

Author: Tamar Myers
Title: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Crime
Publisher: Signet
Publish Date: July 1, 1996
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Even a proper Mennonite innkeeper finds it hard to resist Hollywood's siren call, especially when she's offered an outrageous sum of money for the use of her premises. But Magdalena Yoder - whose quaintly chic hostelry gained national fame when it became the site of two unfortunate murders in Tamar Myers's debut mystery, Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth - soon comes to regret her decision. First a manic group of not-quite-reputable actors, directors, and producers descends on the inn and begins to do things that must have Magdalena's mother rolling in her grave. Then her very own neighbors are apparently infected by the bug and begin to act even more bizarrely than the movie folk. But when one of the crew is found impaled to the wall of the barn by a pitchfork, it's no longer possible to pretend that this is just an exciting interlude in an otherwise quiet life. And since the incompetent police chief, Melvin Stoltzfus, is convinced that Magdalena did it, she must find the real killer in order to clear her own name. Readers of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Crime will enjoy the recipes of Magdalena's cook, Freni Hostetler, and her friend Doc Shafer, liberally sprinkled throughout the book, while following Magdalena's hilariously maddening efforts to clear her name, return her precious PennDutch Inn to its pre-Hollywood level of propriety, and give her twirling mother some peace.

Review: The first book in the series was cute, but I had problems with the way the author portrayed the Amish and Mennonite communities. I don't pretend to know everything about the Annabaptist religion, but after reading this book, I know this woman doesn't know much. What she does know is the local area. At least there's that.

Magdalena is supposed to be a Mennonite, but her actions aren't quite right, but I won't even go there, because the things that are wrong would be too long to go into. Suffice to say, don't read this book expecting to get any insight into the lives of the Amish or Mennonite communities. If you want that, check out a book by Marta Perry.

These discrepancies won't stop me from reading this series though. I'm a glutton for punishment. Actually the story isn't a punishment, because Magdalena, in all her obnoxious glory, is a hoot. There's nothing cozy about Mags and the cast of characters in this book give new meaning to the word quirky, particularly Melvin Stoltzfus, the police chief in Hernia.

The plot is crazy and far fetched, but oddly fun. Imagine a film crew at a quiet Bed and Breakfast! And the Hollywood characters are really out there. They are more like caricatures than people.

I was rather amused by the ending as well as the love interests that are working their way into Magdalena's life. I mean, this lady is not lovable!

I guess that's why this series is such a guilty pleasure. It is so bad that its good.

Rating: 3 flowers

Book Review: Too Many Crooks Spoil The Broth

Author:Tamar Myers
Title:Too Many Crooks Spoil The Broth
Publisher:Signet
Publish Date: August 1, 1995
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: In the first book of a wickedly funny new mystery series, Tamar Myers has created a memorable cast of eccentric characters and spiked her plot with a tasty selection of authentic Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. Magdalena Yoder, practical Mennonite proprietor of the determinedly quaint PennDutch Inn, has succeeded in converting a tranquil family farm into a thriving hostelry catering to sophisticated urbanites with a yen for charm and Amish ambience. With rooms in constant demand, Magdalena is usually able to select a compatible group of guests from her permanent waiting list. But a touchy situation develops when an arrogant congressman, his elegant wife, and an eager aide arrive for the start of deer hunting season, and a second contingent of customers turns out to be a curious assortment of animal rights activists. Then one strangely reclusive visitor is found dead, apparently as the result of a fall down Magdalena's quaintly steep staircase. Worried about lawsuits, infuriated by her wayward sister, attracted to one rough-edged reformed hunter, Magdalena does her best to mediate the conflicts between finicky vegetarian diners and a stubborn Amish cook, and to puzzle out the complex personal connections among her divergent group of visitors. With the kitchen a battleground between culinary lifestyles, Magdalena prevails upon her guests to cook the second night's dinner. The result is a farcical communal meal - and another death, this one no more an accident than the first turns out to have been. Everyone at the inn is under suspicion, including a most perplexed proprietor, whose stolid good nature won't stretch much farther.

Review: Too Many Crooks Spoil The Broth is the first book in the Pennsylvania Dutch mystery series. Be proud! I'm reading this series in order! Before I review this book, I have to say, if you are knowledgeable  of the Amish or Mennonite culture, you might want to pass on this series, cos Tamar seemed to be getting her religions muddled from time to time.

If you can get passed that, this is a hilarious start to a series. Magdalena is such a squirrelly woman. It is absolutely hard to believe she runs a B & B. She really doesn't come across as a people person, especially as she is more worried about the law suits that might be filed than the two people that end up dead in her B & B!

I've always found that the first books in cozy mystery series spend a lot of time introducing you to the secondary characters, and this book is no exception. We meet Magdalena's lazy sister, Savannah, (who also gets around with men) and Mose and Freni, the Amish couple that take care of the animals and do the cooking. Freni quits or is fired at least 20 times in the book.

These characters really bring the humor to this book. The mystery, is a bit slow, with the first dead body coming at almost the halfway point in the novel. However, I didn't really find the pacing slow. I liked getting to know the characters in Hernia, PA.

The other thing I really liked was the setting of the story. It wasn't in Lancaster County, which is where a large group of Amish and Mennonites make their home. Instead, Hernia, is a town somewhere between Somerset and Breezewood. I love reading about places that I know about, it gives me the warm fuzzies. I can see the Allegheny mountains and the turnpike.

The guests at the B & B were interesting too. A congressman and his wife, who were there to hunt deer and a group of animal rights activists. Just knowing that was enough to make me turn the pages, because you knew there was going to be a lot of conflict, as well as murder. This group ranged from rather nice (Joel) to downright obnoxious (the congressman and Jeannette).

There's definitely more than meets the eye with these people and that's what made this book so much fun to read. I can't wait to get book 2!

Rating: 4 flowers

Book Review: The Generous Earl

Author: Catherine Coulter
Title: The Generous Earl
Publisher: Signet
Publish Date: July 1981
Rating: 5 Stars
Book Blurb: An English duke to become a Scottish noble! The very idea was scandalous! That this odious man should also be her new guardian was completely intolerable to spirited young Brandy Robertson. But at least she wouldn't have to meet Ian Carmichael, the new Earl of Penderleigh, for surely he wouldn't trouble himself to come to Scotland.

Yet, to her amazement, Ian did indeed visit Penderleigh Castle, and he proved as much a surprise to Brandy as his independent, outspoken ward did to him. Handsome, charming, generous, Ian was everything she could desire. But when he persisted in treating her like an innocent child and seemed determined to wed a lady with whom he obviously didn't suit, Brandy decided to take matters into her own hands and show this insufferably obstinate lord just how much of a woman she truly was....

Review: This was a wonderfully modern regency that really was a fun read. There were so many colorful characters; Brandy, her sisters Constance and Fiona, Grandma Adella, Ian, Felicity and so many more. Its one of Catherine's first books too, and it really shows you how talented she was from the start.

The only gripe I have is that the blurb doesn't quite suit the story. Brandy didn't really try to change her appearance until the very end of the story. Most of the time she kept herself looking dowdy because she was afraid that her blossoming figure was repulsive. That innocence really makes some of Brandy's dealings with her cousin Percy more colorful, because he's quite crude in his assessment of her figure and she seems to not know what he's about. It is a little hard to believe she doesn't have a clue, even in regency England, but it works. Plus her innocence makes her growing love for Ian so much sweeter.

Felicity Tammerley, the Duke's fiancee could very well be voted the character that you would most like to choke. She is the epitome of "bitch." It really makes you wonder how Ian, who is very down to earth and kind managed to propose to her. I think she was really the catalyst for Brandy to wake up to herself. Here she was a beautiful London Lady who was betrothed to the Duke and there she was just a Scottish girl.

I could go on and on about the characters but if you are familiar with Coutler's work you'll know she's no slouch in character development. This is definitely a book that you must read if you can find a copy. It is fantastic to know that Catherine was a fabulous writer from the start.

Book Review: Aurora Rose

Anne Worboys and her two star-crossed lovers: Nicholas le Grys, the second son of the Rundulls and Rose Snape the granddaughter of the butler. They are a wonderful example of people that should never fall in love with each other, but they do.

The result has consequences for both. Nicholas' love for Rose finds him accused of murder of a man who attempted to rape her, in a time when there really was no justice for the lower classes. When the two escape to London together things go from bad to worse.

Ultimately the two end up married to different people. Nicholas, because he drunkenly proposed to Cressina (who looks much like Rose) and Rose because her unborn child needs a father. They also end up on the same vessel headed to New Zealand.

Both characters are very strong willed and both marry people that let them trod all over them. I don't know which spouse I felt sorrier for, Cressina, because Rose was always there in the background and because she had the male child or Daniel, because he was really just a pawn and that's why I find it hard to like Rose.

Rose is very manipulative and she doesn't seem to care who she uses to get what she wants, which is Nicholas. Her lack of love for her children other than Giles is disturbing too.

The author did do a wonderful job at showing the colonization of New Zealand and the troubles the settlers faced from the natives. It proved to be a very exciting read at times. The book read more like a saga rather than a romance novel and one that was rather hard to put down.