Twisted Threads (A Mainely Needlepoint Mystery)
By: Lea Wait
Rating: 5 of 5
A cozy mystery set in a fictional town on the coast of Maine, “Twisted Threads” is the first in the Mainely Needlepoint series by Lea Wait. Angie Curtis was raised by her grandmother Charlotte in Harbor Haven after her beloved but wild mother abandoned her nineteen years before. Angie left town ten years ago but is now returning home from Arizona because her mother’s body has been found. What seemed like abandonment turns out to have been murder.
Once home again, Angie finds out that Charlotte has started a custom needlepoint business along with a few other townspeople. The business has had a bad turn as their agent has double-crossed them. Angie steps in to help right the business and, at the same, using the skills she learned as a private investigator’s assistant to find her mother’s killer.
The book is the first that I have read by Ms. Wait and I was impressed with how well it is written as well as the research that went into it. My husband grew up in Camden, Maine and, when I asked about a number of things in the book, confirmed each and every item Ms. Wait wrote about. I am a needlework designer, and while I focus on cross stitch, I also enjoy needlepoint. Both the concepts of stitching referred to in the book as well as the historical references and quotes from samplers were spot on and made reading the book even more enjoyable.
Most importantly, the story made sense. The characters spoke and acted as people would. I was able to figure out the whodunnit slightly before the characters did which meant that enough clues were provided and it wasn’t a story that sprung the ending with a last minute revelation that the reader could not see coming.
I plan to read more in this series as they are published and will look for some of Ms. Wait’s older works, too. Reading the book was a great way to spend an afternoon.
A cozy mystery set in a fictional town on the coast of Maine, “Twisted Threads” is the first in the Mainely Needlepoint series by Lea Wait. Angie Curtis was raised by her grandmother Charlotte in Harbor Haven after her beloved but wild mother abandoned her nineteen years before. Angie left town ten years ago but is now returning home from Arizona because her mother’s body has been found. What seemed like abandonment turns out to have been murder.